Museum Made*
“Shan’t you and I have fun with my museum?"
-Isabella Stewart Gardner in a letter to Bernard Berenson, July 19, 1896
Isabella imbued Fenway Court with her spirit and shared the delights of her Palace with exhilaration. Mrs. Gardner and her Museum directly inspire this collection of gifts–hence, "Museum Made."
Our Museum Made collection draws upon the excitement of experiencing Isabella’s Fenway Palazzo. We hope these gifts become touchstones and pleasant reminders of the Museum built "for the education and enjoyment of the public, forever."
"C'est Mon Plaisir" Card
$6.25
This card—from local Big Wheel Press—prominently features a quote attributed to Isabella Stewart Gardner: "C'est mon plaisir,” or "It is my pleasure." The quotation reflects Mrs. Gardner's desire to share her Museum with the public, forever. The perfect card for the Bohemian in your life!
4.25 x 5.5 inchesPrinted on fine letterpress paper
Letterpress card with gold hot foil stamping, blank inside
Made in Massachusetts, USA
"Don't Spoil A Good Story" Card
$6.25
This card—from local Big Wheel Press—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 card for the elaborate story teller in your life!
4.25 x 5.5 inchesPrinted on fine letterpress paper
Letterpress card with gold hot foil stamping, blank inside
Made in Massachusetts, USA
"Enemies or Good Friends" Card
$6.25
This card features a watercolor of the Museum's Courtyard and a quote attributed to Isabella Stewart Gardner: "I feel that either we will soon become enemies, or also forever, very, very good friends. Come to tea with me this afternoon." This quotation captures the passionate and ambitious spirit of the Founder. The perfect gift for a "very, very good friend."Printed on fine letterpress paper
Blank inside
Measures 4.25" x 5.5"
"My Garden Is" Card
$6.25
This card—from local Big Wheel Press—prominently features a quote from Isabella Stewart Gardner. The spirit of Mrs. Gardner’s passion for plants blooms perennially in the Courtyard and throughout her Museum. The perfect card for the gardener in your life!
4.25 x 5.5 inchesPrinted on fine letterpress paper
Digital Card with Letterpress Accents, blank inside
Made in Massachusetts, USA
Adam and Eve Magnet
$6.00
Adam and Eve
Follower of Lucas Cranach the Elder
16th century
oil on panel
It is the moment of temptation. Adam holds one apple to his thigh and with his right hand takes another from Eve. In the distance to the left they reappear in miniature, Adam holding up a garment in shame before the Almighty. Behind them the terrestrial Paradise unfolds itself, the creatures browsing on the banks of its winding river.
2.5 x 3.5 inches
Made in the USA
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)
American Victorians and Virgin Nature
$16.00
This volume draws on cultural geography, museology, gender studies, and art history to explore nineteenth-century attitudes towards the American landscape in the broadest sense. The subjects range from the Transcendentalism of Emerson and Thoreau, and Winslow Homer's illustrations of contemporary women, to dioramas of prehistoric life in the American Museum of Natural History. The "invention" of the Grand Canyon as a tourist destination and even the films of John Ford are used to illustrate the Victorian era's obsessions with nature. These six essays were originally presented at a symposium organized by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
Edited by T. J. Jackson LearsEssays by Richard White, Sarah Burns, Michele Bogart, Elizabeth Johns, Stephen Pyne, and Richard Slotkin
128 pages
Published by Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2002
Paperback
7.5 x 10 inches
Anders Zorn: A European Artist Seduces America
$21.95
This publication re-evaluates the artistic achievements of the Swedish painter Anders Zorn (1860-1920). Bringing his subjects to life with broad brushstrokes, Zorn experimented with different subjects and styles, painting portraits of high society, self-portraits and fellow artists' in their studios, and genre scenes of modern Parisian and rural Swedish life. Moreover, he was crucial in disseminating Swedish art, connecting Scandinavia with Western Europe and with the United States. If we follow the breathless media coverage during Zorn's multiple stays in the States, we might well come to the conclusion that he seduced the nation. America was entirely taken by this "Prince of Art," who exhibited widely, showcasing his sweeping portraits of socialites, unashamed nudes, and brilliant genre scenes.Zorn's clients in the United States, especially his friendship with Isabella Gardner, forms a major focus of the book. Gardner was one of his most important patrons and a lifelong friend.
This book, based on the exhibition held at the Museum in 2013, illustrates how mutually beneficial and inspiring this relationship was to both Gardner and Zorn. Gardner helped Zorn procure commissions in and outside Boston, and by presenting new archival material, it will become clear just how much Zorn relied on her. The new evidence and interpretations in this book will allow reassessment of Zorn's inspired but often overlooked accomplishments, presenting him instead as an intoxicating artist, someone who is still able to seduce the public.
Edited by Oliver Tostmann
200 pages
Published by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 2013
Paperback
9.5 x 0.8 x 11.2 inches
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)
Annunciation Puzzle
$26.00
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 a paperboard box featuring d'Amelia's work, so you can safely store your puzzle.
Puzzle measure 11 x 17 inches
300 pieces
Architecture Mercer Tile
$34.95
Moravian Pottery Tile Works of Doylestown, Pennsylvania opened its doors in 1898 and continues to operate today. Our reproduction Gothic Room Floor Tiles originate from the same ceramic studio that Isabella Stewart Gardner commissioned to create the Gothic Room’s floor. Each tile motif, inspired by different artistic trades and geometric designs, is made using glazed red clay.
3.5 x 3.5 inchesLimited Edition
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)
Betye Saar: Heart of a Wanderer
$45.00
Betye Saar (b. 1926) is an artist whose assemblages tell visual stories and convey powerful political messages. A leading figure of the Black Arts Movement in the 1970s, she works with found objects—many of which she gathers on her extensive travels—to explore themes like symbolic mysticism, feminism, racism, and Eurocentric chauvinism. Betye Saar: Heart of a Wanderer sheds new light on Saar’s unique creative process, her trips around the world, and the diverse ways in which her artworks engage with global histories of travel and forced migration. It presents how the artist’s work conjures the transporting experience of a voyage to a faraway place.This beautifully illustrated book draws on original, in-depth interviews with Saar and the companions who accompanied the artist in her travels across four continents over several decades. Essays by leading scholars contextualize Saar’s journeys within her broader life and career, as well as how her practice fits into broader traditions—such as scrapbooking—in African American visual culture. In addition to providing this context, this book explores how Saar’s assemblage practice both echoes and provides a critical counterpoint to the collecting practices of Gilded Age American art collectors like Isabella Stewart Gardner.
Featuring a wealth of previously unpublished material—including almost thirty travel sketchbooks and two dozen finished assemblages—Betye Saar: Heart of a Wanderer provides a fresh look at a groundbreaking American artist while offering a timely social history of the impact of travel on the African American experience.
Edited by Diana Seave Greenwald (William and Lia Poorvu Curator of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Collection) with contributions by Makeda Best and Stephanie Sparling Williams
208 pages
Published by Princeton University Press, 2023
Hardcover
8" x 14"
Beyond Words: Illuminated Manuscripts in Boston Collections
$58.00
Beyond Words accompanies a collaborative exhibition held at the McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College; Harvard University’s Houghton Library; and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Featuring illuminated manuscripts from nineteen Boston-area institutions, this catalog provides a sweeping overview of the history of the book in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, and serves as a guide to their production, illumination, functions, and readership. Entries by eighty-five international experts document, discuss, and reproduce more than two hundred and sixty manuscripts and early printed books, many of them little known before now. Beyond Words also explores the history of collecting such books in Boston, an uncharted chapter in the history of American taste.
Of broad appeal to scholars and amateur enthusiasts alike, this catalog documents one of the most ambitious exhibitions of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts ever to take place in North America.
Edited by Jeffrey F. Hamburger, Lisa Fagin Davis, and Anne-Marie Eze
378 pages
Published by McMullen Museum of Art, Boston College, 2016
Paperback
9 x 1.1 x 12 inches
Bharti Kher: Sketchbooks and Diaries
$36.00
Bharti Kher, 2013 Artist-in-Residence at the Gardner, was enriched and recharged by spending time thinking and living amongst the Museum’s extraordinary building and art treasures.The focus of this show—on view in the Fenway Gallery from September 20, 2017 to September 10, 2018—is a series of drawings and notebooks Kher made during that time. All the drawings in this artist's book were made by Bharti Kher between 2013 and 2015. The drawings are very tactile, often provocative, and charged with humor and a capriciousness that is smart and mischievous at the same time. They reflect on gender and motherhood, anatomy, and the physiology of pregnancy. They speak of empathy and love while investigating the enigmatic paradoxes and ambiguities of what it means to be human.
By Bharti Kher, edited by Pieranna Cavalchini, Curator of Contemporary Art at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and Diana C Stoll
64 pages
Published by the Corraini Edizioni, 2017
Hardcover
9 x 0.5 x 6 inches
Blueprint T-Shirt
$29.95
Isabella’s Palace is one of a kind. From the architecture, to the artwork, to the gardens... the building is a living art form. By integrating Roman, Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance elements and stone columns, she could have created a discordant mess. Instead it is a beautiful and harmonious whole. The Museum's blueprint is printed on a 100% cotton Architee shirt.
Please note: X-Small shirts are only available in Navy; sizes Small to 3X-Large are only available in black.
Unisex sizes
Printed in USA
Bomba Bag
$248.00
Carla Fernández (Artist-in-Residence, 2013) is a Mexico City-based fashion label inspired by the geometrics and textile richness of Mexico. The brand has gained international acclaim for their approach to preserving the rich cultural heritage of Mexico’s indigenous communities and transforming it into beautiful clothing, textiles and housewares. Their contemporary take on handcrafted methods proves that ethical fashion can be striking, avant-garde and forward-looking.
The Bomba Bag is a flat leather bag with back zipper in black featuring a wood hand-carved handle from Santa María Rayón. The Bag is inspired by a molinillo, a traditional Mexican hot chocolate whisk.
Interior handle measures 3.375" D
Body: 100% leather (unlined)
Handle: wood
Made in Mexico
Boston's Apollo: Thomas McKeller & John Singer Sargent
$45.00
Winner of the 2020 George Wittenborn Memorial Book Award from
The Art Libraries Society of North America
In 1916, John Singer Sargent (1856–1925) met Thomas Eugene McKeller (1890-1962) a young African American elevator attendant at Boston’s Hotel Vendome. McKeller became the principal model for Sargent’s murals in the new wing of the Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts, among the painter’s most ambitious works. Sargent’s nude studies and sketches from this project attest to a close collaboration between the two men that unfolded over nearly ten years. Featuring drawings given by Sargent to Isabella Stewart Gardner and published in full for the first time, a portrait of McKeller, and archival materials reconstructing his life and relationship with Sargent, this book opens new avenues into artist-model relationships and transforms our understanding of Sargent’s iconic American paintings. Essays offer the first biography of Thomas McKeller and a window into African American life in early 20th century Roxbury. They address the artist’s sexuality, his models, and consider questions of race and gender.
224 pages
Published by Yale Press, 2020
Hardcover
9 x 12 inches
Botticelli's Witness: Changing Styles in a Changing Florence
$21.95
The life of Sandro Botticelli coincided with the close of the 15th century and the beginning of the 16th. This historical moment saw the transition from the rule of the Medici—whose name is synonymous with patronage of the arts—to the fanatical reforms of the Dominican Savonarola.
The catalog that accompanied the exhibition Botticelli's Witness: Changing Styles in a Changing Florence—on view at the Gardner Museum from January 24 to April 6, 1997—features major paintings from all decades of Botticelli's career, along with works by his followers and contemporaries. Within this catalog, three experts explore the relationship between Botticelli's distinct yet changing visual "voice" and the turbulent Florence society of his day.
By Hillard T. Goldfarb, James Hankins, and Laurence Kanter, with preface by former Director Anne Hawley
73 pages
Published by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1997
Paperback
11.5 x 0.4 x 9 inches
Botticelli: Heroines and Heroes
$21.95
Accompanying the exhibition at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (February 14 – May 19, 2019), this catalog explores the work of legendary Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli (about 1444–1510). Today the alluring and enigmatic Primavera forms the cornerstone of his modern fame, but its familiarity belies distant origins in the heady intellectual environment of Laurentian Florence and the residences of its moneyed elite. Part of a genre called spalliera, so named for their installation around shoulder (spalla) height, this type of painting introduced beautiful, strange, and disturbing images into lavish Florentine homes. With staggering originality, Botticelli reinvented ancient subjects for the domestic interior, paneling patrician bedrooms with moralizing tales and offering erudite instruction to their influential inhabitants.
At the center of this exhibition is a spalliera reunited, the Gardner’s Tragedy of Lucretia and its companion The Tragedy of Virginia (Accademia Carrara, Bergamo). Together with extraordinary loans of the same genre from European and American public collections, Heroines and Heroes explores Botticelli’s revolutionary approach to antiquity – from ancient Roman to early Christian – and offers a new perspective on his late career masterpieces.
By Nathaniel Silver, Curator of the Collection, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
144 pages
Published by Paul Holberton Publishing, 2019
Paperback
9.5 x 11 inches
Brown Barragon Jacket
$220.00
Carla Fernández (Artist-in-Residence, 2013) is a Mexico City-based fashion label inspired by the geometrics and textile richness of Mexico. The brand has gained international acclaim for their approach to preserving the rich cultural heritage of Mexico’s indigenous communities and transforming it into beautiful clothing, textiles and housewares. Their contemporary take on handcrafted methods is proving ethical fashion can be striking, avant-garde and forward-looking.
Carla Fernandez's designs return to ancestral heritage, working with the roots of the Mexican dress form and its geometric conception. This historic theme influences the brand's "square root" system, found in many Carla Fernandez pieces.
Measures 15.5" shoulder to shoulder; 11.75" sleeve to shoulder; 21.5" neck to hem with 19.5" fringe
Machine wash only
Returns
If your ordered garment isn't to your liking, we are happy to accept returns. Please contact shipping@isgm.org to initiate a return. We will send you a pre-paid return label. Provided that the garment is returned in its original condition, we will issue a full refund.
Chariot of Venus Foldable Tote
$18.95
The Chariot of Venus8th century
François Boucher, French, Paris, 1703 - 1770, Paris
Painter to King Louis XV, François Boucher defined artistic tastes at the French court. He is best known for mythological paintings like this one, the compositions of which reached audiences far and wide through tapestry, porcelain, and print.
Gardner purchased this painting from Wildenstein and Co., venerable dealers of French art. She paid a fraction of the price of her most expensive Italian paintings. Gardner collected few Rococo works; perhaps she sought to fill the void in her collection with this one. It was installed in the Little Salon by 1912, along with a second painting of similar style and an embroidery made from Boucher’s designs, an apparent homage to the French master.
These shopper totes feature fan-favorite artwork from the Gardner Museum. Sturdy and lightweight, these totes are perfect for an impromptu shopping adventure. When folded into the included carry bag, the tote is easily store in a jacket pocket or purse.
Tote measures 16" x 26" with 9.5" handle drop
Tote pouch measures 4.5" x 4.5"
Made of polyester
Chariot of Venus Magnet
$6.00
Chariot of Venus
François Boucher (Paris, 1703 - 1770, Paris)
18th century
oil on canvas
Painter to King Louis XV, François Boucher defined artistic tastes at the French court. He is best known for mythological paintings like this one, the compositions of which reached audiences far and wide through tapestry, porcelain, and print.
Gardner purchased this painting from Wildenstein and Co., venerable dealers of French art. She paid a fraction of the price of her most expensive Italian paintings. Gardner collected few Rococo works; perhaps she sought to fill the void in her collection with this one. It was installed in the Little Salon by 1912, along with a second painting of similar style and an embroidery made from Boucher’s designs, an apparent homage to the French master.
Measures 2.5" x 3.5"
Made in the USA
Chariot of Venus Scarf
$47.00
Francois Boucher (French, 1703 - 1770), The Chariot of Venus, 18th centuryPainter to King Louis XV, François Boucher defined artistic tastes at the French court. He is best known for mythological paintings like this one, the compositions of which reached audiences far and wide through tapestry, porcelain, and print.
Gardner purchased this painting from Wildenstein and Co., venerable dealers of French art. She paid a fraction of the price of her most expensive Italian paintings. Gardner collected few Rococo works; perhaps she sought to fill the void in her collection with this one. It was installed in the Little Salon by 1912, along with a second painting of similar style and an embroidery made from Boucher’s designs, an apparent homage to the French master.
33 x 51 inches
100% Polyester
Machine Washable
Charmaine Wheatley: The Impossible Shoes Print
$100.00
The second edition in our contemporary limited fine art print series, created from a photograph of a painting titled: The Impossible Shoes by Charmaine Wheatley (Artist-in-Residence, 2012) to commemorate the ephemeral site-specific exhibit titled Charmaine Wheatley: Souvenirs, installed in the museum’s Fenway Gallery from September 2015 to February 2017. The original work is a painting of Isabella Stewart Gardner’s shoes, which the artist made in the Textile Conservation Lab. Each edition print is stamped, numbered, and signed on the front by the artist.Limited Edition Print
Charmaine Wheatley
Hand signed and numbered edition of 300
13.832 x 19 inches unframed
Chrysanthemum Milk Chocolate Bar
$10.95
We collaborated with Boxborough, MA chocolatiers Lala and Neethu of Two Friends Chocolate to create our Courtyard Confections line of chocolates inspired by the Gardner Museum. These marvelous bars highlight the complex flavors of edible flowers featured in the Courtyard.This bar features chrysanthemums, which may be seen in the Courtyard during certain times throughout the year.
Each bar is hand-wrapped in letterpress papers from Florence, Italy.
Allergen warning: Contains soy. Bars are manufactured in a facility that also processes milk, peanuts, and other tree nuts.
Close Up: Bourdichon's Boston Hours
$19.95
This absorbing book explores the crown jewel of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum’s collection of rare books and manuscripts: Jean Bourdichon’s Boston Hours. As court artist to King François I of France, Bourdichon produced paintings, books and even parade floats for the sovereign and his entourage. This publication accompanies the museum’s first ever exhibition dedicated to this spectacular illuminated manuscript.
Painter to two kings, Jean Bourdichon remains today one of the most celebrated artists of the French Renaissance. By age twenty-four, he was already serving as “peintre du roy,” a title which Bourdichon held for the rest of his life. His illustrious career at the French royal court led to a wide range of commissions—from portraits to wall maps to stained glass—but he is remembered principally for astonishing illuminated manuscripts. The peerless Grandes Heures for Queen Anne of Brittany remains the touchstone of this group which includes some of the most lavishly painted books of hours ever produced.
One of these masterpieces—Bourdichon’s Boston Hours—in the collection of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is the subject of this book. Bourdichon’s only intact book of hours in the United States was acquired by Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1890 and became the crown jewel of her collection of rare books and manuscripts. Leading scholars Nicholas Herman and Anne-Marie Eze explore its history in depth, shedding new light on the book’s patronage and provenance—from the shelves of a wealthy Catholic landowner in Lincolnshire to the shop of a Venetian art and antiques dealer.
This book is the latest in the Gardner’s Close Up series, each installment focusing on an individual, outstanding work of art in the collection. This publication is the first dedicated to this rare treasure, and precedes an exhibition opening in summer 2022.
64 pages
Published by Paul Holberton Publishing, 2021
Paperback
9.3 x 7.6 inches
Close Up: Piermatteo D'Amelia's Annunciation
$14.95
A new exhibition program, Close Up, features a single work in Isabella Stewart Gardner’s collection. Removed from the historic Palace and displayed in Hostetter Gallery for a short time, it is the subject of lectures, in-gallery presentations and a publication. To inaugurate the exhibition series, we chose a painting close to Isabella’s heart, an altarpiece of The Annunciation by Italian Renaissance painter Piermatteo d’Amelia, traditionally found in our Raphael Room.While Gardner fell in love with this Annunciation, its history was only revealed after her death. This book recounts three fascinating stories behind this work of art: the riveting tales of its acquisition, its attribution, and its painter. These stories take us back through half a millennium of history, from the false compartment of a smuggler’s trunk on a train bound for Paris to the high altar of a tiny hermitage in rural Italy, with a brief detour to the Sistine Chapel. Like the exhibition, this book offers fresh perspectives on The Annunciation, shedding new light on a familiar masterpiece.
By Nathaniel Silver, Associate Curator at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
60 pages
Published by Applewood Books, 2016
Paperback
5.5 x 0.2 x 8.2 inches
Close Up: Raphael & The Pope's Librarian
$19.95
Published in commemoration of the 500th anniversary of Raphael’s death, this engrossing book accompanies an exhibition the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Raphael and the Pope’s Librarian brings together for the first time one of the most fascinating works in the museum’s collection – the Gardner Museum’s portrait of papal librarian Tommaso Inghirami – and a painting from the Vatican Museums depicting an episode in his life. This book tells the story of the first Raphael in America and explores Inghirami’s fascinating career.
Nearly five centuries after his death in 1520, Raphael’s fame remains undiminished. According to the celebrated writer Henry James, Raphael’s work was “semi-sacred.” Gilded Age American collectors swooned over his iconic religious images. They feverishly tried and failed to acquire Raphael’s rare paintings in a market flooded with copies, and the occasional forgery.
Isabella Stewart Gardner was the first collector to bring a work by Raphael to America, where she named an entire gallery of her new Boston museum after the Renaissance master and installed many of her most celebrated works of art around his portrait of the rotund cleric Tommaso Inghirami.
Raphael and the Pope’s Librarian (October 31, 2019 - January 30, 2020) is part of the Close Up exhibition series, each installment of which sheds new light on an outstanding work of art in the permanent collection.
By Nathaniel Silver and Ingrid Rowland
Composite Landscapes: Photomontage and Landscape Architecture
$40.00
Composite Landscapes examines one of landscape architecture's most recognizable forms: the montage view. The volume gathers work from a select group of contemporary artists and a dozen of the world's leading landscape architects. These composite views reveal practices of photomontage depicting the conceptual, experiential, and temporal dimensions of landscape.Composite Landscapes illustrates the analog origins of a method now rendered ubiquitous through digital means. In revisiting the composite landscape view as a cultural form, Composite Landscapes illuminates the contemporary status of the photographically constructed image for the design disciplines and beyond.
Edited by Charles Waldheim and Andrea Hansen, with contributions by James S. Ackerman, James Corner, Stephen Daniels, Anette Freytag, Andrea Hansen, Karen M'Closkey, and Charles Waldheim
176 pages
Published by Hatje Cantz, 2014
Hardcover
10 x 1 x 12 inches
Courtyard Magnet
$6.00
Take home a piece of Isabella's Courtyard with this magnet.Isabella Stewart Gardner began the annual tradition of hanging colorful displays of nasturtium vines that cascaded from the Courtyard balconies at Fenway. The vines continue to come alive during the week before Easter as the Gardner Museum celebrates the arrival of spring.
Photograph by Sean Dugan
Photograph by Clements & Howcroft, 2009
4 x 3 inches
Made in the USA
Courtyard Note Card Set
$24.95
Throughout the year, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum's always-blooming Courtyard is transformed through a series of nine dramatic seasonal displays that reflect Isabella's passion for gardens as well as the skill and dedication of the Museum's horticulture staff.
From orchids to nasturtiums to Japanese-style chrysanthemums, there's always something new to discover thanks to the changing season and the rotation of plants. Most of the plants used for the Courtyard are grown in the Museum's temperature-controlled Hingham greenhouses and trucked to the Palace location where they are rotated in order to keep the displays in pea condition.
This set of eight note cards with envelopes showcases different views of our lush Courtyard.
6.25 x 4.75 inches box
Courtyard Porcelain Ornament
$16.95
Isabella Stewart Gardner began the annual tradition of hanging colorful displays of nasturtium vines that cascaded from the Courtyard balconies at Fenway. The vines continue to come alive during the week before Easter as the Gardner Museum celebrates the arrival of spring.This ready-to-gift porcelain ornament celebrates the beautiful blooms that appear once annually in the Venetian windows of the Courtyard.
5" D with 5" silk ribbon
Porcelain
Made in the USA
Courtyard Puzzle
$26.00
Take home a piece of Isabella's Courtyard with this puzzle!
This 300 piece puzzle features the Fenway Courtyard with its annual nasturtium display. The puzzle comes in a paperboard box so you can safely store your puzzle.
Photograph by Clements & Howcroft, 2009
Puzzle measure 11 x 17 inches
300 pieces
Courtyard Tea
$16.00
Gardens and horticulture flourish at the Gardner Museum, reflecting Isabella Stewart Gardner’s passions. The Museum’s interior Courtyard is an astonishing work of art itself, combining horticultural, sculptural, and architectural elements. This serene blend of naturally caffeine-free flowers and herbs pays homage to that colorful tradition.This tea comes from our collection of loose teas inspired by the Museum and blended by Elmwood Inn Fine Teas.
Ingredients: Chamomile, rooibos, lemon balm, lemon verbena, linden flowers, anise, cinnamon, oat straw, hops, passion flower, and orange peel
NET WT. 3.5 oz (100G)
Crescent Shield Mercer Tile
$34.95
Moravian Pottery Tile Works of Doylestown, Pennsylvania opened its doors in 1898 and continues to operate today. Our reproduction Gothic Room Floor Tiles originate from the same ceramic studio that Isabella Stewart Gardner commissioned to create the Gothic Room’s floor. Each tile motif, inspired by different artistic trades and geometric designs, is made using glazed red clay.
3.5 x 3.5 inchesLimited Edition
Dark Chocolate Bar
$10.95
We collaborated with Boxborough, MA chocolatiers Lala and Neethu of Two Friends Chocolate to create our Courtyard Confections line of chocolates inspired by the Gardner Museum. These marvelous bars highlight the complex flavors of edible flowers featured in the Courtyard.Enjoy this smooth dark chocolate bar after a relaxing day in the Museum!
Each bar is hand-wrapped in letterpress papers from Florence, Italy.
Allergen warning: Contains soy. Bars are manufactured in a facility that also processes milk, peanuts, and other tree nuts.
Dennis Miller Bunker and His Circle
$8.00
From the exhibition Dennis Miller Bunker and His Circle, on view from January 13 to June 4, 1995 at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The exhibition featured works from the Gardner, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and several private collections.The essay in this catalog explores Dennis Miller Bunker and the broader crosscurrents of influence in which Bunker participated, as well as his own crucial role as teacher and artistic pioneer. Also included are selected entries from the exhibition, featuring brief commentaries on the works.
By Erica E. Hirshler, with forward by Anne Hawley, former Director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
63 pages
Published by the Trustees of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 1995
Paperback
10.8 x 0.4 x 10.5 inches
Designing a Garden: Monk's Garden at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
$40.00
Designing a Garden presents Michael Van Valkenburgh’s concept and execution of the Monk’s Garden, an intimate, walled site immediately adjacent to Isabella Stewart Gardner’s Venetian palazzo on the Fenway. Devoted to horticulture and music as well as Old Master paintings and sculpture, Mrs. Gardner planted multiple gardens on the site herself. Van Valkenburgh’s design aims to interpret the museum’s meandering gallery layout, and the rich colors and textures of its idiosyncratic collection, in a contemporary landscape context.
A small-scale, dreamlike woodland, the garden is composed of approximately sixty trees including Stewartia, paperbark maple, and gray birch, that establish a detail-rich palette of colors and textures suitable for intimate appreciation. Winding paths, paved in a striking combination of black brick and reflective mica schist, meander through the trees in the Olmstedian tradition that invites a gentle pace and contemplation.
Van Valkenburgh’s text explores the origins of his love of landscape and plants in his family farm in Upstate New York and moves through the designing of the Monk’s Garden, focusing on the experiential nature of the process and the challenges and satisfactions of the small scale and the historic and cultural context.
By Michael Van Valkenburgh
208 pages
Published by The Monacelli Press, 2019
Hardcover
7.5 x 9.5 inches
Dormition and Assumption Silk Scarf
$160.00
The Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin
1430-1434
Fra Angelico, Italian, about 1400-1455
Fra Angelico’s technical and compositional innovations paved the way for a more modern manner of painting in Florence, and he found favor with important patrons, including two popes. This panel is the third in a set of four reliquaries, or containers for holy relics, depicting episodes from the Virgin’s life.
Nineteenth-century enthusiasts celebrated this Dominican painter “Fra Angelico” (the angelic friar) for the spiritual content and lyrical quality of his work. Most of his paintings in the United States are the surviving fragments of larger works, but this one is nearly intact and was greatly admired in Boston. Gardner’s friend the American painter John La Farge, whose works can be found in the Blue Room, once reminded her that even Robert Langton Douglas, a British art critic and director of the National Gallery of Ireland, praised Gardner’s Fra Angelico in his writings.
33.5" x 45"
Dragon Tea
$16.00
The dragon is a popular motif found in art, literature, and tea!Inspired by Saint George Slaying the Dragon by Carlo Crivelli, our Dragon Tea has very earthy and subtle tones. The name of the tea came into the English language from the Chinese name meaning "black dragon" because this rolled oolong tea was black, long, and curly. It was first produced in the legendary Wuyi Mountains of the Fujian Province in northern China.
This tea comes from our collection of loose teas inspired by the Museum and blended by Elmwood Inn Fine Teas.
Ingredients: Oolong tea
NET WT. 3.5 oz (100G)
Dutch Room Earl Grey Tea
$16.00
As a tribute to Rubens, we've added a note of Flemish lavender blossoms to our unique blend named after one of the world's most-loved blended teas. You'll notice a hint of Italian oil of bergamot highlighting the base of this black tea, grown in the highlands of Ceylon.This tea comes from our collection of loose teas inspired by the Museum and blended by Elmwood Inn Fine Teas.
Ingredients: Black tea from Sri Lanka, cornflower petals, lavender blossoms and oil of bergamot
NET WT. 3.5 oz (100G)
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 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 enamel pin 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 ensemble!
Measures 1.5" x .1.25"
Made of enamel and stainless steel
El Jaleo Eyeglass Case
$20.00
El Jaleo1882
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
El Jaleo Foldable Tote
$18.95
El Jaleo1882
John Singer Sargent, American, 1856 - 1925
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.
These shopper totes feature fan-favorite artwork from the Gardner Museum. Sturdy and lightweight, these totes are perfect for an impromptu shopping adventure. When folded into the included carry bag, the tote is easily store in a jacket pocket or purse.
Tote measures 16" x 26" with 9.5" handle drop
Tote pouch measures 4.5" x 4.5"
Made of polyester
El Jaleo Framed Postcard
$42.00
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.
Framed postcard measures 6.3" x 8.5" x 1"
El Jaleo Magnet
$6.00
El Jaleo1882
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
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, artists, authors, and notable figures inspired by Isabella and the Museum are also available. Click here to explore our Ornament Collection!
Measures 2.5" x 4"
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