New Book Reveals Insights on Gardner Museum Heist

More than three decades after two men disguised as police officers stole 13 artworks valued at over $500 million from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the heist remains the largest art theft in history and one of the art world's most enduring mysteries. The robbery, which occurred in the early hours of March 18, 1990, has never been solved, despite extensive investigations linking it to Boston's criminal underworld.

The theft unfolded as the city quieted after St. Patrick's Day celebrations. The intruders convinced a security guard to admit them, a violation of museum protocol, before handcuffing both guards in the basement and targeting the Dutch Room. There, they sliced from their frames masterpieces including Johannes Vermeer's The Concert and Rembrandt's Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee, along with pieces by Edgar Degas and Edouard Manet. The thieves also removed a Napoleonic eagle finial, a low-value decorative item that later puzzled investigators, and erased the surveillance tapes to cover their tracks.

The museum, founded by Isabella Stewart Gardner, embodies her vision of permanence. Gardner, who lived and died in the Venetian palace-style building in...