Image courtesy of the Isabella Stewart Gardner MuseumVermeer, The Concert, 1658–1660. Oil on canvas, 72.5 x 64.7 cm. One of approximately only 36 known works by Vermeer in the world. The subject is the making of music, suspended in time, at the split second just before song is about to break out. The figures in this work are intently preoccupied with their music: they do not look at each other and seem unaware that they are being observed. This work contains an air of mystery as well—i.e., who are these people and what are their relationships? Vermeer crafts rather deliberately a sense of mystery in this work. The reflections of light in the painting also intensify its mystery. This work was Gardner’s first major acquisition, purchased with the help of experts at a Paris auction sale. Gardner placed it on a table alongside the window, a location where she often placed her most prized paintings, with a chair in front of it to invite viewing.
In the early-morning hours of March 18, 1990, 13 paintings were stolen from Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Above, see a slide show with information the museum has provided about the stolen works.
Read more about the Gardner theft and Stealing Rembrandts, a book about art theft by Anthony Amore, M.P.A. ’00, now the Gardner’s head of security.