The Night Before the Theft at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
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| The Concert |
Who went to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum the night before the notorious theft of over a dozen artworks?
Carmen Ortiz, United States Attorney for the District of Massachusetts, and the FBI released a video last week seeking an answer to this question. “With the public’s help, we may be able to develop new information that could lead to the recovery of these invaluable works of art,” Ortiz announced.
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| The Storm on the Sea of Galilee |
Twenty-five years ago, thieves in Boston stole Vermeer’s The Concert and Rembrandt’s The Storm on the Sea of Galilee among several other pieces. The case remains unsolved a quarter century later.
The poor quality security tape (displayed below) shows a car parked at the rear entrance of the museum. The FBI says that “[t]he car matches the general description of a vehicle that was reported to have been parked outside the Museum moments prior to the theft on March 18, 1990.”
According to agency officials, “The video also shows an unidentified man exiting the automobile and then being allowed inside the Museum, against Museum policy, by a security guard. That event occurred at 12:49 p.m. on March 17, 1990, almost exactly 24 hours before the thieves entered the museum through the same door.”
Anyone who has information about the theft or the events captured on the security video should call the FBI at 617-742-5533 or the Isabella Gardner Museum at 617-278-5114.
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©2010-2022 Cultural Heritage Lawyer Rick St. Hilaire. Content discussing cultural heritage law, art law, looted antiquities, stolen artifacts, and museum risk management that is general information only, not legal advice.