The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World's Largest Unsolved Art Theft

This book grabbed me by the ears and wouldn't let me go until the last page was turned.

I love the Gardner. Years ago, I went there without knowing anything about the robbery, and just loved the charm of the empty frames on the wall. At the same time, the museum seems almost frenetic, the way the art looks thrown on the walls. Once I realized why those frames were empty, I was hooked. I looked up the stolen pieces, tried to remember if I'd seen them somewhere. I was almost certain I had, but where?

Maybe that's why I liked this so much. Because I can absolutely see myself getting as lost in the mystery as Smith or Boser did.

Seriously.

In 1990, two thieves dressed as policemen gained access to the Isabella Stewart Garnder Museum, trussed up the night guards, and made off with impressive loot, including works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, and a Chinese ku. Since then, the heist has never been solved, though many - such as Harold Smith - have pursued leads for decades that takes them from the Boston mob to the IRA. Ulrich Boser finds himself fascinated and starts pursuing leads both promising and fantastical, taking him into the seedy underbelly of art and museum theft.

This is a fascinating tale - not only of an unsolved mystery but also how we can become obsessed. Would art be as beautiful if it were not so valuable? When does collecting become almost like an addiction, and show more why does possessing art make us feel a connection with the creator? The book was almost as fascinating for Boser's eventual obsession with the case as it was for the mystery of what could have happened in March 1990. It actually becomes a bit repetitive as lead after lead becomes a dead end and he has to swing back around to the beginning all over again. I also wondered what may have changed: for example, it was written before Whitey Bulger's apprehension, and I have to think that aspects that dealt with him need an update. Still, for anyone interested in art and true crime, this story of the investigation has a lot to offer. show less

While Boston slept with a hangover from St. Patrick’s Day mayhem, on March 17, 1990, two thieves, disguised as policeman, convinced a security guard at the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum to let them enter. Quickly taping and tying the guards in the basement, the two thugs then went on a leisurely 81 minute stroll throughout the museum where they slashed Rembrandts from the frames, punched and poked canvases, unscrewed a case holding a Napoleonic flag, and in the wake left glass and paint chips on the richly carpeted floors. In so doing, they raped and pillaged 13 incredibly valuable works of art that have never been recovered.

Rapidly increasing in value, they are now valued at a whopping 500 million. Uninsured, the loss greatly stung show more the Gardner museum. Irreplaceable, the loss continues to sting all who can no longer enjoy Vermeer’s The Concert or Rembrandt’s one and only seascape The Storm on the Sea of Galilee.

Perhaps forever gone is the ability to observe the white-whipped waves as they violently assault the deck of the ship, to feel the terror of the disciples as the fear for their life, to hear the wind as it slashes the mast and renders the boat tempest tossed.

Forever gone? To the right of the canvas, the image of a sick disciple as he dramatically clings to the side of the ship and vomits into the sea, while behind him the halo of Christ shines above a serene face that will soon calm the waters.

And, look at that clever Rembrandt! What a silly fellow! He is smack dab in the middle of the turmoil. Tam on his head, turquoise shirt on his body, he looks out at us as if to say “Here I am!” “I’m right where I belong, in the sea of Galilee with Christ and these guys!” “I’m hanging out with the good company of Christ!”

Forever gone? Destroyed? Sitting in a garbage dump? Hidden for all to appreciate except a wealthy, selfish connoisseur who delights in his hidden treasure? Rotting away in a damp warehouse? Neglected in storage, surrounded by flakes of paint chips from the 1600’s?

Boser’s well written book is hard to put down, yet it took more time than usual for me to read because it was packed with so many intriguing details.

The author provides interesting biographical details of the wealthy Isabella who, like the Fricks, the Woolworths and The Havemeyers collected art, not only for the sake of beauty, but primarily for the social status it brought.

Boser takes the reader on a wild ride into the underbelly of the art world where mobs use stolen art as a means to broker lighter sentences, where dealers scam the rich by double dipping, where the collection and theft of art is a fever that reaches near death proportions

HIGHLY recommended. show less

I very much enjoyed the details of this book, how so much of the mystery of what happened to these works of art is truly, tantalizingly unsolved. It's heartbreaking to imagine the works damaged or destroyed. Not so much to imagine that they are in the hands of appreciative criminals. Author has a very curious way of inserting himself, and his obsession with the case, into the story in surprising spots. He was most definitely obsessed, and reveals some very odd behavior that stemmed from this driving need to crack the case...which never happens. Though he does not neatly lay out his clear theory it does become fairly obvious who he thinks the mystery began with. I hope that in my lifetime this one is solved to satisfaction. Meanwhile, I show more will visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum again with even more appreciation. show less

The largest unsolved art heist in history happened at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. Two men stole twelve works of art including a Vermeer and several Rembrandts. The ripped and cut paintings out of frames, and the lot has never been found. Boser's book sets out to try and find out what happened to the missing art. The result is an intriguing look at art detection and the Boston criminal underworld. The methods art detectives use to recover works are often unorthodox. Detectives have to maintain a network of surly underworld contacts.

This book was tremendously interesting. It is also somewhat depressing. It's frightening just how many works of art are stolen, and how poorly protected most museums are. Boser show more points out that many of us would like to believe that when artworks are stolen they are secreted away to private collections. In fact, that is almost never the case. Stolen art most frequently becomes currency in the criminal world, providing collateral for all sorts of unsavory underworld activities. Drugs, weapons, the mafia: stolen art funds all of them. Thieves are rarely punished because the most important objective for the art detective is to get priceless works back into museums.

Boser does not ever recover any of the stolen works, but his journey is fascinating. I learned a great deal about art theft and recovery, and how the criminal world uses priceless works of art. Anyone with an interest in art or crime would enjoy this book. show less

The Gardner Heist is, fairly obviously, a book on the theft of thirteen pieces of art at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990. The subtitle notes it is currently the world's largest unsolved art theft. Journalist Ulrich Boser does a fair job of describing the theft, finding the few witnesses that exist. But early in the book, he decides that he's as able as anyone else to solve this case, and thus he jets around this country -- and even to England and Ireland -- in hopes of finding the artwork. Unfortunately, virtually everyone in the Boston crime scene shouts out a version of "I am Spartacus," as mob bosses to petty thieves all swear they have some connection to somebody who can return the art (or who was involved in show more the crime itself). There are a lot of dead ends, and I doubt I'm spoiling the ending by pointing out that the crime -- who did it, and where the art is now -- is still unsolved. Boser really lost me in one of the final chapters as he spent five pages fantasizing about what questions he would ask the person who has possession of any extant pieces (several experts believe a few of the paintings may have been irrevocably damaged). While this is a very readable book and provides some insight into the long and often boring process of tracking down leads, I would have preferred less of the author's quixotic search and more interviews with experts on what sorts of steps they might take (for restoration and preservation) of damaged works, assuming they're ever returned.

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LT Haiku:

From Ireland to
The U.S., there are many
Who may hide paintings. show less

Written nearly 20 years after the theft of over a dozen works of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston, this is the author's story of his involvement late in the game, when he himself grew determined to find out what happened to the missing art, and try to return it. Boser started out to write a feature story about Harold Smith, an insurance investigator who had been on the Gardner case for years. After meeting Smith, and being granted access to his voluminous files, Boser himself "caught the bug" and decided to pick up the investigation himself when Smith died within a few weeks of their meetings. The book is well put together, and quite readable, but ultimately unsatisfying as a there is no real suspense, and no show more resolution. After re-interviewing dozens of witnesses and potential leads, traveling all round the country as well as England and Ireland, Boser came no closer to finding the paintings or the thieves than his predecessors, and put himself in jeopardy of succumbing to an obsession, if not in actual danger of winding up dead, as had so many of the people who might have been involved in the heist and its aftermath. Boser did a good job of summarizing the known facts and the years of searching done before he came on the scene. He also illuminated the bizarre world of art collection, theft and recovery---that was probably the most fascinating part of the story. But his own efforts seemed unfocused and unskilled, and weren’t all that interesting to read about. Knowing that nearly 10 years after this book was published the frames of so many masterpieces still hang empty in the Gardner Museum didn’t help, either.
Review written September 2018 show less