Women’s History Month – Isabella Stewart Gardner

Eccentric art collector. Passionate traveler. Lifelong horse lover. Meet the woman behind one of Boston’s most unique museums: Isabella Stewart Gardner.

Isabella Stewart Gardner was born in New York in 1840 into a wealthy family of linen merchants. She spent most of her childhood in New York, but also traveled through Europe, particularly Paris and Milan. After returning to the United States in 1858, she met John Lowell Gardner II, known as Jack, a Bostonian and the older brother of one of her classmates. The two married in 1860.

In 1863 they had their first and only child, a son, who tragically died just two years later. Isabella was devastated by the loss. Hoping a change of scenery might help, Jack took her back to Europe, where they traveled widely through Scandinavia, Russia, the Middle East, and much of central Europe. After inheriting $1.75 million from her father, Isabella began collecting art during her travels.

When Jack suddenly died in 1898, Isabella commissioned a four-story museum to house their art collection. The building eventually became the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

_{Photo by Amanda Uechi Ronan}

In 1906, Isabella expanded the estate by purchasing nearby land to build a carriage house and stable. The 65-foot building, designed in an Italian style, housed her horses and carriages until 1919.

While collecting art was her most famous passion, Isabella was also a lifelong horse lover and equestrian. Like many wealthy women of her time, she likely rode frequently growing up and continued riding as an adult, though most surviving photographs show her driving carriages rather than riding.

At some point she also became interested in horse racing. One of the earliest records of her involvement comes from 1893, when she purchased a racehorse named Halton from trainer Henry K. Vingut, who stayed on to train the horse.

_{Isabella Stewart Gardner (American, 1840–1924), Check Ledger Payment to Harry K. Vingut for the Race Horse “Halton,” 9 June 1894. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (ARC.005794)}

For at least two years, Isabella campaigned Halton on the track with impressive results. One preserved newspaper clipping describes the horse as “the best of the lot.” In the margin, Gardner proudly added a note in her own hand: “My horse. I.S.G.”

In another guest book entry, her trainer, Henry K. Vingut, wrote: “Win as though you were used to it and lose as though you liked it.”

He signed it with the words “Motto of the Green Hill Stable.”

_{Isabella Stewart Gardner (American, 1840–1924), Guest Book, Volume I, 14 June 1893 – 2 October 1894, page 47. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (v.1.b.4.12)}

Halton doesn’t appear in Isabella’s records after the 1890’s, but her interest in horse racing clearly didn’t fade. Scrapbooks she kept include several pages devoted to the sport.

One section is dedicated to George Green, an African American jockey who won a major steeplechase riding a horse named Fox Hunter. Gardner saved clippings about the race and even included a small snapshot of Green

_{Isabella Stewart Gardner (American, 1840–1924), Guest Book, Volume VII, June 1904, page 43. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (v.1.b.4.18]}

Closer to home, Isabella continued to focus more on carriage horses. Among her favorites were Dolly, Pluto, and Lady Betty. All three were important enough to be mentioned by name in her last will and testament in 1921.

“I hereby direct that the gift to the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals [MSPCA] is on the condition and subject to the charge that the said Society shall expend each year the sum of seventy-five dollars for a free stall in memory of three horses, Dolly, Pluto, and Lady Betty.”

_{Sarah Choate Sears (American, 1858–1935), Isabella Stewart Gardner in a Gig with her horse Dolly, late 19th century–early 20th century. Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (ARC.2004.1.1)}

Isabella lived on the fourth floor of the museum and curated the entire collection based on her own personal aesthetic, mixing different eras and styles with little concern for traditional labels or descriptive tags. When she died in 1924, she left the museum along with a $1 million endowment to ensure it would be preserved and cared for in the future.

Go riding.

Amanda Uechi Ronan is an author, equestrian, and wannebe race car driver. Follow her on Instagram @au_ronan.