[MSN] Cold case: Documentary follows unsolved art theft (Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum).

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Cold case: Documentary follows unsolved art theft 

Marta Barber 
Miami Herald 
Published: Friday, June 30, 2006 


Isabella Stewart Gardner is a name well known in Boston as well as in the
world of art. This wealthy Bostonian left her world-class collection to the
museum in the Massachusetts capital. The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
claims to be the only museum in the world designed, financed and put
together by a woman. (The Peggy Guggenheim museum in Venice, to which it
could be compared, occupies an old palazzo in that Italian city.)

In the hours following St. Patrick's Day celebrations in 1990, the museum
was the scene of a heist, a robbery that made headlines around the world for
the ease with which thieves got in and out and for the quality of the stolen
paintings: five Degas, one Manet, one Flinck, three Rembrandts and Vermeer's
The Concert, considered one of the most valuable paintings in the world.

In Stolen, a captivating documentary, filmmaker Rebecca Dreyfus follows
renowned art detective Harold Smith in 1995, in his quest to find the cache,
which has been valued at over $300 million. From Boston to New York to
London and Paris, Smith talks to art thieves, shady dealers, Boston police
and Scotland Yard detectives while Dreyfus captures the scenes on camera.

There are details of Gardner's life (1840-1924) put in historical context by
newsreels of the turn of the 20th century. Upon the death of her only son,
still a baby, she dedicated her life to the collection of European art and
the building of the museum, which she called ''her baby,'' to house her
incredible collection. Among the more interesting scenes are the readings
(by Blythe Danner) of Gardner's correspondence with Bernard Berenson
(Campbell Scott), among the most respected and reputable art dealers at the
time. Most touching are the interviews with scholars and lovers of Vermeer
whose eyes tear up at recalling the beautiful painting.

Despite being at the verge of making deals -- between the authorities in
both the United Kingdom and the United States and individuals who assured
them they knew where to get the paintings -- the frames at the Isabella
Stewart Gardner Museum remain empty. (Gardner had a clause in her will that
nothing could be moved around.) So, there's no conclusion to the mystery and
therefore no thrill.

But, following the distinguished-looking -- albeit disfigured from skin
cancer -- detective offers a peek at a world foreign to most of us.