Thirty-five years after over a dozen artworks, including works by Rembrandt van Rijn and Edgar Degas, were stolen, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston is offering up to a $10 million reward for information that leads to the works’ safe return, the FBI said Tuesday.
On March 18, 1990, 13 works of art valued at more than $500 million were stolen from the Boston museum, the FBI said in a statement. The investigation into the theft determined that the artworks were separated “and their location[s] could be anywhere worldwide,” the agency said.
“Several pieces are believed to have moved along the Eastern seaboard through the Mid-Atlantic states down south,” the FBI stated. “The FBI is seeking the public’s assistance in recovering the stolen artwork.”
The FBI is not involved in the museum’s reward offer.
“We know what a special place [these artworks] hold in our society, and we are very eager to get them back,” FBI Boston Division Special Agent Jodi Cohen said in a statement on X. “We continue to seek the public’s assistance in locating these pieces and given the passage of time we urge everyone to familiarize themselves with what they look like.”
The museum was named after founder and philanthropist Isabella Stewart Gardner, who “left her museum for the ‘education and enjoyment of the public forever’ and we hope to see them returned for the benefit of all,” the museum said in a statement on Tuesday.
Two thieves dressed as Boston police officers arrived at the museum on the morning of March 18, 1990, and claimed to have responded to a disturbance, the museum’s website stated. An on-duty guard let them into the museum and he and another guard were handcuffed and tied up in a museum basement.
After 81 minutes, the thieves made their way through the galleries and stole 13 works of art, the museum said.
These stolen works include works by French sculptor Antoine-Denis Claudet, French impressionist Edgar Degas, French modernist painter Édouard Manet, and Dutch painters Govaert Flink and Rembrandt van Rijn.
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One of these works was a self-portrait of Rembrandt, known for making a series of self-portraits throughout his lifetime. The portrait stolen from Boston was made when the artist was in his 20s.
“It’s so important that this Rembrandt self-portrait is still here — not only because it’s a masterpiece,” Curator Nat Silver said in a 2020 museum audio retelling of the heist. “He’s just 23 years old when he paints this. He wants to become a successful artist, and he’s showing off what he can do. The light! Those textures! The velvet, the feather, and his hair. But it also has such special importance to us because in Isabella [Stewart Gardner’s] letters she tells us that acquiring this Rembrandt gave her the idea of moving beyond collecting for herself, and creating this museum.”
Seeing that these works return to Boston “remains a top priority,” the museum stated. A share of its $10 million reward will be given in exchange for information leading to the restitution of any portion of the stolen artworks.
Anyone with information about the stolen artworks is asked to call Director of Security Anthony Amore at 617-278-5114 or email him at reward@gardnermuseum.org.
The FBI also asked that anyone with information about the stolen art call their toll-free tipline at 1-800-225-5324. Those with information can also contact their local FBI office, the nearest American embassy or consulate, or submit a tip online at tips.fbi.gov.
The stolen artworks include:
- “Eagle Finial: Insignia of the First Regiment of Grenadiers of Foot of Napoleon’s Imperial Guard,” 1813-1814, by Antoine-Denis Chaudet
- “The Concert,” 1663-1666, by Johannes Vermeer
- Gu, a Shang dynasty ritual vessel cast in bronze from China in the 12th century
- “Chez Tortoni,” about 1875, by Édouard Manet
- “Landscape with an Obelisk,” 1638, by Govaert Flinck
By Rembrandt van Rijn
- “A Lady and Gentleman in Black,” 1633
- “Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee,” 1633
- “Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man,” about 1633
By Edgar Degas
- “Leaving the Paddock (La sortie du pesage),” 19th century
- “Procession on a Road near Florence (Cortège sur une route aux environs de Florence),” 1857-1860
- “Three Mounted Jockeys (Jockey à cheval),” about 1885-1888
- “Study for the Programme de la soirée artistique du 15 juin 1884 (Galerie Ponsin),“ 1884
- “Study for the Programme de la soirée artistique du 15 juin 1884 (Galerie Ponsin),” 1884
