Customer Reviews

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: A Companion Guide and History

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I bought and read this book prior to my visit to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum so that when I was there I knew a little about the pieces in her collection. The book is a great source of information about the rooms and the art but it also covers the life of Isabella Gardner. I recommend buying the book ahead so that you know which pieces of art you really want to concentrate on.

The book has color photos of up close shots of the art and photos of the various rooms so that you can see the art in its setting.

It is arranged by floor (there are three) and then by room and finally by the individual piece, making it very easy to use and it is a great size for carrying with you through the museum.

The history in the book is excellent and gives a great overview of Isabella's life and pursuit of art.

More than a few of my well-traveled friends have raved about The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston as their favorite museum in all the world. And why not? Wait until you see it--you'll feel right at home.

Imagine creating for yourself a life that is perfectly delicious. Imagine creating for the world a home museum experience unequaled in all the world. The Hyde Museum in Glens Falls, NY, held that honor for me until I learned the story and saw the pictural views of Fenway Court Isabella Gardner created as her home, which after her death in 1924 was changed to be called The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Most museum books have wonderful pictures without so rich a story of a strong, courageous woman of impeccable, impassioned taste. No one could have created Fenway Court except Isabella Gardner. Few have created such a wonderful life for themselves and left such an amazing legacy. And, she also managed to maintain her beauty and figure. And what a negotiator she was to gain possession of a piece of art she felt Fenway must own.

I feel empowered to have learned her story.

This small museum guide available at ISGM bookshop in great quantity but difficult to find elsewhere (amazon has it)is a delight to read. Differently from other museum guides it dosen't only deal with the works exposed in Isabella Stewart Gardner's home Fenway Court, but it also briefly reviews this brillant and eccentric woman's life and so brings us even closer to her.
The visit to the ISGM is a great experience because what we see is not a museum but a person's house, a house used for receiving, entertaining, exposing unusual things and precious objects, a house for praying and reading, and meditating, a house full of lifetimes memories and loved masterpieces. Illustrating the intermingling of Mrs. Gardner's life and her masterpiece was not easy. Mr. Goldfarb, director of the Museum is at the height of this task and with a few well done strokes draws Isabella's portrait and at the same time describes in great detail not only the works of art contained in the mansion but also their history, the way they came into the collection and many interesting news on their artists.
The book is well illustrated with expecial focus on the disposition of the pieces and the complete description of all the rooms of the house.
A useful tool for ISGM visit but also a book that is enjoyable before, after and also without the visit.

Having been to the ISGM (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum) before reading either "Mrs. Jack" or this book, if planning a trip to the museum I highly recommend you read at least one of these books. The museum is truly magnificent, however my only criticism is that the administration of the museum cannot seem to decide if they have a "house museum" (like the Newport mansions) or an art museum. There is precious little information posted within the meusum to tell you what it is you're looking at - the guidebooks available at the museum woefully inadequate. After reading Mrs. Jack I realize that much of this may have been stipulated by Isabella herself - she expected you to know what it was you were seeing without cheats like descriptions. Art for art's sake. It did not matter if Rembrandt painted a canvas - you either like it or you don't - merely wanting to see it because it's a priceless Rembrandt is too bourgeois for Isabella to have considered. In her day, in her level of society, you could still buy a Rembrandt or a Vermeer, 100 years later this is a lot harder to do, making these paintings more rare to us than her. She knew John Singer Sargent personally, so having your portrait painted by him was probably less of a big deal than we see it as today - anyone in her level of society could hire him, so to her - what was the big deal? 100 years more time has made it a big deal to us.

Excellent handbook for the Museum; a good overview of the collection with some details regarding the collections acquisition time line. Gives you a feel for who this wonderful woman was as well as her motivation and how she accomplished what she did in a short period. I'm a huge fan of Guides & Handbooks for Museums/Churches/Castles/Homes anything that will give me an insight into the people that lived there and created their "masterpiece". Read with "Mrs. Jack" for a better insight into an amazing woman!

A nice guide book to the ISG Museum with lots of details and great photos, I would have liked for the book to have more photos though. I would also have liked more information on the books in Isabella's collection. Overall it is a fine keepsake to take home after a visit to the museum.