Celebrating Women's History
March marks Women’s History Month in the United States, a time to commemorate women’s role in history and contemporary society. To celebrate Women’s History, Gift at the Gardner curated these collections created for all ages. Click the links below to go to each collection:
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Female Figures: Ornaments celebrating women in art and history
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Learning About Women's History: Games and books for children
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Isabella Inspired: Offerings honoring the tenacious spirit of Isabella Stewart Gardner
To browse the women artisans in Gift at the Gardner collection, click here.
Mrs. Jack: A Biography of Isabella Stewart Gardner
$21.95
An in-depth biography of Isabella Stewart Gardner of Boston, via New York, in the 19th century. An American charmer and art collector, Isabella Stewart Gardner and her husband Jack kept company with many leading cultural figures of the day including Henry James, John Singer Sargent and James McNeill Whistler.
By Louise Hall Tharp
408 pages
Reprinted by CS Graphics, 2016
Paperback
8 x 6 inches
Titian's Rape of Europa
$25.00
Dubbed “a mighty poet” by American author Henry James, Titian remains one of the most celebrated painters in Western art. Since his death in 1576, the artist’s reputation has never waned. In Gilded Age America, Titian paintings became the peerless prizes of leading collectors and quickly rose to the top of Isabella Stewart Gardner’s wish list. In 1896, she landed his masterpiece, The Rape of Europa. It became the sole example of his celebrated cycle of poesie outside of Europe, inspired an entire gallery in her newly built museum, and contributed to England’s national outcry over the loss of its art treasures. This book – the first dedicated to Europa – tells the painting’s story in Gardner’s time, in Titian’s, and offers rare insights into the artist’s virtuoso technique.
Published here for the first time, dramatically enlarged details of the composition demonstrate Titian’s deft touch and dazzlingly technical accomplishment. These bravura passages recently revealed by the painting’s comprehensive cleaning – the first since its arrival in America – are accompanied by commentary from the conservator, Gianfranco Pocobene, who returned Europa to its original glory.
This book accompanies the Gardner Museum exhibition, Titian: Women, Myth, and Power, reuniting his poesie series in the United States for the first time. Gift at the Gardner also carries a hardcover title, Titian: Love, Desire, Death, which is the National Gallery’s exhibition catalogue for the same suite of paintings.
Edited by Nathaniel Silver
80 pages
Published by Paul Holberton Publishing, 2020
Paperback
9.3 x 7.6 inches
Isabella Stewart Gardner in Venice Ornament
$16.95
This ornament is based on Isabella Stewart Gardner's likeness in Anders Zorn's 1984 portrait of her at the Palazzo Barbaro in Venice, where she often stayed and entertained an international set of cultural celebrities. This depiction perfectly captures Gardner’s vibrant personality as she comes in from a balcony to encourage dinner party guests to join her for the display of fireworks over the Grand Canal.
Seeing this painting on display in Gardner’s museum in 1906, Anne O’Hagan Shinn, a suffragette and an early commentator on the collection, described the painting as a “flamelike incarnation of vigor and life—impression helped, doubtless, by the wonderful yellow gown which swathes the strong and supple figure that seems to leap from the canvas.”
Ornaments of other subjects and artists featured in the Gardner Museum also available. Complete your collection of Gardner Museum-inspired ornaments with Zorn's vision of the Museum's founder!
Isabella Stewart Gardner Ornament
$16.95
This ornament of Isabella Stewart Gardner is directly inspired by her portrait painted by John Singer Sargent and displayed in the Gothic Room.
Mrs. Gardner sat for Sargent during his visit to Boston in January 1888. He was paid $3000 for the portrait, which was exhibited to great acclaim at Boston’s St. Botolph Club. The work also inspired gossip and legend: someone jokingly titled it “Woman: An Enigma,” while others believed that the sensuous display of flesh deliberately echoed the scandal recently created by Sargent’s Madame X. Mrs. Gardner herself said that she rejected eight renderings of the face until she was satisfied.
Jack Gardner seems to have asked his wife not to publicly show the portrait again while he was alive, and indeed the portrait was placed in the Gothic Room, which remained private until Mrs. Gardner’s death. In its gallery, surrounded by altarpieces, stained glass, and religious statuary, the sacramental quality noted by nineteenth-century reviewers is even more pronounced.
Ornaments of other subjects and artists featured in the Gardner Museum also available. Complete your collection of Gardner Museum-inspired ornaments with Sargent's vision of the Museum's founder!
RBG Ornament
$16.95
This hand-sewn ornament celebrates the iconic Associate Supreme Court Justice, Ruth Bader Ginsburg. This advocate for gender equality and women's rights would have surely been of a favorite of trailblazing Isabella Stewart Gardner.
Are your family holidays getting interesting? Dissent like RBG!
Ornaments of other prominent figures in women's history are also available. Complete your collection of history-inspired ornaments with RBG!
El Jaleo Ornament
$16.95
During his travels in Spain in 1879, John Singer Sargent was mulling over a major work of art in which he could express his love of Gypsy music, dance, and picturesque costumes. On his return to Paris he set to work on a wide horizontal picture whose proportions simulated the shallow stage space of popular musical establishments. He named the painting El Jaleo to suggest the name of a dance, the jaleo de jerez, while counting on the broader meaning jaleo, which means ruckus or hubbub.
The painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1882 with the more explicit title El Jaleo: Danse des gitanes (Dance of the Gypsies). The painting was purchased by American businessman and diplomat T. Jefferson Coolidge in 1882, and was given to Mrs. Gardner as a gift in 1914. Then, as now, El Jaleo resides in the Spanish Cloister of the Gardner Museum, just off the famous Courtyard.
This ornament captures the central figure of Sargent's work, the semi-veiled flamenco dancer, in fluid motion with her skirt in one hand while the other flourishes with the music. Have Sargent's El Jaleo dancer gracefully twirl her way onto your Christmas tree this holiday season!
Ornaments of other subjects and artists featured in the Gardner Museum also available. Complete your collection of Gardner Museum-inspired ornaments with the El Jaleo dancer!
Jane Austen Ornament
$16.95
This ornament features 18th century author Jane Austen, holding a quill and a manuscript. Austen was born in 1775; she authored several major novels, many published posthumously, after her death is 1817.
To borrow from Jane herself, "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single person in possession of a Christmas tree, must be in want of ornaments."
Ornaments of other subjects and authors featured in the Gardner Museum also available. Complete your collection of Gardner Museum-inspired ornaments with Jane Austin!
Frida Kahlo Ornament
$16.95
Frida Kahlo de Rivera was a Mexican artist who painted many portraits, self-portraits and works inspired by the nature and artifacts of Mexico.
This ornament of Frida Kahlo shows the painter with palette and brush in hand, wearing a beautifully colored dress.
Ornaments of other subjects and artists associated with the Gardner Museum also available.
St. Nicolas specializes in bespoke handmade hanging decorations. For over 25 years, they worked with a small charity in Thailand that helps disadvantaged rural women find work in their community, rather than having to leave home. Today, some 200 skilled women work at home hand sewing the decorations and many have been doing so for more than ten years!
As their business grew, more innovative designs were needed, so they began working with a partner in India. The Indian-made ornaments use the traditional method of zardozi embroidery, an intricate sewing technique that was developed to embellish courtly robes with gold wires and jewels. Zardozi work is rare, but because of the skill that is needed to create the ornaments, it continues to be handed down from generation to generation.
Blue Suffragist Ornament
$16.95
Isabella Stewart Gardner was an ardent supporter of women’s educational and social advancement during her lifetime. Throughout her life, she kept in close company with many female trailblazers.
This ornament of an American Suffragist wearing a Votes for Women banner over her red, white, and blue regalia is a perfect addition to your Christmas tree this holiday season.
Ornaments of other historical subjects featured in the Gardner Museum also available. Complete your collection of Gardner Museum-inspired ornaments with this American Suffragist!
Joan of Arc Ornament
$16.95
For 25 years St. Nicolas has worked with a small Christian charity in Thailand that helps disadvantaged rural women find work in their community, rather than being forced to leave home to work in a factory. Today, some 200 skilled women work at home sewing our decorations, and many of them have been doing so for more than 10 years. All the historical figure decorations are made in this way as well as numerous other designs. The Indian Christmas decorations are made using the traditional method of zardozi embroidery. Zari (meaning gold) embroidery originated in Persia and reached India in the 12th century. It is a highly skilled embroidery technique that traditionally used gold wires and jewels to embellish courtly robes. Zardozi work is a rare and respected craft, the skills of which are handed down from generation to generation.
Botticelli's Venus Ornament
$16.95
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is home to three of Sandro Botticelli's finest works: The Tragedy of Lucretia, The Nativity, and Virgin and Child with an Angel.
This ornament features the figure of the goddess Venus arriving at the shore after her birth, when she had emerged from the sea fully-grown. She is instantly recognizable from Botticelli's The Birth of Venus, currently on display in the Uffizi Gallery in Italy.
Ornaments of other subjects featured in the Gardner Museum also available. Complete your collection of Gardner Museum-inspired ornaments with Botticelli's Venus!
Belle's Rose Tea
$16.00
For centuries, Chinese tea merchants have carefully created blends for tea drinkers in both London and Boston.
Featuring aromatic rose petals, this Chinese black tea was a popular blend for tea parties at the beginning of the 20th century. Isabella Stewart Gardner (called ‘Belle’ by her close friends) hosted many such tea events in her Fenway Palace.
This tea comes from our collection of loose teas inspired by the Museum and blended by Elmwood Inn Fine Teas.
Ingredients: Black Chinese tea, rose petals
NET WT. 3.5 oz (100G)
Harriet Tubman Ornament
$16.95
Harriet Tubman was an 19th century abolitionist and political activist. She was born into slavery circa 1822. Tubman escaped slavery and assisted in some thirteen missions to rescue approximately seventy enslaved people, family and friends via the Underground Railroad.
This ornament of the heroic Harriet Tubman emphasizes the danger associated in her missions. She carries a lamp to help guide her way, a shotgun over her shoulder, and a messenger bag.
Ornaments of other subjects and historical figures associated with the Gardner Museum also available.
St. Nicolas specializes in bespoke handmade hanging decorations. For over 25 years, they worked with a small charity in Thailand that helps disadvantaged rural women find work in their community, rather than having to leave home. Today, some 200 skilled women work at home hand sewing the decorations and many have been doing so for more than ten years!
As their business grew, more innovative designs were needed, so they began working with a partner in India. The Indian-made ornaments use the traditional method of zardozi embroidery, an intricate sewing technique that was developed to embellish courtly robes with gold wires and jewels. Zardozi work is rare, but because of the skill that is needed to create the ornaments, it continues to be handed down from generation to generation.
Fra Angelico: Heaven on Earth
$55.00
Accompanying the exhibition at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, this catalog explores one of the most important artists of the Renaissance. Fra Angelico (about 1395–1455) transformed Western art with pioneering images, rethinking popular compositions and investing traditional Christian subjects with new meaning. His altarpieces and frescoes set new standards for quality and ingenuity, securing his place in history. With the intellect of a Dominican theologian, the technical facility of Florence’s finest craftsmen and the business acumen of its shrewdest merchants, he forged the future of painting in Italy and beyond.
The exhibition reunites for the first time Fra Angelico’s four reliquaries for Santa Maria Novella (1424-1434; Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and Museo di San Marco, Florence). Together they cover key episodes in the life of the Virgin Mary and capture in miniature some of his most important compositional innovations. Assembled at the Gardner with exceptional examples of Angelico’s narrative paintings from collections in Europe and the United States, Heaven on Earth explores his celebrated talents as a storyteller and the artistic contributions that shaped a new ideal of painting in Florence.
250 pages, 125 color illustrations
Published by Paul Holberton, 2018
Hardcover or Paperback
11.5 x 1 x 10 inches
El Jaleo Puzzle
$25.95
El Jaleo
1882
John Singer Sargent, American, 1856-1925
Images like El Jaleo lean toward the daring, risky, unconventional, dramatic, erotically off-center, and odd. Because nomadic groups were believed to ignore ethical principles and exalted superstition over orthodox religion, they endured oppression in numerous countries during the nineteenth century, but artists and bohemians idealized them as free spirits. Bizet's opera Carmen, first performed in Paris in 1875, scandalized the public with its tale of a proud, lusty Andalusian protagonist torn between an army officer and a toreador.
During his travels in Spain in 1879, Sargent was mulling over a major work of art in which he could express his love of Romani music, dance, and picturesque costumes. On his return to Paris, he set to work on a wide horizontal picture whose proportions simulated the shallow stage space of popular musical establishments. He named the painting El Jaleo to suggest the name of a dance, the jaleo de jerez, while counting on the broader definition of jaleo, which includes ruckus or hubbub. The painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1882 with the more explicit title El Jaleo: Danse des gitanes (Dance of the Gypsies).
The best evidence of his own excited reactions to live dance performances can be found in the pencil sketches of a Spanish woman that he included in an album assembled for Isabella Stewart Gardner. They are among his fastest, most intuitive works. In one drawing, a torrent of fast hard lines suggests the twisting shawl from which a majestic neck and outstretched vamping arms emerge.
This 300 piece puzzle features John Singer Sargent's El Jaleo, displayed prominently in the Spanish Cloister at Fenway. The puzzle comes in your choice of tin or paperboard box featuring Sargent's work, so you can safely store your puzzle.
Puzzle measure 11 x 17 inches
300 pieces
Medusa Ornament
$16.95
Evocative of the gorgon that lies at the very heart of the Museum, this ornament of Medusa with her serpentine locks is said to have the power to ward off evil (and will surely not turn you into stone).
St. Nicolas specializes in bespoke handmade hanging decorations. For over 25 years, they worked with a small charity in Thailand that helps disadvantaged rural women find work in their community, rather than having to leave home. Today, some 200 skilled women work at home hand sewing the decorations and many have been doing so for more than ten years!
As their business grew, more innovative designs were needed, so they began working with a partner in India. The Indian-made ornaments use the traditional method of zardozi embroidery, an intricate sewing technique that was developed to embellish courtly robes with gold wires and jewels. Zardozi work is rare, but because of the skill that is needed to create the ornaments, it continues to be handed down from generation to generation.
Ruckus Tea
$16.00
Inspired by John Singer Sergeants masterwork El Jaleo, this energetic blend of Ceylon and Chinese black teas is enhanced with dried Seville oranges and lemons and enhanced with the heady aroma of oil of Bergamot from the Mediterranean coast of Italy. The addition of bright blue cornflowers, lime leaves, and rose petals makes for a colorful pallet of tea that is as beautiful as it is delicious.
This tea comes from our collection of loose teas inspired by the Museum and blended by Elmwood Inn Fine Teas.
Ingredients: Black teas from Sri Lanka and China, orange peel, lemon peel, oil of Bergamot, cornflowers, lime leaves, rose petals
NET WT. 3.5 oz (100G)
Red Suffragist Ornament
$16.95
Isabella Stewart Gardner was an ardent supporter of women’s educational and social advancement during her lifetime. Throughout her life, she kept in close company with many female trailblazers.
This ornament of an American Suffragist wearing a Votes for Women banner over her red, white, and blue regalia is a perfect addition to your Christmas tree this holiday season.
Ornaments of other historical subjects featured in the Gardner Museum also available. Complete your collection of Gardner Museum-inspired ornaments with this American Suffragist!
Isabella Quote Mug: "My Garden is Riotous"
$15.00
“My garden is riotous, unholy, deliriously glorious!
I wish you were here.” - Isabella Stewart Gardner in a letter to Bernard Berenson dated June 24, 1898
When Isabella Stewart Gardner agreed to sponsor the career of an aspiring young writer named Bernard Berenson, neither dreamed that together they would build one of the country’s most impressive private collections of fine art. Berenson--or B.B., as he signed off on his letters--became Mrs. Gardner’s chief art adviser and her dear friend, as well as America’s leading expert on Italian Renaissance painting.
In her missive to Berenson, Mrs. Gardner referenced the flora growing at the Gardner’s Brookline estate Green Hill, which Jack Gardner inherited from his father in 1884. Here, Mrs. Gardner continued to cultivate her lifelong love of horticulture. The spirit of Mrs. Gardner’s passion for plants blooms perennially in the Courtyard and throughout her Museum.
11 oz. ceramic mug
Dishwasher and microwave safe
Elizabeth Bennet Ornament
$16.95
Elizabeth Bennet—also known to friends and family as Eliza or Lizzy—is the protagonist of the 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen.
Ornaments of other characters from Jane Austen's novels—including Lizzy's love interest, Mr. Darcy—also available.
Ornaments of other subjects and literary figures featured in the Gardner Museum also available. Complete your collection of Gardner Museum-inspired ornaments with Elizabeth Bennet!
Rosie the Riveter Ornament
$16.95
With her hair in a red kerchief and her sleeves pulled up, Rosie is ready to work on your tree! As a reminder to stay strong, Rosie flexes her forearm. This handmade ornament of the riveting Rosie makes a great gift for all the strong women in your life.
Measures 6.5 x 2 inches
Our Tarot–featuring Isabella Stewart Gardner!
$39.99
A groundbreaking blend of history, feminism, and the mystical arts, Our Tarot is a unique, specially designed tarot deck with cards that feature an intricate collage portrait of dozens of powerful women who have helped shape history. Each card conveys the energy, messages, and symbolism its figure brings to the deck.
The set includes a full-color guidebook that offers a concise history of the tarot deck, an explanation of the deck and the significance of the cards, and tips on interpreting each, with instructive sample spreads to guide you. It explains the Major Arcana and Minor Arcana and their chronology, offers biographies that link each woman’s life story, accomplishments, and traits with the card she represents, and explains the card’s relevance in a reading. In addition, each card from the deck serves as an interior portrait.
Each card in Our Tarot is inspired by the traditional meanings of the mystic Tarot and is represented by a woman (or group of women) who has influenced the world. These diverse women come from all eras in history, from 1300 BCE to the late twentieth century, and represent many ethnicities, creeds, socioeconomic classes, sexualities, ages, and abilities. Some of the women honored include Jane Addams, Benazir Bhutto, Lucrezia Borgia, Anne Frank, Frida Kahlo, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Beatrix Potter, Florence Nightingale, Nefertari, Elizabeth I, Cleopatra, Marie Curie, Zora Neale Hurston, Sophie Scholl, Cleopatra, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Ida B. Wells.
Contents include:
- Four-color, high-quality gift box with magnetic closure
- Four-color tarot deck in card box, set into an interior well with lift-out ribbon
- Four-color guidebook featuring biographies of all 78 women and their relevance to the deck with 5 black-and-white illustrations and 85 full-color images throughout
- Sheet with image of the components
5 x 8 inches
Afternoon Tea
$16.00
Throughout the early 1900s, teapots in London and Boston were filled with black teas grown across the British Empire. These rich and malty blends were created with the British taste for tea with milk and sugar in mind.
Afternoon Tea was created for the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and crafted to be served as the perfect beverage for a classic afternoon tea.
This tea comes from our collection of loose teas inspired by the Museum and blended by Elmwood Inn Fine Teas.
Ingredients: Handpicked blacks teas from India, Kenya, and Sri Lanka
NET WT. 3.5 oz (100G)
Medusa Enamel Pin
$10.00
Inspired by the gorgon that lies at the very heart of the Museum, this enamel pin of Medusa's head with serpentine locks is said to have the power to ward off evil (and will surely not turn you into stone).
Stainless steel with enamel
1.25 x 1.25 inches
Full Medusa Mosaic Coaster
$15.00
In 1892, an ancient villa was discovered just north of Rome, near the villa of Augustus’s wife, Livia. Several well-preserved mosaic floors adorned the baths of the villa. Jack and Isabella Gardner inspected the mosaics in 1895 and purchased this floor in 1897. The delicate tracery of this mosaic resembles those made in Pompeii around 25 AD (the late second or third style), but brick stamps indicate that it was laid a century later, during the reign of Emperor Hadrian.
Inspired by a work that now lies in the very heart of the Museum, this coaster of the full Courtyard Mosaic is sure to be a touchstone for your experience at the Gardner.=
Tile edges are weathered as part of the design.
Crafted from Italian marble and heat-resistant cork backing
4 x 4 inches
Made in the USA
Isabella Said Bookmark Set
$7.95
Make a statement with this set of 8 paper bookmarks prominently featuring quotes and sayings attributed to Isabella Stewart Gardner!
7.25 x 2.25 inches eachPaper
Medusa Face Ornament
$16.95
Evocative of the gorgon that lies at the very heart of the Museum, this ornament of Medusa with her serpentine locks is said to have the power to ward off evil (and will surely not turn you into stone).
St. Nicolas specializes in bespoke handmade hanging decorations. For over 25 years, they worked with a small charity in Thailand that helps disadvantaged rural women find work in their community, rather than having to leave home. Today, some 200 skilled women work at home hand sewing the decorations and many have been doing so for more than ten years!
As their business grew, more innovative designs were needed, so they began working with a partner in India. The Indian-made ornaments use the traditional method of zardozi embroidery, an intricate sewing technique that was developed to embellish courtly robes with gold wires and jewels. Zardozi work is rare, but because of the skill that is needed to create the ornaments, it continues to be handed down from generation to generation.
Well Behaved Roundel Ornament
$16.95
St. Nicolas specializes in bespoke, handmade holiday decorations. For over 25 years, St. Nicolas has worked with a small charity in Thailand and India that helps disadvantaged rural women find work in their community, sewing decorations at home. Their Indian-made decorations are crafted using the traditional method of Zardozi embroidery, a highly skilled technique handed down from generation to generation that traditionally uses gold wires and jewels to embellish robes.
3.5 inches diameter
Rosa Parks Ornament
$16.95
American Civil Rights activist Rosa Parks showed great courage while protesting segregation and racial injustice. We celebrate her as one of the leaders of the Civil Rights Movement and for starting the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the largest social movements in history.
St. Nicolas specializes in bespoke handmade hanging decorations. For over 25 years, they worked with a small charity in Thailand that helps disadvantaged rural women find work in their community, rather than having to leave home. Today, some 200 skilled women work at home hand sewing the decorations and many have been doing so for more than ten years!
As their business grew, more innovative designs were needed, so they began working with a partner in India. The Indian-made ornaments use the traditional method of zardozi embroidery, an intricate sewing technique that was developed to embellish courtly robes with gold wires and jewels. Zardozi work is rare, but because of the skill that is needed to create the ornaments, it continues to be handed down from generation to generation.
El Jaleo Scarf
$47.00
El Jaleo
1882
John Singer Sargent, American, 1856-1925
Images like El Jaleo lean toward the daring, risky, unconventional, dramatic, erotically off-center, and odd. Because nomadic groups were believed to ignore ethical principles and exalted superstition over orthodox religion, they endured oppression in numerous countries during the nineteenth century, but artists and bohemians idealized them as free spirits. Bizet's opera Carmen, first performed in Paris in 1875, scandalized the public with its tale of a proud, lusty Andalusian protagonist torn between an army officer and a toreador.
During his travels in Spain in 1879, Sargent was mulling over a major work of art in which he could express his love of Romani music, dance, and picturesque costumes. On his return to Paris, he set to work on a wide horizontal picture whose proportions simulated the shallow stage space of popular musical establishments. He named the painting El Jaleo to suggest the name of a dance, the jaleo de jerez, while counting on the broader definition of jaleo,which includes ruckus or hubbub. The painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1882 with the more explicit title El Jaleo: Danse des gitanes (Dance of the Gypsies).
100% Polyester
Machine Washable
Isabella Stewart Gardner, Dog Lover
$19.95
Isabella Stewart Gardner was a force to be reckoned with. She routinely went toe-to-toe with major museums and titans of industry to purchase masterpieces, created a museum unlike any other, and was famous for consistently flouting the social conventions that governed women of her time. However, this book shows another side of Isabella that readers may not expect: her love of dogs.
Richly illustrated with images from the collection and museum archives, this volume allows readers to meet Isabella's favorite dogs (Kitty Wink and Patty Boy), see the litters of puppies she bred, and discover how her dogs were a comfort toward the end of her life. Usually stern in photographs, Isabella - like many people - could not help grinning when posing for photos with puppies. This enthusiasm for dogs is also evident in her correspondence. As she wrote excitedly to her art advisor Bernard Berenson: "Part of my morning's work has been to try to induce two 9 days old fox terrier pups to open their eyes again. They did once; and then clapped them to, with a vim that seemed to say that the box they found themselves in was not the ideal they had come to this world to see!" Even the dogs of celebrities - both celebrities she knew personally, and others she admired from afar - drew her attention. This book also features some of the many photographs she collected of notable people and their dogs, like the painter Anders Zorn and his adorable pup Mouche and Caesar, the regal and loyal terrier who belonged to King Edward VII and even marched in the monarch's funeral parade.
From gathering Renaissance masterpieces to raising Fox Terriers, this book shows that Isabella approached all her tasks with enthusiasm and dedication. By learning about her love of her canine companions, this book presents a more human side of Isabella than typically on display.
Written by Diana Greenwald, Assistant Curator of the Collection at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
40 pages
Published by Paul Holberton Publishing, 2020
Hardcover
9 x 9 inches
Gardner Tassel Bookmark
$2.95
Isabella Stewart Gardner
1888
John Singer Sargent (Florence, 1856 - 1925, London)
Oil on canvas
Mrs. Gardner sat for Sargent during his visit to Boston in January 1888. He was paid $3000 for the portrait, which was exhibited to great acclaim at Boston’s St. Botolph Club. The work also inspired gossip and legend: someone jokingly titled it “Woman: An Enigma,” while others believed that the sensuous display of flesh deliberately echoed the scandal recently created by Sargent’s Madame X. Mrs. Gardner herself said that she rejected eight renderings of the face until she was satisfied.
Jack Gardner seems to have asked his wife not to publicly show the portrait again while he was alive, and indeed the portrait was placed in the Gothic Room, which remained private until Mrs. Gardner’s death.
In its gallery, surrounded by altarpieces, stained glass, and religious statuary, the sacramental quality noted by nineteenth-century reviewers is even more pronounced.
6 x 2 inches
Isabella Quote Mug: "Don't Spoil A Good Story By Telling The Truth"
$15.00
This mug—perfect for sipping some of our Courtyard-inspired loose leaf teas—prominently features a quote attributed to Isabella Stewart Gardner: "Don't spoil a good story by telling the truth.” This quotation captures Mrs. Gardner's knowledge of her scandalous reputation in 19th century Boston society. The perfect gift for the elaborate story teller in your life!
11 oz. ceramic mug
Dishwasher and microwave safe
El Jaleo Magnet
$6.00
El Jaleo
1882
John Singer Sargent, American, 1856-1925
Images like El Jaleo lean toward the daring, risky, unconventional, dramatic, erotically off-center, and odd. Because nomadic groups were believed to ignore ethical principles and exalted superstition over orthodox religion, they endured oppression in numerous countries during the nineteenth century, but artists and bohemians idealized them as free spirits. Bizet's opera Carmen, first performed in Paris in 1875, scandalized the public with its tale of a proud, lusty Andalusian protagonist torn between an army officer and a toreador.
During his travels in Spain in 1879, Sargent was mulling over a major work of art in which he could express his love of Romani music, dance, and picturesque costumes. On his return to Paris, he set to work on a wide horizontal picture whose proportions simulated the shallow stage space of popular musical establishments. He named the painting El Jaleo to suggest the name of a dance, the jaleo de jerez, while counting on the broader definition of jaleo, which includes ruckus or hubbub. The painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1882 with the more explicit title El Jaleo: Danse des gitanes (Dance of the Gypsies).
The best evidence of his own excited reactions to live dance performances can be found in the pencil sketches of a Spanish woman that he included in an album assembled for Isabella Stewart Gardner. They are among his fastest, most intuitive works. In one drawing, a torrent of fast hard lines suggests the twisting shawl from which a majestic neck and outstretched vamping arms emerge.
2.5 x 3.5 inches
Made in the USA
Annunciation Puzzle
$25.95
This 300 piece puzzle features Piermatteo d'Amelia's The Annunciation, displayed prominently in the Raphael Room of the Museum.
The painting was made for the main altar of the Franciscan church in Amelia, a small town in Umbria near Spoleto. Since 1900, the painting has borne many different attributions, and was long known simply as the work of the Master of the Gardner Annunciation, but documents now indicate that the artist is Piermatteo d’Amelia, a pupil and assistant of Filippo Lippi.
The puzzle comes in your choice of tin or paperboard box featuring d'Amelia's work, so you can safely store your puzzle.
Puzzle measure 11 x 17 inches
300 pieces
El Jaleo Enamel Pin
$10.00
During his travels in Spain in 1879, John Singer Sargent was mulling over a major work of art in which he could express his love of Roma music, dance, and picturesque costumes. On his return to Paris he set to work on a wide horizontal picture whose proportions simulated the shallow stage space of popular musical establishments. He named the painting El Jaleo to suggest the name of a dance, the jaleo de jerez, while counting on the broader meaning of 'jaleo,' which means ruckus or hubbub.
Stainless steel with enamel
1.5 x .1.25 inches
Eleanor Roosevelt Ornament
$16.95
St. Nicolas specializes in bespoke handmade hanging decorations. For over 25 years, they worked with a small charity in Thailand that helps disadvantaged rural women find work in their community, rather than having to leave home. Today, some 200 skilled women work at home hand sewing the decorations and many have been doing so for more than ten years!
As their business grew, more innovative designs were needed, so they began working with a partner in India. The Indian-made ornaments use the traditional method of zardozi embroidery, an intricate sewing technique that was developed to embellish courtly robes with gold wires and jewels. Zardozi work is rare, but because of the skill that is needed to create the ornaments, it continues to be handed down from generation to generation.
Medusa Face Coaster
$15.00
In 1892, an ancient villa was discovered just north of Rome, near the villa of Augustus’s wife, Livia. Several well-preserved mosaic floors adorned the baths of the villa. Jack and Isabella Gardner inspected the mosaics in 1895 and purchased this floor in 1897. The delicate tracery of this mosaic resembles those made in Pompeii around 25 AD (the late second or third style), but brick stamps indicate that it was laid a century later, during the reign of Emperor Hadrian.
Inspired by a work that now lies in the very heart of the Museum, this coaster of a closeup of Medusa's face is sure to be a touchstone for your experience at the Gardner.
Tile edges are weathered as part of the design.
4 x 4 inches
Crafted from Italian marble and heat-resistant cork backing
Made in the USA
El Jaleo Silk Scarf
$150.00
El Jaleo
1882
John Singer Sargent, American, 1856-1925
Images like El Jaleo lean toward the daring, risky, unconventional, dramatic, erotically off-center, and odd. Because nomadic groups were believed to ignore ethical principles and exalted superstition over orthodox religion, they endured oppression in numerous countries during the nineteenth century, but artists and bohemians idealized them as free spirits. Bizet's opera Carmen, first performed in Paris in 1875, scandalized the public with its tale of a proud, lusty Andalusian protagonist torn between an army officer and a toreador.
During his travels in Spain in 1879, Sargent was mulling over a major work of art in which he could express his love of Romani music, dance, and picturesque costumes. On his return to Paris, he set to work on a wide horizontal picture whose proportions simulated the shallow stage space of popular musical establishments. He named the painting El Jaleo to suggest the name of a dance, the jaleo de jerez, while counting on the broader definition of jaleo,which includes ruckus or hubbub. The painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1882 with the more explicit title El Jaleo: Danse des gitanes (Dance of the Gypsies).
100% Silk
Jasmine Pearl Tea
$16.00
Jasmine Pearl Tea is from our line of loose teas inspired by the art in Isabella Stewart Gardner's Collection and blended by Elmwood Inn Fine Teas.
Ingredients: Hand-picked spring green tea from Fujian Province of China scented with pure Jasmine.
NET WT. 3.5 oz (100G)
The Letters of Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner 1887-1924
$48.00
Available exclusively through Gift at the Gardner, The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is thrilled to offer a limited re-print of an "indispensable edition."
When Isabella Stewart Gardner agreed to sponsor the career of and aspiring young writer named Bernard Berenson, neither dreamed that together they would build one of this country's most impressive collections of Italian Renaissance painting. The correspondence between Bernard Berenson and Isabella Stewart Gardner offers fresh insight into the origins of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and gives voice to an enduring friendship that created and nurtured it.
The more than eight hundred letters included in this volume record the evolving relationship between two singular personalities: a flamboyant socialite known for lively eccentricities and her engagement with the arts; and the brilliant connoisseur and America's leading expert on Italian Renaissance painters. Their correspondence spans nearly four decades and presents a vivid portrait of their passionate interests, their perennial travels and their liaisons with artists and intellectuals on both sides of the Atlantic, including Edith Wharton, Walter Lippmann, Sarah Bernhardt, John Singer Sargent, and George Santayana.
Mary Berenson, who abandoned her comfortable and conventional first marriage to become protégée and, later, the wife and close collaborator of Berenson, becomes correspondent after 1901. Indeed, Mrs. Gardner's hunch that she now had "two friends instead of one" is borne out in the lively series of letters from Mary, who comes to play an increasingly vital role in her husband's multifaceted achievements.
The reprint of this indispensable 1987 edition includes a new preface co-authored by Dr. Machtelt Bruggen Israels, guest researcher, University of Amsterdam, and Dr. Carl Brandon Strehlke, curator emeritus, Philadelphia Museum of Art. Together they explore the relationship between Isabella Stewart Gardner and Bernard Berenson that emerges from the correspondence. Meticulously edited and annotated by Rollin van N. Hadley, former director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, these elegant and entertaining letters continue to be an enduring resource for art historians and others concerned with the development of connoisseurship and the evolution of taste. At the same time, they pay tribute to a remarkable museum and the very personal visions that brought it to life.
Edited and annotated by Rollin van N. Hadley, former director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
718 pages
Published by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2016
Paperback
9.1 x 1.8 x 6.4 inches
El Jaleo Eyeglass Case
$20.00
El Jaleo
1882
John Singer Sargent, American, 1856-1925
Images like El Jaleo lean toward the daring, risky, unconventional, dramatic, erotically off-center, and odd. Because nomadic groups were believed to ignore ethical principles and exalted superstition over orthodox religion, they endured oppression in numerous countries during the nineteenth century, but artists and bohemians idealized them as free spirits. Bizet's opera Carmen, first performed in Paris in 1875, scandalized the public with its tale of a proud, lusty Andalusian protagonist torn between an army officer and a toreador.
During his travels in Spain in 1879, Sargent was mulling over a major work of art in which he could express his love of Romani music, dance, and picturesque costumes. On his return to Paris, he set to work on a wide horizontal picture whose proportions simulated the shallow stage space of popular musical establishments. He named the painting El Jaleo to suggest the name of a dance, the jaleo de jerez, while counting on the broader definition of jaleo, which includes ruckus or hubbub. The painting was exhibited at the Paris Salon of 1882 with the more explicit title El Jaleo: Danse des gitanes (Dance of the Gypsies).
The best evidence of his own excited reactions to live dance performances can be found in the pencil sketches of a Spanish woman that he included in an album assembled for Isabella Stewart Gardner. They are among his fastest, most intuitive works. In one drawing, a torrent of fast hard lines suggests the twisting shawl from which a majestic neck and outstretched vamping arms emerge.
This beautiful hardshell eyeglass case features the painting El Jaleo by John Singer Sargent. The work's tombstone information is printed in silver on the inside of the case. The plush black lining and included microfiber cloth and will keep your glasses safe and smudge-free.
6.5 x 1.5 x 3 inches
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Bath Bomb
$9.95
Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the second woman to serve as a justice on the United States Supreme Court. She spent her career advocating for women's rights and fighting tirelessly to end gender discrimination. She is one of the most celebrated leaders in American history and considered a feminist icon. Once when asked to give her advice to young women, she answered, "Fight for the things that you care about. But do it in a way that will lead others to join you." RBG was also quite the fashionista, as she was known for adorning her black judicial robes with dazzling neckwear.
The Ruth Bader Ginsburg Bath Bomb from Musee will make a splash for the feminist in your life! The bath bombs are handmade in the USA with ethically sourced, natural ingredients. A secret treasure is included in every bath bomb.
The bath bombs' maker–Musee– makes handcrafted, natural bath products in Madison County, Mississippi with the mission of restoring lives by providing dignified work for vulnerable people in our community. Musee primarily hires women in recovery, people with disabilities, and people who have lived in chronic poverty.
8 ounces
Single use
Ingredients: Sodium Bicarbonate, Citric Acid, Natural Grapeseed Oil, Bergamot Essential Oil, Fragrance oil, and Coloreze.
Handmade in the US
Cruelty-free
Isabella Stewart Gardner in Venice Magnet
$6.00
Isabella Stewart Gardner in Venice
1894
Anders Zorn, Swedish, 1860-1920
While visiting the Gardners in Boston in February 1894, Anders Zorn made an etching of Mrs. Gardner, which neither of them considered to be a complete success. Later that year Zorn and his wife visited the Gardners in Venice, staying for several weeks as their guests in the Palazzo Barbaro. He attempted again to make a portrait of Mrs. Gardner, but continued to struggle with the task. One evening, Mrs. Gardner stepped out into the balcony to see what was happening outside, and as she came back into the drawing-room, pushing the French windows open, Zorn exclaimed (according to Morris Carter): “Stay just as you are! That is the way I want to paint you.” He went instantly for his materials, and then and there the portrait was begun.
3.5 x 2.5 inches
Made in the USA
Angelico Tea
$16.00
Discover a heavenly tea-drinking experience with this healthy, low-caffeine blend of green tea combined with enchanting herbs. Featuring lemongrass, saffron, and holy basil, Angelico Tea lifts the spirits with each sip, while the aromas of rosebuds enchant the mind, and cinnamon sweetens the tongue.
This tea comes from our collection of loose teas inspired by the Museum and blended by Elmwood Inn Fine Teas.
Ingredients: Green tea, rose buds, cardamom, fennel, ginger, lemon grass, licorice, saffron and holy basil.
NET WT. 3.5 oz (100G)
© 2022 Gift at the Gardner.
