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Article: Mrs. Gardner's folly. (art theft at Boston's Gardner Museum)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- March 24, 1990
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1990 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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AN UNCONSCIOUS irony lies behind this week's massive art theft from Boston's Gardner Museum. The sense of outrage has almost as much to do with the invasion of a hallowed shrine of old Boston as with the robbery. Yet Mrs Gardner, a New Yorker, was cold-shouldered by Boston nineteenth-century society as a pushy outsider whose Parisian dresses were viewed with horror by the matrons of Back Bay. "Pray, who undressed you?" one wit inquired, hoping to embarrass her. He failed. Worth," she answered. "And didn't he do it well?"
It might be said that the museum was Mrs Gardner's revenge; Fenway Court, the remarkable Italian palazzo which she built well outside ...