Big Scores · DETOUR · Fenway
Thirteen works were taken from the Gardner in 1990, and the empty frames still hang where they were.
In the early hours of March 18, 1990, two men dressed as police talked their way into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and left 81 minutes later with thirteen works, among them a Vermeer and a Rembrandt. None has come back. Gardner's will said the galleries couldn't be changed, so the empty frames still hang. Outside, her motto is still carved over the old front door.
This is a detour on Big Scores.
The plate
Collected on site
280 The Fenway (museum entrance 25 Evans Way)
Directions
The two guards were handcuffed in the basement and stayed there until police arrived at 8:15 a.m. The thieves had left at 2:45, after two trips to their car.
More footnotes on the story card, in the app.
In these collections: Crime Scenes
Near Longwood Medical Area · Near Museum of Fine Arts
Sources (5)
- The TheftIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum · n.d. (read Oct 2026)
- Boston's Greatest Unsolved Mystery: The Gardner Museum Art HeistBoston Public Library blog (Dhruti Bhagat) · 2021-04-29
- Isabella Stewart Gardner art heist happened 34 years ago, FBI still receiving tipsCBS News Boston · 2024-03-18
- Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum - Boston Landmarks Commission Study Report (as amended)Boston Landmarks Commission · ca. 2011-2012 (photos Oct 2011)
- Crest of the Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum collection database · ca. 1900