Eye of the Beholder: Masterpieces from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

"Isabella Stewart Gardner's museum is an extraordinary achievement... Her taste and intelligence engendered a very personal collection, replete with masterpieces but also with delightful eccentricities." (intro p.ix)

Eye of the Beholder is a celebration of this Boston museum and all the delightful treasures found within. It contains color photographs of the museum and the works that reside there (or previously resided there before a notorious art heist) as well as written reflections about the museum and its works by many important people of Mrs Gardner's time - such as Henry James, Edith Wharton, Henry Adams, John Singer Sargent, James Whistler, Bernard Berenson etc.

I really enjoyed looking through this book and reading a bit of show more background about the works of art. It has given me a little insight into the spirit of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum as well as the woman who collected and displayed these amazing pieces of art. I would recommend it to anyone, not just professionals or art students because it is quite a personal rather than technical art book. It serves as an introduction to a unique museum and also as a basic guide to the main works to be found there. The book is structured by the art time period, geographic origin, as well as type, with textiles and decorative arts being given their own chapter. show less