The CAAB has reserved an exclusive introductory guided tour that will provide an overview of the museum and deepen your understanding of the art collection within the walls of the Isabella Gardner Museum. 

At once intimate and unparalleled in its grandeur, the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum draws on the art collection of its eponymous founder. Within a Venetian-style palazzo, surrounding an elegant courtyard decorated in verdant plants, masterpieces hang next to architectural elements Gardner purchased from Europe. The ambience of the museum itself is a treasure, and the wonders it holds offer a one-of-a-kind experience.

Gardner’s personal collection reflects her thirst for travel, a bohemian lifestyle, and the fine luxuries of ancient cultures. Stewart Gardner herself delicately arranged the collection of more than 7,500 fine and decorative art objects, 2,700 books and manuscripts, and over 8,000 historic objects from around the world, including sculptures, furniture, textiles, metalworks, and ceramics, that she collected over the course of her lifetime.

In 1990, the largest property theft in the world left the museum without 13 works in its permanent collection, including pieces by Degas, Vermeer, Rembrandt, and Manet. A $10 million reward still stands for information on the stolen works, adding even more intrigue to this beloved museum.