Isabella Stewart Gardner

Isabella Stewart Gardner (April 14, 1840 – July 17, 1924) was an American art collector, philanthropist, and patron of the arts. She founded the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston.

Gardner was noted for her intellectual curiosity and love of travel. She was a friend of noted artists and writers of the day, including John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, Dennis Miller Bunker, Anders Zorn, Henry James, Dodge MacKnight, Okakura Kakuzō and Francis Marion Crawford.

Gardner created much fodder for the gossip columns of the day, with her reputation for stylish tastes and unconventional behavior. The Boston society pages called her by many names, including "Belle," "Donna Isabella," "Isabella of Boston," and "Mrs. Jack". Her surprising appearance at a 1912 concert (at what was, then, a very formal Boston Symphony Orchestra) wearing a white headband emblazoned with "Oh, you Red Sox" was reported, at the time, to have "almost caused a panic", and remains in Boston one of the most talked about of her eccentricities.

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