This year, Netflix released a historical documentary that delves (once again) into the most mysterious, if not outrageous, art heist in history. This Is a Robbery: the World’s Biggest Art Heist was directed and produced by two Massachusetts natives, Colin and Nick Barnicle, sons of well-known columnist Mike Barnicle.

The short series (4 episodes) details the beginnings of the Gardner, including the vision that Mrs. Gardner had for this Venetian Palace, built on top of a filled-in swamp and destined to become one of the most famous museums in history. A museum with as much character as its creator, the Isabella Stewart Gardner’s collection was to remain exactly as Mrs. Gardner had left it. And remain the same it did, until the wee hours of March 18, 1990.

Though there is nothing  new to say about the robbery; art lovers and Boston residents can’t stop speculating, going back over all of the evidence, hoping against hope that something will “click” and the whole  mystery will be solved and that all thirteen pieces will be returned. Every so often we hear a snippet or two about the Gardner robbery, which sets off  a big hoopla and sensation, garnering  national and even international attention. And then… crickets. Where the heck can half a billion dollars worth of art be? Yes, the stolen pieces are now worth half a billion dollars! Wandering around the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum and looking at the empty frames gives one that haunting feeling in the pit of the stomach that is experienced when listening to Celine Dion’s “My Heart Will Go On.” For the art must still be; the alternative is too grim for words and depresses even the most casual art lover.

Despite the missing works, there is still plenty to see at the Gardner Museum, and if you have never visited, you are in for a unique experience. You can go to the museum’s website to learn all about the theft before you visit.  For the actual visit, The Morrill Memorial Library provides $5 passes to the museum for Norwood residents.

The Morrill Memorial Library and Minuteman Library Network also hold several titles that may be of interest for anyone who would like background information on the ISG. These are just a few of the titles available:

• Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: A Guide (2017)
• Stolen: The Gardner Theft (2018)
• The Gardner Heist: The True Story of the World’s Largest Unsolved Art Theft (2010)
• The Art Forger, by B. A. Shapiro (2012)

One of the most interesting aspects of the Barnicle brothers’ documentary are the interviews with many of the people who either worked for the museum or were on the case. One of these interviewees is Anne Hawley. Hawley was the director of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum at the time of the robbery. Not only was Hawley the first woman to ever hold that position, she had also held it for only six months when the robbery took place. Watching the old footage of the days after the heist, I felt that she held it together amazingly, considering the responsibility laid upon her shoulders. In fact, Anne Hawley summed up the whole incident beautifully when she said, “the empty frames are there, waiting for the art to return to its rightful place.” And so we wait.

Carla Howard is the Senior Circulation and Media & Marketing Assistant at the Morrill Memorial Library in Norwood, MA. Look for her article in the June 17, 2021 issue of the Transcript and Bulletin.