Why are there empty frames on the walls of Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum?

CBS News

12-03-2025

The remains of Boston's infamous Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum art heist are intact due to the will and testament of its owner.
Why the empty frames?
Everything must remain just as it was, and the museum is trying to do their best to maintain her wish despite the lost art. It's a crime scene purposely stuck in time.
"We don't add to the museum. We don't sell anything, and we don't rearrange anything, and it's why the theft of this art is such a loss. We won't replace them. We are just waiting for them to come back," said the museum's Director of Conservation Holly Salmon.
It's how Isabella Stewart Gardner wanted it, which means even though two men stole 13 works of art from her museum in 1990, all that can remain are the frames. ,
"If I do my work correctly, it looks like I didn't do much," joked Andrew Haines, who did the restoration work on the frame.
"It's all specific to that line in her will, and there's more context to the will itself," said Salmon.
Salmon and her team are working to return the Dutch Room back to its original state by undoing any restoration changes that occurred over time. Next month, they start work on the ceiling.
"There's a 16th century Italian ceiling in here that is painted with mythical and historical figures that she put in this place," said Salmon. "From the moment she died, the museum was attempting to preserve this collection, and some of those preservation measures have made small changes that have added up to a very different look to this space.
Masterpieces on the walls
The restoration also includes the frames of any stolen art, including the frame that once held Rembrandt's "The Storm on the Sea of Galilee." It was recently taken down for renovation but returned to the wall on Tuesday. The anniversary of the heist is next week.
Haines believes the frame may be 250 years younger than the painting itself.
"The size of the painting may change in some strange way because we don't know what was damaged and what wasn't when they were stolen," he said.
Haines replaced missing pieces that had been lost while maintaining the frame's age.
"You will see it's not quite as brilliantly gold as some of the other gilt objects in this room," adds Haines.
Does the famous theft draw patrons?
The frames are part of the draw to the museum, however, the museum's security team doesn't believe the publicity from the theft outweighs the draw of the paintings themselves.
"No, not at all. I think any time people consider how many people come to see the empty frames, that number would be dwarfed by the number of people who come see a Vermeer or Rembrandt's only seascape," said Security Director Anthony Amore.
Amore is tasked with finding the art along with the FBI. With each anniversary, he feels closer to an answer, believing time will bring someone forward.
"When masterpieces are stolen, they are often recovered decades after because people are more willing to talk. The scariest people involved are no longer as scary," he said. "The museum itself isn't complete until these pieces come back."