Fenway Court: 1977

'Fenway Court 'i?

'FENWAY COURT Isabella Stewart Gardner JVIuseum

Published by the Trustees of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Incorporated Boston, Massachusetts Copyright 1978 Designed by Larry Webster T ype se t and printed by Thomas Todd Co., Printers, Boston

Photograph c redits: Loi s Bowen

viii: Henry Wad swo rth Longfellow H ouse .

Eleanor M cPeck p. 40 : Sou th Ga rd e n , 1977.

Bonne ll Robinson p . 39 : Cou rtya rd, 1978 .

Larry Webster Frontispiece: Bindings case in th e long Ga ll e ry. p . 44: Visito rs in South Garden . p . 46: Staff at Chri s tmas party . p . 48 . Barred Owl in Ro se Ga rd en .

T . E. Marr (Mu seum archives) p . 34 : Entrance to Ga rdn e r res idence a t 152 Beaco n Street.

Italia n garden a t Green Hill , Brook lin e . p . 36: Japane se ga rden at Gree n Hill , Brook line . En gli s h ga rde n at Gree n Hill, Brooklin e. p . 37: Courtyard , 1902. p . 41: Monks' Garden , 1921 p . 4z: Arbor at Green Hill , Brookline . p . 52: Courtya rd , 191 5.

All ot h e r photog raphs by Joseph Prat t, Museum Pho togra phe r .

Cover: Detail of " Adam naming the animals in the Garden of Eden," etching by Jan Luiken in Afbeeldingen der Merkwaardi gs te Geschiedenissen v at het Oude en Nieuwe Testaments, Amsterdam, J. Covens and C. Mortier, 1729, Inv, No. 3.1.26, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. From Eden an d Oth er Gardens, an exhibition of illustrated books, June 6 - September 24, 1978.

Contents

vii. A Note on the Books, Manuscripts, and Letters in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Rebecca Karo 1.

Garden Books from the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Diane Kostial McGuire 9. A Rare Copy of the . . . MAISONS DE PLAISANCE . . .

Philip Hofer 14. Flowers and Gardens in Queen Anne Children's Books

Marian

Parry 25. Chateau and Garden Tapestries at Fenway Court 35. An " Eminent Horticulturalist"

Lisa 0 . Ehret

Eleanor McPeck

The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Incorporated Fifty-third Annual Report for the Year 1977 43. Report of the President Malcolm D. Perkins 45 . Report of the Director Rollin van N . Hadley 50. Report of the Curator Deborah Gribbon 53. Note on the Organization of the Museum 5 4. Publications 56. Trustees and Staff

Edens and Other Gardens Checklist for an exhibition of illustrated books at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum June 6 - September 24, 1978

Foreword

A museum with galleries opening onto a main courtyard appears in the architect' s notes during his earliest discussions with Mrs. Gardner in 1899 . At the center of this design, forever in the memory of all who have been here, is the museum's interior garden. In no other art museum are flowers given such a commanding presence.

Books in the collection are barely visible, occupying shelves in the Long Gallery whose glass doors are now covered against the invasion of daylight. Flowers that have bloomed for centuries between their covers are sometimes made available for the inspection of scholars or reproduced in photographs.

In tribute to the museum's reputation in horticulture and to the founder as book collector, Rebecca Karo conceived an exhibition on the theme Eden and Other G arden s. It will be in the Little Salon from early June to the end of September, 1978. The articles in this issue of Fenway Court complement the exhibition, discussing some of the more delightful books, the Garden and Chtiteau tapestries which will be displayed with the books, and Mrs. Gardner's interest in garden design.

It is fitting that two of Mrs. Gardner's interests, the most visible and the least, should be honored by the exhibition and this annual report.

A Note on the Books, Manuscripts, and Letters in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Besides the 2,000 objects in the collection, the Gardner Museum has 1,000 rare books spanning 6 centuries. This small library features fine bindings, outstanding examples of book illustration and typography, and some literary editions of note . There are 10 fifteenth-century printed books, 74 sixteenth-century printed books, 63 seventeenth-century books, 170 eighteenth-century books, with the rest from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Of approximately 60 manu scripts, 50 date from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century, and 22 are illuminated.

There are 6 modem literary manuscripts, including one by John Keats. A number of the n ineteenth and twentieth-century books are presentation copies or are associated with many of Mrs. Gardner's notable friends. The museum archives contain, in addition to approximately 6,ooo letters to Mrs. Gardner, collected letters of famous literary men and women.

Mrs . Gardner collected books between the years 1886 and her death in 1924. Her initial advisor was Charles Eliot Norton, but her own taste and judgment predominated in the selection of books. In 1906, she wrote a catalogue, A Choice of Books from the Library of Isabella Stewart Gardner, and in 1922, Morris Carter wrote a companion volume, A Choice of Manuscripts and Bookbindings from the Library of l sabella Stewart Gardner. Both volumes were printed at the Merrymount Press in Boston.

A card file for the entire collection is in the museum. A short-title catalogue is in progress. Persons who wish to see a book should make an appointment.

Rebecca Karo

1. Front elevation of the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow House, Brattle Street, Cambridge, with view of the " Chinese Doublebrac'd Paling." The fence was recently restored (1977) by the National Park Service, Department of the Interior.

Figure

9arden Books from the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries

Among the treasures of Fenway Court are five illustrated garden books of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries which influenced the advancement of horticulture and landscape gardening in France, England, and New England.

These books are primarily reference works designed to stimulate interest in gardening and to inform dedicated gardeners of the methods by which the best results might be achieved, especially in the growing of fruit and vegetables, as well as in general agricultural practices and in the design of gardens, both prac tical a nd orn amental.

They form a part of the rich tradition of good gardening books, and are worthy of more than passing interest as the illustrations are usually drawn to scale with measurements provided. The prose and poetry is still vibrant, and the imagery and highly descriptive passages have an intensity and immediacy which does not fade with time.

Some of the books published during this period were pattern books, designed to present opportunities for improvement to the garden in a manner more fanciful than had previously been known . Rura l A rchitecture in the Chin ese T aste, Being Designs entirely new , for th e D ecoration of Gardens, Parks, Forests , Insides of House s, etc., by the Bros. Halfpenny (John and William) was the most influential book of this kind in New England. Originally published in 1751-52, it is represented in the Gardner collection by the third editon oh755 .1 The Halfpennys were English cabinet-makers who published for " the benefit of those who did not live in London," rather strange and wonderful designs in an attempt to popularize chin oiserie.

The effort was often humorous and it is apparent from the engravings that their understanding of Chinese architecture was of the most superficial kind. They did not regard it as " real" architecture

Figu re 2. " Plate 2. A Chinese Doublebrac'd Paling" (dimen sio n s of illustra tion : 8.75 x 15 cm.), from W illiam & John H a lfpenny, Rural Arch itecture in th e Chinese Taste, for Rober t Sayer, London, 1775, Inv. No. 9.a.3.3, Isabella Stewa rt Ga rdner Mu seum.

The fence con struc tion is desc ribed as " Doubleb race d Fra mi ng, whose Leng th mus t be d iv ided into six equa l Par ts, and the H eight into the sam e, b y perpendicular a nd h orizontal Lines, wh ich will point out the Mi ddle of every Mo rtise a nd T enon .. ."

1

...%nyzk, ur dtun mn· Jn

b{_, f'/11~/Mt" '/,~tr.

_y

/pl c/lO~, Q'll

r __, I'(

, ' / ,,

l'l'tf, I,

'o~'y~J~ 1 ~J~j~J~J~j~,~1==========l•==========c'=========:t:'====:...====:± ' ==========' " 10 20 Jo 90 so./ .Parr '°"~

Figure 3. " Plate 44. The Plan and Elivation of a Temple, or Summer House, on a Tarras, In the Chinese Taste" (dimensions of illustration: 16.25 x 19.38 cm.) , from Halfpen ny, Rural Architecture .. .

but as ornament suitable for the construction of objects in the garden, either of an extremely exotic nature or of a type which would give new interest to a familiar form. " A Chinese Doublebrac'd Paling" (fig. 2) illustrates the second purpose. This pattern was used as the model for the fe n ce at the entrance to the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow House on Brattle Street in Cambridge (fig. 1). It is certainly the most conservative pattern in the entire book wh ich speaks well for the builder wh o decided to have the " latest" fence on the most traditional street in Massachusetts. Fences wi thin gardens in China were highly colored but, New Englanders being of less flamboya nt taste, the fence at the Longfellow House is a modest gray 2

and thus in the style of chinoiserie in structure only, not in color.

Another plate fro m the same work represents " T he Plan and Elivation of a Temple, or Summer Ho use, on a Tarras, In the Chinese Taste" (fig. 3).

The b asic desigP is the old traditional form dressed up in a little Ch inese fin ery, a superficial application of complex prin ciples. The Halfpennys sugges t, again in the old style, that " this Building is mos t suitable to be placed on an Eminence which comma nds a good P ros pect." It is little wonder tha t their popularization of chin oiserie was mercilessly ridiculed in their time but the study of pattern books such as this has its value as it reveals the taste of the day. 2

A book which was directed to the same readership, middle-class owners of middle-sized gardens, was the very popular The English Gardener by Leonard Meager (c. 1624-1704), a gardener and agricultural writer. This is represented in the Gardner collection by the 1682 edition, the first being published in 1670. The book reflects Meager' s thirty years experience as a gardener and is concerned, as were so many other English books of this period, with the idea that gardening was not only pleasurable but profitable, directing its attention toward the latter. Like the Halfpennys' small volume, this was designed as a handbook, a practical guide for the field as well as the library.

Amidst all the practicality appears a brilliant nomenclature illustrated in two pages representing " The Cat. of Cherries, Plums and Apricocks," with names so exotic as to cause wonder and anticipation of the strange and surprisingly beautiful fruits described, " Verdocha, Hungarion and Green-Ofterly .. ." (fig. 4). The varieties listed, however, were of limited value to New Englanders because many were not available or were too tender for the harsh New England climate. Yet books

60

from abroad were the only ones to be had and the advice contained could be followed on the most general lines .

The French books in the Gardner collection, which are of very fine quality, are of great interest because of their detailed information, fine printing, quality of paper, and distinguished design.

Jean de la Quintinye' s The Compleat Gard' ner appears in John Evelyn's translation of 1 693, the first English edition. Quintinye (1626-1686) was one of the great French agriculturists of the seventeenth century who was also interested in horticulture and garden s. Louis XIV considered Quintinye' s work to be of such importance that he created for him the post of D irecteur G eneral de s Potagers Royaux . Th e Compleat Gard' ner illustrates the handsomely designed, productive " . ..

King's Kitchen Garden at Versailles" in which No. 31 of the legend indicates " The House built by the King for myself' adjacent to No. 35, " A little garden designed for Flowers" (fig. 5). Because Quintin ye was admired b y and a friend of John Evelyn, his work became influential in England and in the middle colonies of America. It is one of the most

The E11glifh G.1rdener.

The E11glif/i Gardener.

Bh("k or Honey Cherries.

C.1rnat1on.

Grt.n bc::umg, or great Mur· ry .

Agriotc, or Murdlo.

T radcskams.

Sranirh or Black A.anders. fl.indcr:.Clufter.

Prmcc Roya! or Great flan-

LlllL·trce.

Sicc.1morcs.

B1rch·trces.

Elm-tr(:s.

Cl1crry-trccs.

rvtulberrics.

A01-trccs.

Horn beam.

Doublc-bloffom of two forts.

Cnghlli C1hq~1b1.. rrylin, ~s big .is J.n 10d1fforcnt Aprk.

Port1 ng:ilc.

Cornt1 1on. /\mb1.:r.

Morcx.cow, or Morcfcow.

Plimu.

Hire fi1Umn .i Cat.Jlog11c ofdwcr; fal'IJ of Frnit, wbrrb I h.ul of mJ 7.'LfJ loving fr1rnd C.Jpt.iin G.irrlc, drreUi11g at the grc.it "(;1rfirJ bc1wcm S p l ttk·fi~lds and \V hitc-Chappel, a 'llCY) e-

.ind ],,gu110111 5'(.11rfer)'·lilJll, who o n. f11r11ijh an) 1h.it d1jireth, iritb ;111) of the ji:n·/1 here after mt11ti011rd ) "·' 11111:011

,1/(o rrllh drVi."l"Jtil kr r.ffe,urd clxme Pl«nl.F.

Lukc-w:uds.

Th 1:.w1t1 of d1vcr1 for11 of B!Jck Orkancc. lherrw.

Heart lip.

Cur:rn or Bleeding hcar1 H( \.lay.

Gn:.•t Black-hc:irt.

Early Flar1dcrs : Red heart.

Duk1.. \Vbite hean.

HJndl.'ri Spanifb-whitc.

Carn:uio1

!

T

I I

I

Imperial.

Vcrdocha .

Hungar1on Gr:cn-OO:c.rlr Ormge.

Marble pl urn Pcar-rlmr.s.

Black.

White.

Pcfcod two or three forts.

Bulhn.

Th N"111a of divers forlJ of D:1m:ifccns two or three du.

& .1 ch, ,\prkand } .

Pe:u-trcc5 that bear hlrd bfh ng frmt, Oak-trees.

The J\bc.1\-trcc, if the ground be mo111:. \Vhn(.; Pop!Jr and willow, 1f near w:ncr.

Thc:rc arc f<:v<:ralothcr fortsof T rccs tha t arc fit for the 3 forc.faid purpofc; as fiMrcc, wild Pinc-tree!>, Oc. but let 1hc mtm1omng of theft.: lufficc at pn. fcm.

6l

I Turky.

Amber Pruncob.

I Vv'h1tc :ind biack.

DJtc red and white IOr Bona. Magna: Spantlh Plum.

lrabilons, whne.

PnmorJ ians.

The Amber,

M

~l~~v

Moroccow V1olcr. fard 1~on.

BIJck and White.

MatchlcG.

I

I I

II

foris.

Qyccn-Mother.

Red a.ad I Coffcrcrs.

I PJdrigon, Prunc-damfon. or Da[JlJskcn,.

I Demic.

l~\~~;~s.

J

Chnfti.m. or nutmeg.

White-bully 's. \ O::amfon.

I

Th!

of jh.erdlfart,1 Apr11ock.J.

1:1t111n

Mulld

Black.

V\'hnc l\.eJ

II T Hc

<f

Alger, or o ve1

\lafcuhne.

Onngc

Figure 4. Two pages with the " Ca t. of Cherri es, Plums a nd Apricocks," fr om Leona rd M ea ger, T he English Gardener, for T . Peirrepoint, London, 1682, Inv. No . 9.a. 3.4, Isabell a Stewart Ga rdner Mu seum.

3

'路'

~~~ 1 !JQ!jJlOO

t

Fi g ure 5. " King's Kitchen Garden a t Versa illes," from Jean de la Quintinye, The Compleat Gard'ner, tra nslated by John Evelyn, for Matthew Gillyflower and James Partridge, London, 1693, Inv. No. 9.a.3.1, Isa bella Stewart Ga rdner Museum.

4

Fi gure 6. " Dessein d' un Labirinte avec des cabinets et Fontaines," from Antoine Joseph Dezallier d' Argenville, La Theorie et la Pratique du Jardinage, chez Jean Mariette, Paris, 1709, Inv. No. 9.a .3.2, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

beautiful and readable works to appear in this productive period.

A second French work which appeared at the beginning of the eighteenth century and became enormously influential abroad is represented here by the fir st edition of La Th eorie et la Pratique du lardinage (Paris, 1709), b y Antoine Joseph Dezallier d'Argenville (1680-1765), a French writer on natural history and painting . He was a person of interest in Paris and at the Court and became, in 1733, rnaitre de cornptes for Paris and, later, King's Counsellor. The first edition was published anonymously but Dezallier is given proper recognition in the 1712 English edition which was translated by John Jam es, the architect who designed St. George's Church in Hanover Square.

The "Dessein d' un Labirinte avec des cabinets et Fontaines" (fig. 6), illustrates the detail of representation and careful drawing which made the engravings so valuable to all who built from them.

It is an outstanding work of detailed garden design and it served to popularize the French garden

in England, Sweden, Germany, Russia, and in our southern colonies. It was the distribution of books such as Quintinye' s and Dezallier's, both in the origin al and in translation, which established the superiority of French horticultural practice and excellence in garden desig n. The infl uence in this country can be noted in the development of plantations in Virgin ia and the Carolinas whereas, in New England, the English books of Meager and Halfpenny were more suited to the scale and ambitions of the work undertaken.

The poem, Of G ardens (fig. 7), of Rene Rapin (1621-1687), French Jesuit and theologian, is divided into four books: " Of Flowers" (fig. 8), " Of Trees," " Of Water," and " The Orchard." It was translated from the Latin by James Gardiner (London, 1 706) , who was a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge and son of James G ardiner the elder, Bishop of Lincoln . This very popular book was republish ed a number of times and fo llows in the tradition of the early agricultural writers who wrote in prose until they addressed themselves to

5

Figure 7. Frontispiece. Rene Rapin, Rapin of Gardens, translated by Gardiner, printed by W. Bowker for Bernard Lintott, London, 1706, Inv. No. 9.a.2.7, Isa bella Stewart Gardner Museum.

6

All of these writers and their distinguished transla tors influenced the development of h orticulture and landscap e gardening in the colonies.

George W ash ington at M ount Vernon, Th omas Jefferson at Monticello, and William Byrd at Westover established garden s which influenced design and h orticultural practice, and all three possessed garden libraries containing referen ce works from England and Fran ce. The selection of books and illustrations included in this brief essay afford a glimp se into a wo rld wh ere h orticulture, landscape gardening, and arch itecture blended together to form a triumph of utility and beauty which h as not since b een equalled.

Diane Ko stial M cGuire Landscape A rchitect Harvard U niversity

Figure 8. Frontispiece to " Of Flowers," from Ra pin, Rapin of Garden s.

No tes There is a refe ren ce to the H alf pennys' wo rk in Robert Lloyd's sa tiri ca l poem " T he Ci t's Country- Box:" " W ith an g les, cu rves and zig-zag li nes, From H alfp e nny's exac t design s, ... " 2 Othe r patte rn book s publis hed at thi s ti me we re: Th e Ca rpent er's Complete G uide to t h e W hole System of G oth ic Railing . .. , Robe rt M a n wa ring, 1765. , Thom as T he T emp le Builder's Most Usefu l Comp anion 1

gardens at which point they would burst forth into rhapsodic verse. This convention separated the ornamental from the utilitarian aspects of gardens, and reflected in the written word the division which was also apparent in garden design - the separation of the ornamental flower garden fr om the kitchen garden and orchard .

O ve rto n , 1766.

Gro t esq ue Architecture, or Rural Amusement W righ te, 1767.

, W illiam

T he Carpen t e r's Compnnio n fo r Chi n ese Railing a nd G a t es . .. ,

fr om the o ri g ina l d esi gns o f C ru de n, 1770.

J.

H . M o rr is, Ca rp enter and ) .

7

CHOIX DES PLUS CELE BRES MAISONS D E P LAISANCE

DE ROME ET DE SES ENVIRONS i\I ES L BEES ET l)ESS L\ l~ ES

PA R C HARLES PERCIER

ET P. F. L.

fO~TA J NE

A PA RI S I)"

L ' l \ 1Pll 1'1 El\ I E l) J路: P. IJI DOT L ' \l 'IE

.\l ]) CCC L'\.

8

A Rare Copy of the MAISONS DE PLAISANCE

The purpose of this essay is to describe, rather sketchily, one of the great books in the Gardner collection that may well be the finest copy in existence. Most appropriately, given Mrs. Gardner's intense interest in the design of Fenway Court, it is a large folio entitled Choi x des plu s lebres maisons de plaisance de Rome et de ses environs, printed in Paris by the celebrated typographer, Pierre Didot l' alne, between 1809 and 1813 (fig. 1). Fen way Court is a " maison de plaisance" in the European sen se of the word, only more eclectic than most. The Gardner " palace" is unique among great American houses: more than any other it embodies the genius of its owner.

Didot's magnificent volume is intended to represent the greatest Roman dwellings. The list of Italian villas and palaces summarily described is impressive. There are twenty-four, covering more than four centuries of decoration and construction. Not nearly all the villas of Rome are included; that would be impossible in a single volume with seventy-five plates . The Caetani villa complex - actually a tiny ruined fourteenth-century township - called Ninfa, south of Rome, is missing. The choice had to be personal and the authors chose well, allowing as many as seven views to be displayed of a few subjects. The Villa Medici (figs . 2, 5), now housing the French Academy in Rome, is accorded six views. (It had become the property of France by 1802, for under Napoleon I, nearly the whole peninsula of Italy came under French rule for the first and only time.)

There is no alphabetical or chronological order.

ce-

Figure 1 . Frontispiece. Charles Percier and Pierre F. L. Fontaine, Chaix des plus celebres maisons de plaisance de Rome et de ses environs, Pierre Didot l'alne, Paris, 1809-13, Inv. No. 3.1.27, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

The buildings and gardens (figs. 3, 6) sh own appear to be at the caprice of the authors - or perhaps in the sequence they visited them . Caprarola, at some distance to the north of Rome, is one of the largest, but it is li sted in las t place (fig. 4) .

The joint authors are Charles Percier and Pierre Frani;:ois Leonard Fontaine, architectural academicians of almost the same age. Fontaine was born in 1762 in Pontoise ; Percier in 1764 in Paris, where they met before the Fren ch Re volution's violent ph ase of 1789-93 . They renewed their acquaintance in Rome, probably at the Villa Medici, about 1792 and rapidly developed a close artistic partnership . Percier and Fontaine gained recognition as the co-founders of the " Empire" architectural style. (Both men were archi tects as well as architectural historian s. Jacques-Louis David, in the allied field of painting, is more properly the founder of the " Neo-Classic" style in France.)

Why Percier's name is almost always listed first is an enigma . After 1814 he was no longer actively creative, while Fontaine lived until 1853, working until shortly before his death for Napoleon Ill. Equally significant, he was appointed to high office by each of the last three Bourbon kings of France : Louis XVIII, Charles X, and Louis-Philippe, who reigned between the two imperial periods. Percier may have been successful earlier as he was a Parisian . Fontaine, more provincial in all likelihood, could not find work in Paris in 1792 and moved for two years to London. It was from the English capital that Percier recalled his friend in 1794 for their twenty years of close collaboration in Paris.

Perhap s the Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel (1806-7) is their choicest architectural masterpiece.

It still stands - now just within the two parallel wings of the Louvre - on the axis which leads through the Tuileries Gardens, to Napoleon I's 9

Figu re 2. Pla te IX, view of the fa<; ade of the Vill a Medi ci fr om ... ma isons de plaisance . .. .

Figure 3. Pla te LX, view of the terrace of the Villa d'Es te a t Ti vo li fro m ... maisons de plaisan ce . .. .

much larger Arc de Triomphe at the head of the great boulevard called the Champs Elysees.

The Gardner . . . maisons de plaisance . . . is not Percier and Fontaine' s first joint production.路 An earlier volu!Ile with even more (one hundred) copper plate engravings had been published at Paris in l'an VI de la R epublique Fran i;aise (1798). This was called Palais, m aison s, et autres edifices modern es, and was composed in Rome a bit earlier.

Yet their second publication is the more valuable, as evidenced by prices attained in the auction sales. Possibly the Gardner copy is . the finest in existence for it contains the seventy-five principal illustrations (not including the ground plans of 10

Figure 4. Plate LXXII, view of the fac;ade of the boring city from . . . maisons de pla1 sa11c c

each edifi ce) in double state (fig. 5). The first state is a preliminary etch ing, the second state the finished etchi ng, mos t frequently "before the numbers" or captions. Both prints are mounted ti chassis on th e heavie r paper on which the text is printed.

Rather unexpectedl y, the Gard ner volume is in a fairly simple, plai n h alf-calf binding of the period . The back h as been gilded, but th e sides of the bind ing are of a conventional French marbled paper- a ttrac tive but in no way luxu rious. Once within the volume, its major qualities reveal themselves: the mag nifi cent h eavy, wh ite paper, the beautiful plates in very fin e impressions, the two states of the princip al on es, and a number of at-

tractive head and tail pieces also designed by Percier and Fontaine, and engraved by some of the best professional engravers of the period, including Gounod, Bennard, Pillement, de la Porte, and Reville.

It is not possible to draw strong artistic preferences between the various plates. Too much depends upon personal liking for this or that view, for the architectural properties of the villas and palaces, or for the strength of the impressions.

But, in any event, this is a glorious book, little known to the public. It is quite equal in quality to the handsome architectural volumes illustrated

by Pugin, Sandby, Malton, etc., in England at this same time, even if not quite equal to the best work 11

Figure 5. Plate XI, interior of the Villa Medici with view of the gardens from ... maisons de plaisance . ...

of Robert Adam and William Pars. No artist in Italy is any more competent saving only the great Giovanni Battista Piranesi, who, after all, drew mostly ruins, but few functional edifices in Rome, ""-. ~nd Antonio Canale, called " Canaletto," in Venice.

There are some fine Dutch, Spanish , and Austrian books that are nearly contemporaneous - particularly Schiitz and Ziegler's Views of Vienna (1784 to c. 1810), while Charles Cameron and Giacomo Quarhengi drew handsomely engraved views in St. Pet~rsburg, for the Empress Catherine, the Great (Catherine II, died 1796) .

A Paris auction sale catalogue of 1894 by Damascene Morgand lists (No. 664) Percier's own 12

copy with the states of the plates described above which had belonged to a M . Hippolyte Destailleur.

This may be the Gardner volume. It has Destailleur's book plate and inscribed in pencil on the first fly leaf (probably in Destailleur' s hand) is: " Exemplaire de M. Percier-HD (in monogram)." Did M . Destailleur own more than one copy? Item No. 664 of the 1894 catalogue attained a price of two hundred and fifty (gold) francs, whereas the earlier work of 1798, admittedly a less important and elaborate copy, brought only twenty-six (gold) francs. 1894 was a depression year. 路The prices would have been much higher in good times. Today it would be far, far greater.

Fig u re 6. Pla te V, view of the ga rd en a t the p lai san ce . . ..

Who was H ippolyte Destailleur? Probably the finest collector of French architectural books, prints, and d rawings that the nineteenth century produced . The latter part of his life was devoted to collecting, and to studies of what he had gathered . In both these pursuits, he gained a welldeserved reputa tion . There were a number of " Destailleur" auction sales beginning in 1 891 and ending in 1 895 . He also sold some of his most valued possessions to the Fren ch governmen t " by private treaty ." The collector himself died in 1893 .

It is fo r th is reason th at one cannot identify the Gardner copy of the . .. maison s de plaisance ...

ilia Albani from

ma1 so n s de

as the greatest copy in exis ten e without extensive research in the Pa ris archives, and libraries (pa rticula rl y the Bibl iotheque a tionale).

Philip Hofer Curator Emeritus Department of Printing and Graphic Arts Houghton Library Harvard University

13

Flowers and Gardens in Queen Anne

Children's Books

There has fa llen a splendid tear From the passion-fl ower at the gate.

Sh e is com ing, my dove, my dear ; She is coming, my life, my fate; The red rose cries, " Sh e is near, sh e is near ;" And the white rose weeps, " She is late ;" The lark spu r listen s, " I hear, I hear;" And the lily wh ispers, " I wait."

Maud by Alfre d Lord Tennyson

" 'She's coming!' cried the Larkspur . 'I h ear her foo tstep, thump, thump, along the gravel walk.' " Throu gh th e Looking Glas s by Lewis Carroll

Carroll's " Garden of Live Flowers" is a parody of the talking flowe rs in Maud . The flowers themselves, the rose, the tiger-lily, the daisies, the violet, and the larks pur, are the old-fashion ed flowers of poetry and country cottages .

The joke was not only about Tennyson ; it was also about the passion fo r native flowers of the Queen A nne fashio ns of 1860-90 . Queen Anne artists and architects had n o tro uble with the apparently contrad ictory basis of their ideas; they considered their work the essen ce of " Merrie Olde Englande," although it added both European and Japanese elements to English influences from several different centuries. They chose old-fas hioned Engli sh flowers as the symbol of their eclectic style in architecture, interior design, furniture, genre painting, ga rdens and ga rden design, and children' s book s.

Three artists of children's books whose work h as rem ained popular are represented in the Gardner collection. Walter Crane (1845-1915) , Kate Greenaway (1846-1901) , and Randolph Caldecott (1846-1 886) , illustrated their vision of the Queen Anne movement. " Heavily hangs the broad sunflower Over its grave i' the earth so chilly ; Heavily h angs the hollyhock, Heavily hangs the tiger lily," wro te Tennyson . The sunflower became the most important single Queen A nne flower.

Tennyson was a favorite poet of the Queen Anne artists. Poetry, the pre-Raphaelites, and a return to pre-industrial crafts were all important influences on the Qu een A nne group, a looselykn it association of architects, artists, and designers united in the belief that it was more important to be " artistic" than to belong to any particular profession . The architects Philip Webb, E. W .

God win, and Norman Shaw, also designed furniture. Philip W ebb designed glass . Reginald Blomfi eld designed both gardens and houses. And William M orris, among man y other things, designed wallpapers and furniture, wrote novels and poetry, was a calligr.,.pher and a painter.

While the term Queen Anne can be used to cover an entire decorative style, it is generally associated with architecture. Queen Anne architecture, as described by Mark Girouard in his definitive book on the subject " .. . has comparatively little to do with (the reign of) Queen Anne . . . 'Queen Anne' came in with red brick and white-painted sash windows, with curly pedimented gables and delicate brick panels of sun-

R ' ers, wag , r herubs, with small window pane , s t p r fs , a nd urving bay windows, with wooden bal onies a nd little fan y oriels jutting out where o ne would l ast e pe t them . . . a little Out h, a little Flemi sh, a squeeze of Robert Adam . ... "' A few of the e le ti elements of Q11ee11 Anne interio r desig n were fl owered wa llp apers, decorated tiles, light weight furniture, wro ught ironwork, Jap anese s reen s, blue-a nd-white hinese pottery, shel ves and mantelpieces for th e display of Q11ee11 Anne bric-a-brac.

The English nineteenth century was an era of brilliantly-colored exotic Rowers cultivated in conservatories and set out in parks and gardens. None of these Rowers, such as the calceolaria, the lobelia, or the begonia, ever entered the Queen Anne ca non. Girouard describes the Queen Anne ga rden, its topiary or trimmed trees and hedges, its old-fashioned Rowers ." William Morri s and members of h is circle planted " medieval" gardens.

These are, perhap s, the source of ga rden s like that in Walter Crane's Coody Two-shoes (fig. 4): a low wall with a trimmed hedge behind it, Rowers in a row at regular intervals, low-trimmed box hedge in front of the Rowers, and a gravel wa lk .

The importance of Rowers in the Queen Anne movement we nt beyond the act ual form of particular gardens. It was symbolic. The architects a nd designers of this group consi dered themselves quintessentially English . The Englishma n's a ttachment to hi s house traditionally spills over into the ga rden plot that goes with it. The image of " Olde Englande" an imated by the Queen Anne movement was a vision of Howery meads, homely nooks, and ri ch brocades, of a wildly luxu rious yet oddly decorou s house-and-garden. English domestic shrub bery flowered in w ild profu sion in the wallpapers of William Morri s. Lilies g rew rank in the pai ntings of Burne-Jones. Fl oral motifs and Rowers characterized two of the foremost ill ustrators of children's books of the period, Walter Crane and Kate Greenaway .

On the surfa ce, nothing seems less English than the art of Japan . Yet it was th is influen ce which transformed Walter Crane from a more or less run-of-the-mill Victorian illus trator into a pioneer figure.

In 1867 a naval lieuten ant just back from the Far East gave Crane a book of Japanese prints.

T wo years later Crane illustrated Annie and Jack

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Figure 1. A page from Walter Crane, Annie and Jack in London , George Routledge & Sons, London, 1869 (Reproduced from Mark Girouard, Sweetness and Light, the 'Queen Anne' Movement, 18bo-1900, Oxford, 1977.)

in London (fig. 1). It was a book full of detail, set in Victorian London, with Victorian children. In stead of usi ng the conventional shading of his time, Crane, in a s tyle directly borrowed from Japanese prints, flattened every area and texture.

He used a strong black outline for each figure and object. Patterns did not follow the rules of perspective, but stayed close to the picture plane. The Ratness gave an overall simplicity, and as a result Crane could impose a mass of detail. Thi s was critical. Hi s later books became the equivalent of illu strated cata logues fo r Q11een Anne interior deco ra tion and design. In time Crane himself was in great demand as a painter of decorative panels a nd designer of wallpapers and other decoration s of the new Queen Anne interiors.

Crane's heroes we re William Morris, BurneJones, a nd Rosse tti. He fe lt that they realized his ideals, th at they had broken down the barriers between art and everyday life and were transforming everyday existence into a pastoral se tting for

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Figure 2. Double-page from Walter Crane, Cinderella, George Routledge & Sons, London, 1874. By permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University.

high thoughts and deeds. About 1870 he became a member of the Morris circle. William Morris and his followers had a passion for floral decoration. A tige r-like energy seems to animate the fl owers in Morris wallpapers and tex tiles. An overabundant nature is crammed into the teeming detail. For these decorators the natural garden was a parable of pre-industrial innocence. Flowers represented an earlier, simpler, more wh olesome way of life. They were a symbol of cottage craftsmanship as opposed to fac tory-based industry.

In the 1870s, worki ng under the influence of the Morris circle, Crane produced a series of brilliant, colored books: Cinderella, Beauty and the Beast, Thi s Little Pig Went to Market, The Yellow Dwarf, Th e Forty Thieve s, The Thr ee Bears, and Goody T wo-shoes. These, among others, were printed by Edmund Evans and published by Routledge in a special series, The Walter Crane Toy Books . Evans was the finest color printer of his day, and modern reproduction has yet to equal the 16

subtlety of color or the finesse of his wood-engravings .

These books, writes Girouard, " ... can be reasonably described as 'Queen Anne' not only because they show fashi onable 'Queen Anne' accessories, but becau se they are based on the same recipe as 'Queen Anne' buildings: a free selection of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century elements, m ixed with a little of almost everything else, including details from Japan, to produce a final result which is completely original. .. . The eclectidsm can be amazingly elaborate. Cinderella (fig. 2) in full Victorian rig dances with an eighteenth-century prince surrounded by courtiers some of whom h ave full-b ottomed wigs and other robes patterned with sunflowers, while the attendants are in heraldic jerkins, like the knaves in a pack of cards ." 3 Without the floral motif, the decoration used

by Crane in Annie and Jack in London was restrai ned and the effect rather prim. It was as though he had laid out a flat screen and was wait-

ing for the inspiration to fill it with a kaleidoscope of color and design . By contrast, Crane's Toy Books of 1870-75 vibrate with pattern, mainly flora l. The flowers in his gardens and the fruit on his trees are arranged like textiles (figs. 3, 4).

There is often a brocaded effect in the areas of his dresses, robes, cloaks, jerkins, and aprons, as well as in gardens, walls, screens, and tiles. Crane's flat Japanese design and his use of delica te and brill iant colors keep all hi s details in focus. Under the inspiration of the Queen Anne movement Crane fleshed out his planes with flower s, and projected them into the world of make-believe.

Why doesn ' t all this elaboration fall apart? It sometimes seems about to explode, but even the most complicated picture hold s together. Crane's fl at planes, his centrifugal design, and his massive use of flowers achieve a precariou s unity. The fact that the composition borders on instability creates its own particular charm.

Nothing like this had ever been seen in children's books before . In keeping with his shadowless Eden of flowers, Crane created a new wholesomeness of characterization (fig. 4). The bes t of

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Figure 3. A page from Wa lter Crane, Th e Three Bears, George Routledge & Sons, London, 1876. By permission of the Houghton Library, Harvard University.

Fi gure 4 . Double-page from Wa lter Crane, Goody Two-sh oes, George Routledge & Sons, London, 1874. By permission of the Houghton Library, H arvard University.

Figure 5 . "Little Man and Maid" from Crane, Th e Ba by's Bouqu et.

Figure 6. Ti tle-page from Walter Crane, T he Baby's Bouqu et, engraved and printed by Edmund Evans fo r George Routledge & Sons, London, n.d. (1878), Inv. No. 4. 3. 36, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

earl ier Victori an illustra ti ons seem to have a slightl y sinister touch in comparison. They seemed bent on reminding children of the wickedness of the wo rld and of human depravity. Greenaway's and Caldeco tt's styles carried on Crane's crea tion of a world entirely safe for childri;n .

Crane's T oy Book series, whi ch co nsis ted largely of fair y tales, came to an end in 1 875. In 1877 he published Th e Baby's O pera, a book of songs for child ren, in a new format . The pages with music fa ced pages wi th full illustration s, and the decoration of the music pages was a new depar ture for Crane. He placed single fl owers and children against the white of the page in a way wh ich looks unwittingly like a procession announcing th e arrival of Ka te Greenaway.

Earl ier Victorian design and illustration had a notable absence of white space. Wood-engrave rs prided themselves on filling every inch of thei r blocks. In Th e Bab y's Opera and its sequel, The Baby's Bouq uet, Crane used the white space of the m us ic p ages as part of his design . H is effects were, however, a bit too geometrical.

After 1 880 Crane's style grew sentimen tal.

(There were exceptions, such as Th e Baby's Own Aesop, 1 887, and he remained a masterly designer of wallpapers.) He preach ed the curved line as the epitome of bea uty and criticized artists like Calde-

cott who dep arted from that canon. H is flowers ch anged from p atterns to ind ividual decora tive ara besques such as those in the enormously popular lith ographed Flo ra's Feast, 1890 (figs . 7, 8) , a catalogue of old-fashion ed flowers .

The Baby's Bouquet (figs. 5, 6) was publish ed in 1 8 78 . In the sam e yea r Edmund Evan s discovered and printed for Routledge the firs t of the popular book s of both Kate Greenaway and Randolph Caldeco tt. Th e Baby's Bouquet marks a radical cha nge in Crane' s style. The opulence of overall pa tte rnin g is go ne. The faces h ave shifted from simp le wholesomeness to saint-like purity. And the colors have changed from the strong tones of the Toy Bo ok s to the pastel shades which seem to annou nce Ka te G reenaway.

T he spaces between elements of design in Kate Green away are never too geometrical. Every petal, leaf, and piece of grass is subtly placed. She fre quen tl y silhouettes each child and flower against the white of the page in a way which seems to emphas ize the fee ling tha t each individual child is as h appy and well-beh aved as a flow er in bloom.

Ka te G reenaway h ad an intense fasc ina tion with flowe rs. Her earliest memories and her earliest drawings we re of country flowers! " Daisy," " phlox," and " rose" loomed like people in her infan cy. She passiona tely loved the flowers of the

18

fields and hedgerows : crane's bill, purple vetch , toad fla x, and her favorite willow-herb, all these gave her feeling s of ecs tacy before sh e knew their names . She had her own names for them: " my little blue flame," "yellow dragon's mouth," and the willow-herb was " Kitty' s flower."

Kate Greenaway's outdoors is a miniature world, and its essence depends on the quality of reproduction. Modern printing does not equal Edmund Evans' virtuoso woodblock reproduction of Greenaway's smaller flowers and h er tiny textile designs .

The delicacy of her drawing is the delicacy of the primrose. The background scenes are eighteenthand early seventeenth-century cottages. The children's clothes, early ninteenth century in style, with eighteenth- and later nineteeth-century touches thrown in, were original inventions. Later fashions imitated them. The children themselves have a sweetness and brightness never found in everyday life. Kate Greenaway is drawing a gar-

den of innocen ce, an idealized ve rsion of her own childhood . These are the first children's books populated almost entirely by children. Age never appears. The brilliant, accurate drawi ng of flowers anchors her whole creation in reality . It is a real garden with imaginary children in it.

Kate Greenaway's gardens and flowers have as little to do wi th the fashionable gardens of her day as the clothes h er children wea r have in common wi th the corsetted and buttoned-up styles of the 1880s. It was the age of the " red- wh ite-blue or pelargonium-marguerite-lobelia period, the age of fern s, mottled laurels, veronicas, periwinkles, pampas grass and aloes; the age of glazed stone edgings never in alignment ; of con servatories, ribbon-bedding, and leaf patterns of ladylike mousegrey and plum-maroon." 5 Kate Greenaway' s garden s, always set in a rural co ttage atmosphere, were a mixture of medieval, Tudor, and eighteenth-century elements. She often used topiary to give a fo rmal atmosphere to her

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Figure 7. Title-page from Walter Crane, Flora's Feast: A Masque of Flowers , Cassell & Company, London, 1890, Inv. No. 4.3.18, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

~ounJ .

Figure 8. A page from Crane, Fl ora's Feast . . .

19

Figu re 9. A page from Kat e Greenawa y, A Da y in a Child's Li fe, George Routl edge & Sons, London, 1881.

(Reproduced from la rk Girouard, S wee tn ess and Light, th e 'Qu een A n11 e' Move m ent . . . . )

country scenes : cones, pyramids, oblongs, halfcircles (fig. 9). Sh e uses their " strength as they lead the eye down the path a nd their peculiar beauty in that they possess the fascination of all objects of pure geometric form." 0 In some scenes she shows who le wa lls of trimmed hedges. The garden in " two little gi rl s at tea " from U nder the Window (fig . 10) has the feeling of a "secret garden " (fig . 11) , a n old trad ition in English formal garden s. The old trimmed hedges surround the scene with the atmosp here of a n ordered past and an ordered present. Greenaway' s use of topiary gives her work an air of propriety. It adds to th e feeling that forces of nature, like children, are closes t to fu lfi llment under stri ct and careful guidance.

In the famou s Randolph Caldecott' s Picture Books series of 1878-86, the roguish Engli sh countr yside repla es the English garden, although we are still in the Q11een Anne world of seventeenthand eighteenth-century cot tages and eclectic cos-

Figu re 1 0 . " Two little girls at tea" from Kate Greenaway, Un der tli e W ind ow, engraved and printed by Edmund Evans for George Routledge & Sons, London, n.d. (1878) , Inv. o. 4 .3.20, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Figure 1 1. " The secret garde n at Hidcote Manor, Gloucestershire" from Ella Hatt, Our National Heritag e Gard ens, ational Benzole Co., London, 1962.

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Figu re 13. A page from Rando lph Caldecott, Si n g a S ong fo r Sixpence, engraved and printed by Edmund Eva ns for G eorge Routledge & Sons, London, n .d.

(1880), Inv. No. 4.3 .24, Isa bella Stewart Gardner

Fi gure 12 . " The parson hears the tally-ho" fro m Randolph Caldecot t, The Fox ]umps O v er the Pa rso n's Gate, George Routledge & Son s, Londo n, 1883 .

By permi ssion of the H oughton Lib rary, H arvard University.

Museum.

tume. Like Kate Greenaway, m os t of Randolph Caldecott's scenes are outdoors, bu t th e a tmosphere has changed . In Crane and G reen away th e air is still. All motion s are decorous, even Goldilocks jumping out of the wi ndow (fig. 3). Caldecott's figures are under no such rest raint. They run. They gallop. Winds blow. In h ouse or cottage the outdoors is still a vivid presence (fig. 12) .

In both Crane and Greenaway every flower is in continual bloom, in an endless dream-like summer .

Caldecott shows us the season s: even win ter, where he uses the white of the page as sno w in the countryside . The technical mastery of Edmund Evans lent itself to these new effects.

Randolph Caldecott began his public ar t career as a decorator of English country houses, p ainting birds and flower s in the balanced arabesque m anner made fa shionable b y Walter Crane's h ou se decorations . H is sk etch es and drawi ngs fr om his childhood years were, h owever, in quite a different style. He tried fr om the b eginning to achie ve m aximum ch arac terization with an economy of detail.

This was the style h e u sed fo r the series of chil-

dren' s books he did fro m 1878 to his early death in 1886.

He used his Queen A nne detail with economy and humor. T he birds in his illustration s have ch anged from Walter Crane's soulful decoration to some of the wittiest crows in art (fig. 13) .

Flowers are represented by fruit trees in light bloom and by an occasion al stray spray of cherry blossoms.

The language of Caldecott's texts, unli ke Crane's and Green away' s, h as genuine literary quality. Green away illus tra ted her own undistinguished verse. Crane illus trated classic fairy tales rewritten in h ackneyed language. Caldecott ch ose th e best of English ligh t verse and nursery rhymes.

The p ace and dramatic movement of h is illustration s m esh es brilliantly wi th th e sense and rhythm of the poems . He h ad a passion for the hunt. H is books h ave a dramatic run away quality, like a fas t gallop in the coun try .

Caldecott had a particular talent fo r renderin g middle-aged and aged English types (fi gs. 14, 15) .

T he good-humored b ustle and benevolence of their 21

Figure 14. A page from Randolph Caldeco tt, The Panjandrum Picture Book, engraved and printed by Edmund Evans for George Routledge & Sons, London, n.d. (1885), Inv. No. 4.3.3 2, Isabella Stewa rt Gardner Museum.

Figu re 15. Inside cover from Randolph Caldecott, Three Jovial Huntsmen, engraved a:td printed by Edmund Evans for George Routledge & Son s, London, n .d. (1880) , Inv. No. 4.3 .25, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

22

faces gives hi s scenes an a tmosphere of complete safety.

Characterization and motion were Caldecott's main focu s in drawing . The feet, always mo vi ng, are in the darker colors of the page; so a re the overlapping lines of limbs which a re the hinges for action. The landscape is often ra ther ske tchy.

What is vivid is the joy of hi s charac ters as th ey move through it (fig. 15 and tail piece).

A different approach to nature was fundamental in the style of each of the first Queen Anne illustrators of children's books. In Walter Crane, it was flowers as a vibrant natural force ; in Ka te Greenaway, flowers carefully cultivated and controlled ; in Randolph Caldecott, the countryside as seen by a man whose greatest pleasure was the hunt .

The various influences of Crane, Greenaway, and Caldecott can be traced beyond England in children's books in Europe, Russ ia , and America.

The native love of flower s and countryside, how-

ever, remained a special province of English children's books. It wa s this love and tha t particular cou ntr yside that inspired the three Queen Anne artis ts who were among the first masters of the myste rious a rche types of imaginary wo rlds for children.

Mnrian Parry A11thor and illustrator of children's books and Lecturer at Radcliffe Institute Noles Mark Girouard , Sweetness and LigJ1t 1 the 'Queen Anne' Movement, 1860-1900, Oxford, 1977, p. 1 .

1

!

Ibid., pp. 1)2-159

路1

lbrd ., pp. 140-142 .

M H. Spielmann and G 5. Layard , Kate Greenaway, London ,

I

1905 ,

pp .

1.1-12 .

o Foreword by V Sackville-West 1n Ella Hatt , Our National Heritage Gardens , London, 1962 .

''Dia ne K McGuire, "Rescuing a Neglected Art 路 Topiary in Landscape Architecture," Landscape, July 1965, pp 267-71.

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Figure 1. Music, tapestry, Geubels workshop, Brussels, 470 x 427 cm., Inv. N o. T28s5-s, Little Salon, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Chateau and Garden Tapestries at Fenway Court

In 1903, the yea r that marked the opening of Fenway Court, Mrs. Gardner purchased a set of four tapestries entitled the Chtiteau an d Garden series. Their original owner was Count Antonio Barberini, nephew of Pope Urban VIII, and Grand Prior of France. Bequeathed to the family collection in the Barberini Palace in Rome, all four were purchased in 1889 by Charles M. Ffoulke, of Washington, D .C. After their acquisition from Mr. Ffoulke, Mrs. Gardner hung the tapestries in the Little Salon, a room appointed with Venetian furniture, wall panels, mirrors and doors in the Louis XV s tyle. The room is light and airy in character yet more intimate in scale when compared to the other galleries in the mu seum . These tapestries complement the atmosphere.

All four depict the artistocratic life of sixteenth century Europe in country residences. Of interest are the gardens in all four tapestries, which, while serving as a decorative setting for the pursuit of courtly love, provide examples of European garden design in the late sixteenth, early seventeenth centuries.

Having no specific subject and thus arbitrarily named for activity in the foreground, the Music (fig . 1) and the Garden (fig. 2) tapestries can be identified as products of the Geubels workshop in Brussels, active in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, through the marks of the shop and city woven into the outside edge of the former. Designed by the same artist, the two were executed by different weavers, which accounts for their variation in decorative detail.

Similarly, the Paris mark and the interwoven R D P in the border of the Fountain tapestry (fig. 3), identifies that and the Boating and Hunting tapestry (fig. 4) as the work of Raphael de la Planche's workshop, active from 1633 to 1661.

Founded by Raphael and his father Fran~ois (both Flemi sh), and Marc de Comans, this Paris workshop was la ter incorporated into the Gobelin factories . The second pair of tapestries was designed as companions to the first, but were woven some fifty years later. The designer of the Fountain and the Boating and Hunting tapestries retained certain decorative devices from the earlier pair: the borders of garlands and urns of fruit s and flowers, the pergola with caryatids, and the formal garden leading to a chateau with distant hills beyond .

Gardens with trees, vines, flowers, and fruit were common elements in tapestries, providing decorative pattern and color. An earlier French needlepoint embroidery in the museum's collection (fig. 5), dating from the reign of Henry II (1547-1559), demonstrates this tradition . The scene centers on two lovers who stroll in a flower-filled oak forest . Behind them the foliage presents a curtain of overall pattern in which a miscellaneous and unlikely group of animals is hidden. In th e Chtiteau and Garden tapestries the artists have moved away from this abstract pattern. The figures are less important than the interpretation of the architecture of country houses and their gardens. Details may be exaggerated, but the intent was to show the well-planned garden annexed to the well-planned house, and secondarily, the inhabitants in the outdoor setting. Architectural plans were found in Italian illustrated books, widely circulated in Europe by the end of the sixteenth century, depicting the humanist concept of the high Renaissance villa and garden as complements, an architectural unity.

A tradition of illustrating scenes in a contemporary garden setting was established in popular medieval manuscripts (fig . 6). Novels with hu-

Figure 2. Card en, tapestry, Geubels workshop, Brussels, 470 x 427 cm., Inv. No. T18w1-s, Li ttle Salon, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Figu re

2,

detail.

Figure 3 Fo11nta111, tapes try, Raphael de la Planche workshop, Paris, 475 -86.5 cm ., In v o. T18e15-s, Little Salon, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

man1st overtones were parti ularly suited to the depiction of event ut-of-doors, the garden setting wa as evo ative as the attitude of the figures in an illu tration. In Fran esco Colonna's Hyp11erotonrncl11a Po/1pl11/1 first publi shed by the Aldine Press in 1409, sc nes take place in gardens which are described m careful detail. Fantastic ga rden elements are mi ed with classical grotesques m the simple !me illustrations; common garden devices are shown, such as a colonnade of marble suppor ting a lattice with topiary planted in ston urn or a pleached arbor se t on columns (fig. 7).

By the si teenth century Ita lian prints devoted just to ga rd n desig ns were also circulated. These

28

F1g 11re 4 Boat171g a71d Hunting, tapes try, Raphael de la Planche workshop, Paris, 465 351 cm., Inv. o.

Ti8e5-s, Little Salon, Isabella Stewart Gardner ~fuseum.

prints fall into two categories: records of the overa ll appearance of a vi lla and its landscape (fig 8), or plans of h •pothetical ga rdens meant to provide patterns from wh ich architects could work (fig. o) . The latter we re often bound · as books and used as practica l m anuals which included gardening advice, li sts of plant ing material s, and design elemen ts such as knots, parterres and labyrinths to be incorp ora ted into the overall pattern (figs . 10, 11). Th is kind of book wa the so urce for the gardens in the Ch ateau nnd Gnrde11 tapestries.

The foreground plane of th e Music and Garden tapes trie is dominated b y a large, fru it-laden pergola, whi h sp rings fro m a marble base, rest-

Figure 5. Embroidery, needlepoint, France, 193 x 279.5 cm., Inv. No. T21e3, Dutch Room, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

Fi gure 6. " Susannah and the Elders," illuminated manuscript, French, fifteenth century. Courtesy of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

fpirante diceua,chclrifon•uanc,.pcr fottci-qnella uirdurigli .!nciroli ro:·

fpiri,iformaci denrro il riferuab1le&accefocore. Ne p1U ~rzflo m quefla angoniaagiraco,&: perqudto mo do abfort~ cffc.ndo ,chc madu~cntc al fine di qudla floribonda copercura pcrueni,& nguardando una1nnume rofa turba di i11uentude prom ifcu acdebrcmcntc fefligiantc mi apparuc.

Cum fonore uoce,&cum mdodiedi uarii foni, Cum llmufii & ludibon di cripud~i & pl~ufi,Ercum molra~io~undi.ffima lzticia, ln nnaamplif lima planitieagminacamente folaoanrife. D1que per quefla rale & grata nouitatc in uafo fopra_fedcndo admuanuo ,d1ptu oltra proccdcrc,rrapcn fofoio flcti,

Etccco unacomeinlignePifefliua Nymphadindicum lafuaardcn.tefacol• in ma no defpartirofi daqudli ,'uerfo me dirigendo'<endcu• gli uirgi nci paffi, Ondemanifdlamcntc uedendo ,che lei era una uera & rQle pudla non me mofli,ma la:ro lafpcdai. Erquiui cum pudlare prom, ptirndinc,& cum moddlo acccffo,& cum fiell<ite uolco,purobuio ad me gia maiapproximat:i,& fumdendo uene, Cum_t:ileprzfentia & uenufla

clcgantia

Fi gure 7. A page from Francesco Colonna, Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, Aldus Manutius, Venice, 1499, Inv. No . 2.b.1.1, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

ing on the heads of caryatids. It forms a framing device for the garden and villa in the background not found in the prints themselves, a clever addition of the tapestry cartoonist. The pergola performs the simple function of filling the upper third of each tapestry with a cornucopia of fruits and flowers formally arranged in vases, impossibly placed at the springing points and pinnacles of each arch. Obviously the scale and real use of the pergola are of no concern to the designer as 30

it towers over the figures; rather, he exploits this feature of garden design as a decorative frame for the scene.

In both tapestries, each element occupying the foreground plane is formally arranged so that an effect of perfect, if somewhat dull, balance is achieved. In the middle ground the gardens are bound by a simple arbor walk, .with larger, arched crossings marking an important interval or turn. The garden in the Music tapestry is not

adjacent to a villa, rather, there appears to be an arbored walkway connecting the background house to the garden.

Although the Music tapestry is more successful in terms of overall simplicity of design, the Garden tapestry better conveys the relationship of garden to villa. The axial lines of the villa in the Garden tapestry are also those that govern the landscape design. The central axis becomes a wide allee that terminates at an urn-shaped fountain . Loggias at either end of the house open onto allees that form the boundaries of the central garden. On either side of the villa, continuing along the axis that aligns each loggia, are smaller, less exotically planted gardens, perhaps for the cultivation of herbs and kitchen spices . Behind these plots and the villa itself there is an orchard of fruit trees, planted to separate cultivated garden from outlying countryside.

The central garden, composed of small individualized beds, is enlivened by leafy green shrubs, small clipped trees, and flowering plants in terra cotta pots. Potted plants were placed in garden beds well before the Renaissance; the added height displayed the flowers or plants to best advantage and allowed for substitutions.

The common practice of using a fountain as a source of water is displayed here, although they were designed for variety, sound and the sense of coolness the water implied. A nude figure that crowns the fountain is echoed in the figures to its right and left, standing on the corners of the garden fence. Sculpture, contemporary interpretations of classical antiquities, or the work of distinguished artis ts of the day, was often included in Renaissance gardens, as were fragments found in ruins and excavations.

I路

Figure 8. "Plate CCLV. Villa Lappeggi," from G. Zocchi, Veduta delle Ville ed altri luoghi della Toscana, Florence, 1744.

31

Figu re 9. A plan of a garden from Thomas Hill, Th e Gardeners Lab y rinth , Henry Ballard, London, 1608.

By permi ssion of the Houghton Library, Harvard Unive rsity.

The cartoonist of the de la Planche tapestries, while depicting gardens similar to the earlier pair, has attempted to convey a more unified sense of space resulting in a si mplified but dry treatment of the forms. For example, the pergola now consists of a single arch, framing and isolating the middle ground more clearly and the caryatids are less individualized. The gardens are not featured as prominently and the tapestry designer seems to have been more concerned with a careful rendering of the villas, examples of an achitectural style developed in Italy in the second half of the sixteenth century. The shift in emphasis from garden to villa in the de la Planche tapestries could be explained by the artist's use of a different set of garden prints, and an improved interpretation of space. In the fifty years that had elapsed between the production of each set, changes in garden design had occurred.

The artist has included the proper garden elements, laid out correctly, but with no articulation of parts or sense of the corresponding scale and cohesive unity between villa and garden . The Boating and Hunting tapestry is the best example of this - the garden is divided by a wide central allee that forms the main axis of a four bed parterre, an arrangement of a number of plots to form a particular pattern. Pots of bushy plants are placed at the corner of each parterre section, the only relief from the low hedges carving out a design in lawn filler. A new feature is the canal which separates the pergola from the immediate foreground. These flat, still expanses of water bE :::ame an integral part of the French landscaping style of the seventeenth century.

The Fountain tapestry features an undistinguished foreground fountain and a garden bound by hedges of thick, flowering vines. Sight lines are uninterrupted from villa to garden through allees aligned with the central doorway and loggia openings. The enclosed garden contains rectangular plots bordered by low hedges and shaped around small fountains.

DE L'VNIY£RS,

Fi g u re 10. Titl e page fr om Le T hreso r d es Pa rterres d e l' Unive rs, Etienne Gamonet, Geneva, 1 629. By permi ss ion of the Houghton Library, Ha rvard University.

CONTENANT LES FICVIUS ZT POVllTJUITS I

des p!:Js beaux Compa.nimens, Cabaoc.s , & Labyrintbcs des

J:ud inages , u.ot ~ l'Allcmandc:,rlll'lr.A•P.k!r.

qua l•Fra n~oifc.

A•ur /,. mai.trt Jr lo .onftr1:1r,,c•f!rf•.f'1

fir fo1."!l tr J txt r t r.i.e1. 1.

D cfc ri pts (

0

L:nin , FrUJ~ i i,All c­

m.lr. \I &: .~ i glou.

!, ~b!Jll\1~~11 11~ 1

Fi gu re 11 . Page 13 4 from John Evel y n, T he Frenc h Ga rdin er, Jo hn Crooke, London, 1658 . By permi ss ion of the Houghton Library, Harva rd University .

EJ"fli-:;'u-.Z:::.':::.= 1J.j:~uwU JJ1:vltfi11r'9

There is no attempt made in either of the de la Planche tapestries to depict a variation of planting materials within the garden beds as seen in the Geubels tapestries. The gardens are more formal, featuring an overall configuration of beds rather than variet y within each bed and in this aspect fore shadow the formal French gardens of the seventeenth century rather than those of the Italian Renaissance in prototype.

In all four tapestries the designers have had to contend with the problem of featuring both the middle ground and the foreground without the creation of multiple viewpoints. The tipped-up perspective showing the garden from above, perhaps a holdover from the garden prints, is more unified with the foreground plane in the later pair. A development away from the primarily decorative interests toward more realistic pictorial effects resulted in the sacrifice of a detailed rendition of the garden in the de la Planche tapestries.

Regardless of the prominence of the garden in overall design, the Chateau and Garden tapestries provide the viewer wi th a picture of contemporary gardens and their use by the society able to cultivate them. Delightful as tapestries, they provide an interesting source of landscape design and a picture of domestic life of the time .

Lisa 0 . Ehret

33

Figure

34

Figure 1. Entrance to Gardner residence at Italian ga rden at Green Hill, Brookline.

2.

152

Beacon Street.

An "Eminent Horticulturalist"

Charles Sprague Sargent, then dean of American horticulture, once called Isabella Stewart Gardner an " eminent horticulturalist." She was, as Agassiz said, " ... a perfect traveler of unbounded energy, wishing to see everything that ought to be seen ." She brought th is same energy and quality of im agina tion to her gardens at Green Hill and Fenway Court. Restless and acquisitive, she seemed anxious to fi nd some way of expressing the illusive impressions of her myriad travels.

Isabella received her earliest exposure to landscape design in New York. She inherited from her grandmother, who took prizes at flower shows, an enthusiasm for h orticulture. She often drove through Greenwood Cemetery, Brooklyn, one of America's earliest Romantic parks, and she saw Frederick La w Olmsted's Central Park when it was first under con struction. " It is beautifully laid out," Julia Gardner wro te Isabella in 1859, " with walks and lakes and arbors, and promises to be when it is finished, almost equal to the Bois de Boulogne."

After she married Julia's brother Jack Gardner in 1860, the bay wi ndow of their house at 152 Beacon Street was filled with palms and other potted plants (fig . 1). Later when they inherited Green Hill, the Gardner family h ouse in Brookline, Isabella worked hand in glove with the old English gardener, Charles Atkinson . O ver the years, the gardens there became a composite image of her travels and a diffused reflection of late Victorian taste.

Inspired by all things Italian, she brought back to Green Hill the essen ce of wha t she had seen (fig. 2) . Perhaps she anticipated Charles Platt, the landscape architect whose book on Italian Gardens of 1894 she owned. Platt was a leader in the revival of classical taste at the turn of the century.

He designed the Italianate gardens of the nearby Brandegee estate in Brookline and also Meridian Hill in Washington, D .C. One critic, writing in Country Life in 1902, said the Italian garden at Green Hill, with its rectangular terrace enclosed by a series of trellises and pergolas, was "one of the finest examples of the Italian landscape garden in this country."

Though more at home in Italy, Mrs. Gardner responded to the exotic attractions of the East. She had visited Cambodia, India, and Japan in 188384. Within her circle of intimates were the artist John La Farge, who published Letters from ]apan in 1897, and later Okakura Kakuzo, Curator of Oriental Art at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

Both men were undoubtedly influential in the design of the Japanese garden at Green Hill (fig. 3).

Here was a pagoda and tea-garden, places for afternoon confidences and rare quiet, and the Japanese pool which was not only picturesque but good for bathing.

Some of the principal landscape effects at Green Hill were English (fig. 4). Henry James remembered Mrs. Gardner's " ... quite picturable Green Hill" (The Notebooks of Henry James, ed. F. 0 .

Matthiessen and K. B. Murdock, New York, 1961, p. 322). For these effects Mrs. Gardner won the admiration of Frederick Law Olmsted's nephew and partner, the landscape architect John C. Olmsted, who said, after a visit there in 1905, how much he had admired the broad sweeps of lawn, the elms, the park-like hillside: It will gratify you to know that I heard many comments indicating delighted appreciation of the many beautiful things you have developed on your place. Some of my practical friends admired one class of ideas yo u had

35

1=1g11rl.' 4

Brookline.

English gard n at Gre n Hill,

Figure 5. Courtyard at Fenway Court in

carried out, some d evoted to formal gardening saw much to admire and some more accustomed to informal landscape designing were enthusiastic about the park-like hillside ... .

I think very few had any idea that su ch a beautiful place exists near Boston.

Mrs. Gardner devoted almost equal attention to her gardens in town. When the construction of the museum began in 1899 the site was poor, on the edge of Frederick Law Olmsted's n ew park in the Fens . She supervised the construction of the interior court in every d etail, instructing the architect, Willard Sears, to install the central mosaic (then thought to have come from the Villa Livia near Rome) and to arrange cla ssical sculpture and

1902.

columns around it. As was the fashion of her day, there were dozens of tall palms, and from the greenhou ses at Green Hill, azaleas, and orchids in profusion (fig. 5 and p . 52). H er friend A. Piatt A ndrew said that he had " never seen any house in the world as beautiful ... from the dream-like courtya rd with its fountains and ancient statues, and its palms, and or ch ids and exotic p lants."

James, writing to Mrs. Gardner from Lamb House, Sussex, said that he imagined her " . . . embowered .. . to say nothing of smotheringly f/ eurie," as indeed sh e was both at Fenway Court and Green Hill.

The exterior garden to the east of the Spanish Cloister or the so-called " M onks' Garden" was once a favor ite retreat for Mrs. Ga rdner and h er 37

Fi gure 6. Courtya rd at Fenway Court in 1940.

Figure 7. Courtyard at Fenway Court in 1973.

Figure 8. Courtyard at Fenway Court in 1978, at left m yr tles donated by Dumbarton Oaks.

fox terriers . From a small mound at one end she could look through a break in the wall across the new park-land on the other side of the Fenway.

A brick path led through a vine-covered arbor to a gate and the formal perennial garden beyond (fig.

11). The planting in the garden behind the museum was at first simple in contrast to the extensive landscaping at Green Hill. Lombardy poplars along the wall enclosing the gardens were a poetic reminder of the Italian landscape.

The exterior gardens and the courtyard at Fenway Court have undergone several transformations since Mrs . Gardner's death in 1924. The first director added to the north a New England rock garden, rhododendron, laurel, and azaleas .

The interior court, which had become crowded wi th luxuriant foliage (fig. 6), was simplified after 1955, to give greater focus to the sculpture (fig. 7).

Recently, plants associated with the classical Mediterranean world have been introduced : 39

Figure 9. South Garden at Fenway Court in 1971.

10. South Garden at Fenway Court in 1977. Design by E. McPeck.

Figure

Figure

11 .

Monks' Garden at Fenway Court in

1921.

Figure 12. Monks' Garden at Fenway Court in 1973.

myrtle, bay, pomegranate, olive, and a variety of citrus plants (fig . 8) . These add a sense of scale .

Consistent with the overall theme and concept, color has been simplified and kept in harmony with the pale salmon of the court walls and subtle grays of the sculpture and columns .

The garden outside the museum to the south, once the formal perennial garden, long overgrown, was redesigned in 1976-77 (figs . 9, 10) to provide a contrast to the informal, wooded ch aracter of the Monks' Garden (fig. 12), to respect the surrounding architecture of the museum buildings, and to create a more hospitable place for the public. Existing paths and shrubs were removed and replaced by bluestone walks connecting the

Monks' Garden, offices, and greenhouses. The central allee, paved in crushed stone, is defined b y Japanese Katsura trees, framed by grass panels .

At either end are semi-circular terraces and to the wes t is a statue of D ian a framed by four Star Magnolia trees. It is an open, sunny garden. And in time when the trees reach full h eight, it will be a quiet place for strolling and conversation.

Eleanor M. Mc Peck Notes :

Except where noted all quote s are from letters in Museum archives.

I am grateful to Susan Sinclair, Adm ini strative Assis tant, for her help in locating archival m aterial.

41

42

Report of the President

The rich and varied activities of the museum during 1977 are well described in the report of the director ; in this report it seems appropriate to say someth ing abou t the part of the Trustees in the operation of the museum.

In her will Mrs. Gard ner gave the director fu ll and absolu te control over the museum, the collections, the staff, and the income applicable to the maintenan ce of the museu m . The Trustees are responsible only fo r investi ng the endowment and appointing the di rec tor, and they have the power to remove h im . But even though their legal responsibilities requ ire only a remote association between the Trustees and the museum, the relationship in fa ct has been a close one.

The Trustees think of them selves as available to the director fo r consultatioI;l on any museum matter whether it concerns b usiness, finance, architecture, law, politics, public rela tions, or even art. The presen t d irector and his p redecessors have made good use of the services of the T rustees, wi th the result that T rus tees are fu lly informed and consulted about every important decision . They can and do serve as a sound ing board - or possibly a sh arpening stone - for the ideas of the director and the s taff; they p rovide at once the discipline and the com fo rt tha t go with havin g an au thority to report to; and by sh aring respo nsibility they can shelter the d irector from the fu ll force of some demands an d criticism s.

M os t of the business of the Trustees is accomplished at m onthly meetings fo r lunch, which generally tak e someth ing over two hours . A great variety of subj ects is covered, but those taken up during m eetings in 1977 are typical of other years.

Generally, of course, opera ting fig ures are revie wed in comparison with the budget; budgets are from time to time con sidered not only for the current and the next year but also for several years ahead ; full financial statements are reviewed each quarter, along with investment changes. (Detailed supervision over inves tments is exercised by the

Finance Committee, which meets every two months to review the work of Gardner and Preston Moss, the firm charged with managing the museum's investments.) The director reports on the running of the mu seum, including such matters as personnel changes, important restoration projects, concerts, building and grounds maintenance and improvements, publications, and attendance figures . Requests for special visits are approved or denied .

It is not surprising that in 1977 the Trustees were largely preoccupied with making both ends meet . Constantly rising costs afflict the Gardner as they do other museums, and I should note that it is of no help that these costs still include the unnecessary and unfair 4 % Federal tax on endowment income. Since endowment income cannot be expected to keep up with inflation, the Trustees reluctantly have taken further steps to augment income by requiring a contribution in some amount at the door on each open day. This supersedes the admission charge instituted in 1976 for Sundays only. The Trustees also are considering more extensive fund raising plans. Other important matters considered in 1977 include building improvements, energy conservation through heating plant improvements and possible alternate sources of energy, music programs, participation with other institutions in a community program called the Boston Plan .

Many of these matters are more fully covered in the report of the director. He and the staff continue to manage the museum not only with professional skill of the highest order, but with imagination. One ill ustration of professional skill is that the year's operating expenses exceeded the director's budget by $1277 (3/10%). The imagination manifests itself throughout the museum, especially in publications, music programs, special exhibitions, and creative ideas for improving the plant and the gardens.

Malcolm D. Perkin s

43

44

Report of the Director

Supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the museum embarked on a broad approach to energy saving in the building during the year. A report on the heating and humidity system demonstrated that the solid masonry building is a tight, remarkably efficient structure. Some of the consultant's recommendations for increasing efficiency, such as changing the amount of air intake and providing more controls and heat sources, have already been adopted, but the problem of insulation for the major source of heat loss, the glass roof over the Court, has not yet been solved. A number of proposals are being considered, with the hope of finding a m aterial that will provide an effective solution without changing the ambiance or disturbing the flowers.

Preliminary studies for wind energy and solar heat collection at the museum were carried out during the spring and summer. Although the site was judged a favorable one, substantial financial assistance from government and private foundations must be sought before more detailed studies can be made. Methods to harness forms of natural energy are still developing, and may in time offer some relief from the increasing costs of fuel and electricity.

As the museum experiences difficulty in meeting the costs of inflation, the Trustees decided in November to impose a mandatory contribution for admission to the mu seum. The results have been encouraging and it is our expectation that the proceeds will enable the museum to continue in its present course and attendance will rise again to a level which is desirable under the present schedule. That is an attendance of about 3,300 a week in the 31 hours in which the museum is open to the public or an annual attendance of approximately 171,000.

After the record high of almost 200, 000 visitors in 1975, the year of the Boston Bicentennial, a charge for admission to the museum on Sundays was imposed to meet rising costs and hold down attendance on that day. In two years the attendance has dropped to the figures below :

45

MacKenzie, Smith, Little, Finnerty, Hadley.

Weekdays Sundays Special Visits

1977

1976

1975

116,938 35,185 1,698

128,942 40,757 4,612

131,947 61,577 4,822

153,821

174,311

---

198,346

The Boston-Fenway Program, Inc., a nonprofit, tax-exempt institution, was launched in January. The museum and most of its neighbors have joined. As this section of the city has witnessed a general decline since World War II, the Program, supported by the museums and other educational and cultural institutions, addresses the problems of urban blight, traffic and transportation, and public safety. We are optimistic that together the institutions served will realize increasing stability and tranquility in their surroundings, reflecting the qualities which the museum itself strives to maintain in the galleries.

The museum was the host at a Christmas party for elderly citizens of Boston, sponsored by the Back Bay Cultural Consortium, an informal liaison between art museums and the performing arts in the Back Bay, and the Commission on the Elderly and the Mayor's office. The curator of textiles at the Museum of Fine Arts, Larry Salmon, spoke on the tapestries in the Tapestry Room; Mary Smith and Jean Hannon of the

Massachusetts Horticultural Society demonstrated the making of wreaths; students from the New England Conservatory of Music sang; and Bo Winiker and the Conservatory Swing Band played for the 350 guests.

Drama was included in this year's series of approximately :i.30 chamber music programs. The M .I.T. Shakespeare Ensemble and the Open Door Theatre both presented fine productions of scenes from Shakespeare's plays. The concerts were provided by musicians from around the world who presented unusually fine recitals . Performers included Jaroslav Horacek, leading bass-baritone from the Czech Opera, Catriona Yeats, harpist and granddaughter of the famous Irish poet, Elena Gilels, daughter of the leading pianist of the Soviet Union, and State musicians from the country of Monaco . A violinist, Masuko Ushioda, from Japan played two programs, including the complete works for solo violin by J. S. Bach. The American Harp Society sponsored a concert featuring winners of their international competition. As usual, a number of young musicians made their debuts here prior to appearing in New York's Town Hall.

On Wednesday evening, 13 Apr-ii, Anthony and Joseph Paratore filled the Tapestry Room with music for two pianos. Works by Bach,

Schubert, Bartok, and Chopin were chosen for this special concert in honor of Mrs. Gardner's birthday. At nine the next morning staff and interested friends of the museum gathered at the end of the Long Gallery for the traditional memorial service. The Rev. David Clayton, S.S.J.E., was the celebrant.

Special visits during closed hours were made by a number of organizations. The following had attendance of one hundred or more : 1 May - Advanced Management Program, Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration (300) 22 June - New England Council of Child Psychiatry (403) 8

October (250)

Haemonetics

Research

Institute

21 October - Section of Real Property, Probate and Trust Law of the American Bar Association (150) 4 November - Simmons College, Parents' Weekend (645) Renovation continues both inside and outside the museum. The conservation of objects is now carried on in three different workrooms occupying the entire second floor of the office wing. The existing laboratory was divided into two rooms for textiles and paper treatment and the adjoining caterer's kitchen was converted for the care of three-dimensional objects . Repairs were made to the roof again this year. The flat roof over the Tapes try Room remains a perennial problem.

Wall covering behind three paintings on the south wall of the Dutch Room was replaced.

Changes were made in the outside garden to the south of the museum, which has become overgrown since its landscaping in the early 193o's. In contrast to the Monks' Garden to the east of the building, which is heavily planted with New England vegetation, the new design is

open and simple in concept. Two marble urns, a gift of a Trustee, were added to the sculpture already in the garden. Inside the museum, the Court has begun to take on a Mediterranean air with an increase in the number of fruit trees and other plants of greater height to provide an appropriate setting for the classical sculpture.

A grant for the film Isabella Stewart Gardner/ Boston was received from the National Endowment for the Arts and final editing has begun on the abundant footage. Income from the Sales Desk remained high with a gross figure of $36,729.20.

Every year brings inevitable changes to the staff. Paula Kozol, who had served in a number of capacities during more than a decade at the museum, recently as editor of publications, moved on to new work at Boston University. In the fall she completed editing the sculpture catalogue, which went to the printer in November.

After a year and a half as consultant in paper conservation, during which she assisted with cleaning, re-matting and re-framing of the print collection, Kathryn Carey left the staff on 9 December to devote more time to private consulting and to restoration of the Loring Greenough House.

Other resignations were submitted by Alfred Bedford, guard, 19 June; Daniel Browne, guard, 26 April; Betty Farina, information desk, 13 August; John Fleming, guard, 17 January ; Edward Gray, guard, 9 January; John Kennedy, guard, 20 April ; Christian Pierce, nightwatchman, 31 May; Harold Reddicliffe, guard, 26 June.

Ten have been engaged for regular duties: Hope Coolidge, administrative secretary, 5 December; Thomas Dirrane, guard, 5 April; Marlene Eidelheit, textile con servation assistant, 1 January ; Charles Heidorn, guard, 7 June ; John Murphy, guard, 18 January ; Lynn Newcomb, guard, 19 April; Timothy Smith, nightwatchman, 47

June ; Jack Soultanian, objects conservator, 18 April ; Pieter Vanderbeck, guard, 4 June ; Louis Yachetta, guard, 13 September.

Employed for short periods or on special projects were Avshalom Beni, John Colleran, Wendy Kozol, Richard McCarthy, Sarah Salerno, Robin Schmeck, and Janice Smith.

Simmons College students on work-study grants have kept the Information Desk, and occasionally the Sales Desk, operating throughout the year. Angela Valente, Dyna Shipp, Joanne O 'Keefe, Donna Pickett, and Louise Mattaliano were each able to work a few afternoons a week.

Two other work-study students, Anne Elliot of Simmons, and Martha Frederick of Wellesley College, ably assisted the administrative and curatorial staff on special occasions.

The regular museum staff is grateful for the help it received from volunteers. Elizabeth Bernstein, Harvard University, typed transcripts of correspondence to Mrs. Gardner, before the original letters went to the paper conservation laboratory for treatment. Betsy Ennis, University of Pennsylvania, worked on conservation records and assisted Leo Klos in the laboratory. Karen Haas, Connecticut College, helped the curator organize curatorial records, while Elizabeth Lott of Harvard University, worked with Rebecca Karo on preparing material for a short-title catalogue of Mrs. Gardner's rare books and fine bindings. Laura Olmstead from Wheaton College organized and prepared for storage books frnm Mrs. Gardn~r' s personal library. Harriet Whelchel, Pine Manor Junior College, assisted the editor of publications.

Thanks go to all these persons who have done well by the museum, and particularly to the regular staff which continues to perform conscientiously and with a remarkable attitude of cooperation. The museum is fortunate to have been so well served .

Rollin van N. Hadley 2

Barred Owl in the Ro se Garden, Winter 1977.

Cosimo Tura (c. 1430-1495), The Circumcision, tempera a nd ( ?) oil on wood, 39 x 38 cm., Inv. No. P15 s3, Early Italian Room, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Cleaned and transferred in 1977.

49

Report of the Curator

This year in addition to caring for the constant demands of the collection and its visitors, the staff conti nued to work on several long-term projects. Publications and conservation h ave advanced concu rrently with new programs.

The sculpture catalogue, a major undertaking that represents the work of many years, received the highes t priority from the director, curator, editor of publications, and conservator. The final wri ting, editing, and indexing were completed by the end of the yea r so that the catalogue could be available in the first months in 1978 .

The conservator of paintings, Gabrielle Kopelman, continued her work on Simone Martini's Madonna and Child with Saints, cleaning and restoring the lateral panels of this large polyptych . The textile wo rkroom proceeded with the equally complex treatme nt of the fifteenth-century tapestry illustrating Flemish Proverb s. This work, begun in the fa ll of 1976, in"'.olves removing old, discolored repairs, reinforcing the structure of the tapestry, and restoring the original design.

In other areas of conservation, new projects were undertaken. Kathryn Carey and Caroline G raboys, the conservators of paper, are assisting the curator in the refurbishing and re-hanging of the print and drawing cabinets in the Short Gallery. Mrs. Gardner devised an ingenious display for her collection of old master drawings and nineteenth-century prints by placing them in four tall cupboards each with two swingi ng panels. This arra ngement lacked only one element, frames to prevent the accumulation of dust.

All the drawings and prints have been removed and, after cleaning, will be re-matted, labelled by Wendy Skinner, and displayed in frames designed and made by Edward Haack.

A systematic survey of the condition of all the objects in the collection was begun by the senior conservator of objects, Jack Soultanian. A GraecoRoman torso (S23w64) was cleaned, revealing the fi ne, white Thasian marble, and the soft model-

Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), Pieta, black cha lk, 29 x 19 cm ., Short Gallery, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Returned to exhibition after tre.a tment in 1977.

ing characteristic of its Greek prototype.

Blackened sulfation, a common problem with Istrian stone from Venice, was removed from a large fifteenth-century relief of the Madonna and Child (S12s1) ; this residue gave a mottled effect, obscuring the true appearance of the figures. Preventive steps were taken to reduce the need for future conservation: selected objects of stone and marble, several of considerable size and weight, were moved inside from the garden to the east and south of the museum to forestall the damaging effects of the atmosphere. This difficult task was supervised by Leo Klos, conservator and technical liaison.

The staff has always relied on conservators outside the museum for special services. Cosimo Tura' s Circumcision was sent to Vienna for transfer to a new support by Christian Kneisel, an expert in this delicate procedure. The cleavage that ran the length of the original panel was both disfiguring and potentially dangerous. After transfer, the painting was cleaned and returned to the gallery in the fall. Alexander J. Yow, paper conservator of the Morgan Library in New York, treated Michelangelo's chalk drawing of the Pieta.

The removal of old, unsightly repairs and reduction of stains greatly enhanced what is perhaps the finest drawing in the collection. Mr. Yow also restored two drawings by Degas : the Racehorse and Three Mounted Jockeys .

The staff continues to work to make the collection more accessible to visitors. Students from Newton High School South made nine visits to the museum ; the director, curator, and research associate, Rebecca Karo, conducted classes on Renaissance art and culture. The assistant director and curator spoke to museum seminars from Simmons College and Boston University. And, while it has become necessary to request a contribution for admission to the museum, a free weekly tour of the collection was added to the docent program, in addition to the regular tours for school groups and organizations.

D eborah Gribbon

Graeco-Roman torso in the laboratory.

51

Courtyard at Fenway Cour t in 1915.

52

0 le 0 II

of flu'

t I1l' 11

IS, 111; _(/Ii 0 II

rn111

Publications

GUIDE TO THE COLLECTION 1976 An illustrated guide for visitors, with a brief sk etch of the fou nder. H ighlighting th e collection, room by room, with attribution s and description s reflecting recent publication s; 2nd edition; 116 pp.

Paper bound $ 2.00 $ .50 (dom estic) Postage and packing $ .60 (foreign) ORI ENT AL AND ISLAMIC A RT IN THE ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM, by Yasuko Horioka, Marylin Rhie and Wa lter B. Denny 1975 A fu lly illustra ted ca talogue; this small collection includes sculpture, pai ntings, ceram ics, lacquer ware, minia tures and carvings.

Paper bound $ 3.50 $ .60 (domestic) Postage and packing $ .70 (foreign) EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN PAINTINGS IN THE ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM, by Philip Hendy 1974 A descriptive ca talogue, with b iographies of the artists and reproductions of all the pai ntings; 282 black and white ill us tra tions, 38 color plates.

Cloth bound $30.00 Pos ta ge and $ 2.25 (domestic) pack ing $ 2.5 0 (foreign) DRAWINGS / ISABELLA STEWART GA RDNER M USEUM, edited by Rollin van N . Hadley 1968 A small group of no table drawi ngs ranging in da te fro m the la te fif teenth to the earl y twentieth century; 38 illustra tions, front is piece in color.

Paper bound $ i. 25 Postage and $ -40 (domestic) packing $ .65 (foreign)

54

TITIA N' S RAPE OF EUR OP A, by Arthur Pop e A study of the composition and the mode of representation of this and related paintings; 26 illustrations; 62 pp.

Cloth bound Pos tage and packing

$ i.95 $ .50 (domestic) $ .65 (foreign )

ISABELLA STEWART GARDN ER AND FENWA Y COURT, by Morri s Carter A biography of Isabella Stewart Gardner and a his tory of the formation of her collection by the first director of the museum ; foreword by G. Peabod y Gardner ; illustrated; third edition.

Cloth bound $ 6.oo Pos tage and $ .Bo (domestic) pack ing $ 1.00 (foreign) A CHECKLIST O F THE CORRESPONDENCE OF ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER AT THE GARD NER MUSEUM Writers, composers, performers, politicians, historian s, and frie nds from the 186o' s to the 192o's, numbering over 1000 names, with a guide to the location s of collected letters in the museum ; 12 pp.

Paper bound $ .10 Pos tage and $ .15 (domestic) packin g $ .40 (foreign) FENWAY COURT Illustra ted articles on the collection and the archives, from Sargent's watercolors to l\'Irs. Gardner's trip to Bayre uth ; museum reports by the president and director. Annual Reports for 1970 and 1972 through 1977 are available.

Paper bound $ 2.50 (1970 : $z .oo) Pos tage and $ .45 (domestic) packin g $ .60 (foreign)

FENWAY COURT 1966-1970 Single issue, illustrated articles on the collection.

A list of 22 subjects will be sent on request.

10 cents per issue.

(Library discount offered only on set of 22 issues.)

New Publications SCULPTURE IN THE ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM, by Cornelius C. Vermeule, III, Walter Cahn and Rollin van N. Hadley 1977 An illustrated catalogue of the sculpture collection, which includes examples from the classical and medieval periods through the Renaissance to the modern era; 264 black and white illustrations .

Paper bound

$ 9 .95

Cloth bound

$15 .oo

Postage and packing

$ .85 (domestic) $ 1 .25 (international)

THE ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM 1978 A handsomely illustrated book, containing essays on the founder and the collection by the director, curator and prominent scholars; 80 pages, 24 color plates .

Cloth bound

$18.oo

Postage and packing

$ .85 (domestic) $ 1.25 (international)

A list of slides is available on request.

Libraries an d other educational institutions are offered a 40째/o discount on mo st items .

M ail orders will be shipp ed by 4th class, book rate (d om es tic) or surface ra tes (fore ign). Please

m ake check or money order pay able to the Isabella Stewart Gardn er M useum .

Manuscri pts on subjects related to the coll ection w ill be consid ered fo r pub lication . Please sen d proposals to the editor of publications.

55

Trustees

Staff*

The Isabell a Stewart Gardner Museum Incorporated, Sole Trustee under the will of Isabella Stewart Gardner

Director Emeritus George L. Stout

Senior Objects Conservator Jack Soultanian

ADM INISTR ATION

Con servator/Tec hnical Liaison Leo V. Klos, Jr.

President Malcolm D. Perkins Vice-President and Treasurer John Lowell Gardner Secretary James L. Terry

Elliot Forbes Mason Hammond Francis W. Hatch, Jr. James Lawrence

Director Rollin van N. Hadley Assistant Director Linda V. Hewitt Curator Deborah Gribbon Research Associate Rebecca W. Karo Administrative Assistants Susa n Sinclair Lisa 0 . Ehret Administrative Secretary Hope Coolidge Photographer Joseph B. Pratt Director of Music Johanna Giwosky Docents Marie L. Diamond Judith E. Hanhisalo Clara S. Monroe Phyllis London Sales Clerk Loren L. Benson CONSERVATION

Conservator of Paintings Gabrielle Kopelman Conservator of Textiles Yvonne A. A. Cox Assistant Conservators, Textiles Marjorie R. Bullock Lawrence R. Williams Conservation Assistant, Textiles Marlene Eidelhei t

Paper Conservator Caroline A. Graboys SECURITY AND MAINTENANCE

Supervisor of Buildings John F. Niland Sernrity Foreman Greg Cartmell Maintenance Foreman Alfred J. Smith Shop Technician Michael Finnerty

Anthony Flynn Francis R. Gillis Charles Heidorn John H . Holland Michael Hurley John J. King Patrick McCollum Charles A. McStravick John Murphy Lynn Newcomb Daniel O 'Connell Edwin J. Olson John Pantano Charles R. Parsons Joseph Rajunas John C. Ribner Michael Shea Patrick H. Slevin David A. Twomey Pieter Vanderbeck Eric Watmough Louis Yachetta

MAINTENANCE AND WATCH

Robert Anderson Elizabeth Bing Patrick Burns Stephen F. Duffe William Evans Robert French Thomas Little Paul W. McCurdy Yvonne Mercer Jo sep h Miniutti Patrick T. Niland Jonathan Randolph Timothy Smith Alfonso Walker GUARDS

Maurice B. A:1ern Kenwood M. Cappers Jeremiah J. Clifford Thomas Dirrane Bernard Doherty Edward P. Downs Frederick C. Doyle Dennis Fitzgerald

*on regular duty 31 December1977

GARDENING

Head Gardener Robert M . MacKenzie Gardeners Charles P. Healy, Jr. Joseph F. Kiarsis Stanley Kozak

Gardens of Eden. Pictures of biblical scenes were among the earliest book illustrations. In the hands of Durer and Holbein a small woodcut of the Carden of Eden is a metaphor of creation and the fall of man. Th e illustrators of the large eighteenth-century pictorial Bibles were much more literal in their engravings, including as much of th e Carden of Eden and its inhabitants as possible.

1.

Passio Christi ab Albrecht Diirer Nuremberg, 1511.

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Albrecht Diirer woodcut Diire r's Little Woodcut Pa ssion, bound wi th only one pa ge of the text that usually accompanies these woodcuts and two woodcuts by Wolfgang Huber (c. 1485-1553) .

2.

Biblia Sacra Lyons, Jacques Saccon, 1515.

The six days of creation. woodcut 3.

Les Images de la Mort Lyons, Jean Frellon, 1562 .

Creation.

Hans Holbein, cut by Hans Liitzelburger woodcut

Eden and Other Gardens

Holbein's Dance of Death. Apparently a va riant of the 1562 edition with only fifty-four of tha t edition's fifty-eight plates ; missing are two woodc uts of a m a rried couple and two woodcuts of children.

4.

Historien des Ouden en Nieuwen Testaments Amsterdam, Piete r Mortier, 1700 .

Eden and Other Gardens is a fanciful approach to illustrated books in the Gardner Museum's collection. From the 1499 Hypnerotomachia Poliphili to the 1894 Yellow Book, gardens and flowers appear in the illustrations, either to inform the reader on techniques of gardening and landscape design or, more often, to provide a setting that wou ld inspire his imagination. A few examp les of these gardens are offered in this exhib ition.

Adam na ming the a nimals in the Garden of Eden .

Eve giving Adam the apple.

Jan Goeree engravin g a nd etching 5.

Histoire du Vieux et du Nouveau Testament Amsterdam, Jacob Basnage for Jacques Lindenbe rg, 1704.

Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.

Romeyn de Hooghe etching De Hooghe also designed the plates for Anton van Leeuwenhoek's treatise on the microscope.

57

6.

History of the Holy Bible Richard Blome London, M. Cooper, [1 711?] .

The fall of Adam .

Attributed to John Freeman etching 7.

Afbeeldingen der Merkwaardigste Geschiedenissen vat het Oude en Nieuwe Testaments Amste rdam, J. Covens and C. Mortier, 1729.

Adam naming the a nimals in the Garden of Eden.

Jan Luiken etching 8.

History of the Jews Jos ephus, translated by George H enry May nard, London, J. Cooke, [1785?].

Map of countries surrounding the Garden of Eden.

Thoma s Bowe n engravi ng Classical Gardens. Ovid' s M etamorphoses, li ke th e Bible, begin s with creation. Its first age, the Age of Gold, was always pictured as an Eden-like paradise, and it, too, underw ent a metamorphosis from th e six tee nth-century woodcut to the Baroqu e en gravin g.

9.

La Metamorphose d'Ovide Figuree Lyons, Jea n de Tournes, 1564.

The creation of man .

The Age of Gold.

Bernard Salomon woodcut

Garden Books. Th ese books are from the great age of the En glish landscape garden. Influenced

by French gardens and garden books, the English dev eloped their own way of treating landscape which may be seen in boo ks that range from practica l advice on h orticu lture to poetic rhapsodies on the glories of the garden.

12.

The English Gardener Leonard M eager London, T . Peirrepoint, 1 682 .

Frontispiece. engravin g A practica l guide by a profess ional gardener "of thirt y yea rs' experience."

13.

The Compleat Gard'ner Jean de la Quintinye, translated by John Evelyn London, Matthew Gillyflower and James Partridge, 1 693 .

Th e king's kitchen ga rden at Versailles. etching Thi s trea tise by the French royal gardener helped establish French garden design in England.

14.

Of Gardens Ren e Rapin, translated by James Gardiner London, W . Bowyer for Bernard Lintott, 1706.

Frontispiece: What road more entertaining lies than this?

Yet none leads more direct to happines.

- Ja . Gardiner engraving English translation of a French poem celebrating the garden for its utility and ornamental value.

15.

Metamorphoseon Libri XV Frankfort-a m-Mai n,

La Theorie et la Pratique du Jardinage Antoine Joseph D ezallier d' Argenville Paris, Jean Mariette,

1567.

1709 .

The Age of Gold. woodcut

Plate L, figs. 1-5: Cascades. etchi ng

The illustrations in this edition were copied from No. 9.

16.

10.

11.

Les Metamorphoses d'Ovide Translated by Pierre du Ryer, Brussels, Fran~ois Foppens, 1677.

The Age of Gold.

Pet rus Clouet after Abraham Diepenbeeck engravi ng

Rural Architecture in the Chinese Taste William and John Halfpenny London, Robert Sayer, 1755.

Plate 16: A garde n seat in the Chinese taste.

William Halfpenny etchi ng This pattern book popularized chinoiserie in English garden design.

17.

Chaix des Plus Celebres Maisons de Plaisance de Rome et de ses Environs Ch arles Percier and P. F. L. Fontaine Paris, P. D id ot l' a!ne,

22.

Les Nouvelles de Marguerite, Reine de Navarre Marguerite de Navarre, edited by J. R. Sinne Berne, La Nouvelle Societe T ypographique, 1780.

1809.

Nouvelle XX. An affair.

Sigmund Freudenberger etching

Plate XU : Villa Madama etching Percier's working copy. Plates in both the prelimina ry and final sta tes, some with corrections in pencil,

are tipped in.

A maison de plaisance is a country house standing within or just ou tside the city wa ll s, surrounded by formal gardens . Roman villas and their gardens are illustrated in this volume.

Romantic Gardens. In every age gardens have been the scene of romantic encounters. The illustrations are sometimes fantastic, but often reflect contemporary ga rden design.

18.

Hypnerotomachia Poliphili Francesco Colonna Venice, A ldus Manutius, 1499.

Arbor. woodcut Thi s volume, describing the romant ic dream of a monk, is an important source for both book and garden design.

19.

II Decamerone Giovanni Boccaccio Venice, Alessandro Vecchi, 1602.

Pasquino and Sim o na. woodcut The two lovers are depicted in an orta, a fruit and vegetable garden.

20.

Julie ou la Nouvelle Heloise

Jean Jacques Rousseau Amsterdam, Marc Michel Rey, 1761 [1763].

Plate I : The first k iss of love.

Hubert F ra n~o i s Bourguignon, known as " Gravelot" etching First illustra ted edition. Dated 1761 but actually published in 1763, two years after the fi rst (unillustrated) edition.

21.

Les Amours de Daphnis et Chloe Longus, tran slated by Jacques Amyot London, J. Knox, 1764.

Grape harvest.

Isaac T aylor engraving

Children's Gardens . In the most popular children's book of all time, Lew is Carroll and his illustrator John T enn ie! turned th e world of the garden upside down . In th e 188o's, Kate Greenaway, Ran dolph Caldeco tt, and Walter Crane brought th e art and ideals of the A esthe tic Mov em ent into the nursery, creating imagina ry, well-tended ga rdens as settings fo r rhym es, songs, an d fairy tales.

23.

Alice's Abenteuer im Wunderland Lewis Carro ll, translated by Antonie Zimmermann Leipzig, Johann Friedrich Hartknoch, 1869.

p . 105 : Painting the roses red .

John T en nie( wood engraving First German edi tion.

24.

A ventures d' Alice au Pays des Merveilles Lewis Carroll, translated by H enri Bue London, Macmillan and Company, 1869.

p. 60: The ca terpillar.

John T ennie( wood engraving First French language edition.

25.

Through the Looking Glass Lew is Carroll London, Macmi llan and Company, 1872.

p. 29 : The garden of live flowers.

John T ennie( wood engraving First edition.

26.

Under the Window Kat e Greenaway London, engraved and printed by Edmund Evans for George Ro utledge, 1878.

p. 16: Will you be my little wife. p . 17: You see, merry Phillis, that dear little maid.

Kate Greenaway wood engraving First edition.

This book launched Kate Greenaway's career and exerted great influence on chi ldren's fashion and manners.

59

27.

Afternoon Tea ]. G. Sowerb y and H. H . Emm erson London, Frederick Warne and Company, 1880.

pp. 36-37: Bubbles.

J. G. Sowerby wood engraving A successful imitation of Greenaway's work .

Aesthetic Gardens. Th e Aesthetic Movement, found ed on th e tenets of th e Pre-Raphaelite Bro therhood, was distin guished by its interes t in the symbolism and decorative possibilities of gardens and flow ers . The aesthetic garden in boo k design began with the marginal vines of the Kelm scott Press books, evo lved into the stylized fleurs du ma! of Aubrey Beardsley, and then into the more abstract curvilinear style of Art Nouvea u .

28.

33.

Sing a Song of Sixpence Randolph Caldecott London, engraved and printed by Edmund Evans for George Routledge,

The Poems of John Keats William Morris at the Kelmscott Press Hammersmith, England, March 7, 1894.

1 880.

pp. 26-27 : . . . hanging out the clothes.

Randolph Caldecott wood engraving From the " Picture Book" series.

29.

The Baby's Bouquet Walt er Cran e London, engraved and printed by Edmund Evans for George Routledge, 1878.

p. 23: The little man and maid.

Walter Crane wood engraving 30.

Legends for Lionel W alter Crane London, Cassell and Company, 1 887.

pp. 28-29 : The spade was in the garden talking to the hose.

Walter Crane lithograph This is one of the books Crane designed for hi s son.

31.

Flora's Feast : A Masque of Flowers Walter Cran e London, Cassell and Company, 1890 .

pp. 10-11 : The " lady smocks all silver white."

Walter Crane lithograph 32.

A Child's Garden of Verses Rob ert Louis Stevenson New York, Charles Scribner's Sons, 1885 .

First edition.

60

" Endymion."

William Morris wood engraving 34.

The House of Life Dante Gabriel Rossetti Cambridge, John Wilson and Son for Copeland and Day, Boston, 1894.

p. 3: Love enthroned.

Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue wood engraving 35.

The Yellow Book, Volume II, July 1894 London, Elkin Mathews and John Lane, 1894.

Frontispiece.

Aubrey Beardsley wood engravi ng A periodica l for arts and letters; the first six issues {1894-95) were designed by Aubrey Beardsley.

36.

The Nightingale Han s Chri stian Andersen Boston, D. Berkeley Updike, the Merrymount Press, 1896 .

p. 3: The emperor's ga rden .

Mary Newill wood engraving

Report of the Treasurer ST A TEMENT OF NET ASSETS DECEMBER 31, 1977 AND 1976

NET ASSETS

1977

INVESTMENTS (Note 1) : Bonds, at quoted market price (cost $4,745,896 in 1977 and $3'422,016 in 1976)

$ 4,782,153

$ 3,743,986

Stocks, at quoted market price (cost $5,849,394 in 1977 and $7,321,014 in 1976)

5,894,693

8'419,047

$10,676,846

$12,163,033

Total investments, at market

$10,595,290

$10,743,030

845,221

397,669

$11'440,511

$11,140,699

$

$

Commercial paper, at cost which approximates market Total investments, at cost CASH

(1'420,003)

(81,556)

Allowance for unrealized appreciation

24,629

118,514

4'430

PREPAID BOND INTEREST

(31,214)

(34,746)

ACCRUED INCOME TAXES (Note 1)

$11'434,824

$12,227,999

$

$

MusEuM PROPERTY (Note 1) : Museum building and underlying land

366'400 4,015,000

4,015,000

560,507

560,507

$ 4,941,907

$ 4,941,907

$16,376,731

$16,169,906

$

$

Contents of Museum building Greenhouse and underlying land

Net Assets

366'400

FUND BALANCES OPERATING (Note 3) GENERAL MAINTENANCE AND DEPRECIATION (Note 1)

113,566

117'432

15,502,958

15,265,214

760,207

787,260 $16,169,906

The accompanying notes are an integral part of these financial statements.

STATEMENT O F O PERATIO NS FOR THE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1977 AND 1976

1976

1977 INVESTMENT INCOME: Interest Dividends OTHER INCOME: Sale of publications and other items Sunday admission fees Grants and contributions Other receipts Total income

$

382,656 367,557

$ 385,156 338,660

$

750,213

$ 723,816

$

36,563 30,469 11,625 7,489

$

$

86,146

$

$

836,359

$ 816,857

$

298,227 209,055 100,169 50,821 37,851 17,568

$ 293,165 208,047 77,906 45,611 36,282 16,186

36,517 3 2 2 35 16,214 8,075 1

93,041

OPERA TING EXPENSES: Museum operating expenses Maintenance and security Administration Care of collections and paintings Gardening and grounds Music Cataloging expense Carter biography catalogue Pensions (Note 2) Federal income taxes (Note 1) Professional services Insurance Insurance refund Compensation of managing trustees Boston plan membership Gardner Museum film Total operating expenses INCOME (Loss) FROM OPERATIONS NON-OPER ATING EXPENSES: Renovations to Museum building Energy studies Total non-operating expenses Net income (loss) REALI ZED AND U NR EALIZED GAIN (Loss) ON INVESTMENTS Proceeds from sale of investments Cost of investments sold Capital gains tax (Note 1) N et realized gain on sale of investments

5,905 14,415 34,200 22,900 20,570 (661) 2,920

13,633 41,903 28,000 25,247 5,380 2,500 9,871 $ $

840,225 (3,866)

$ 777,446 $

39,411

$

17,560 9,493

$

$

27,053

$

$

(30,919)

$

245,744 8,ooo

$2,904,850 2,778,370 126,480 5,000

237,744

$ 121,480

$ 6,360,115 6,114,371

$

39'411

Unrealized appreciation Beginning of yea r End of year Increase (decrease) in unrealized appreciation

$ 1,420,003 81,556

$

$(1,338,447)

$1,413,760

Ne t realized and unrealized gain (loss) on investments

$(1,100,703)

$1,535,240

Th e accompanying notes are an integral part of these fi nan cial stateme nts.

6,243 1,420,003

STATEMENT OF FUND BALANCES FOR THE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1977 AND 1976

Operating

BALANCE, December 31, 1975, as previously reported Cumulative effect of changes in accounting (Notes 1(A) and (B)) BALANCE, December 31, 1975, as restated Income (loss) before gain on investments Gain on investments net of capital gains tax Purchase of annuity contracts (Note 2) Initial contribution to the pension plan (Note 2) Fund transfers

$140,166

G eneral

$ 63,606

Pension

$14,527,767

(76,560)

Maint enance and D epreciation

$822,774

$830,996

(4,726) $14,523,041

(43,736) $822,774

$787,260

Total

$16,321,703

(125,022) $16,196,681

39,411

39,411 121,480

14,415

620,693

BALANCE, December 31, 1976 Income (loss) before gain on investments Gain on investments net of capital gains tax Fund transfers

$117,432

$15,265,214

BALANCE, December 31, 1977

$113,566

121,480 (2,081)

(2,081)

(185,585) (635,108)

(185,585) $787,260

$16,169,906

(30,919)

(30,919) 2 37,744

237,744 (27,053)

27,053

$760,207

$15,502,958

$16,376,731

STATEMENT OF CHANGES IN NET ASSETS FOR THE YEARS ENDED DECEMBER 31, 1977 AND 1976

1976

1977 NET ASSETS WERE RECEIVED FROM: $

Income (loss) from operations Realized gain from sale of investments net of capital gains tax

(3,866)

$ 39'411

237,744

121,480

$ 233,878

$ 160,891

$

$

NET ASSETS WERE USED FOR: Energy studies Initial contribution to the pension plan (Note 2) Purchase of annuity contracts (Note 2) Renovations to Museum building

185,585 2,081 17,560

TOTAL INCREASE (DECREASE) IN NET ASSETS THE INCREASE (DECREASE) IN NET ASSETS WAS REPRESENTED Investments Cash Prepaid bond interest Accrued expenses

9'493

BY

CHANGES

$ 27,053 $ 206,825

$ 187,666

$ 299,812 (93,885) 4'430 (3,532)

$ (42,639) 18,522

$ 206,825

$ (26,775)

$ (26,775)

IN:

The accompanying notes are an integra l part of th ese financial statem ents.

(2,658)

NOTES TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS S u mmary of Accou n tin g Policies The Isab ell a Stewart Gardner Mu se um, Incorpora ted (Museum Corporation), the sole trustee under the will of Isabella Stewart Gardner, is the owner of the property which now cons titutes the Mu se um - fe n way Court and the works of art collected there by Mrs. Gardner. The more significant a ccounti ng policies of the Museum Corporation not covered else where in thi s report include th e following : A. Basis o f Presentation - During 1977, the Museum Corpora tion change d from the accrual basis to a modified cash basis of accounting.

Under thi s me thod, revenues and expenses are recognize d when received and paid rather than when earned or incurred, except for Federal income taxes which are recognized when incurred. The cumulative effect of thi s change to D ecember 31, 1975 ($120,296) h as been reflected as an a djus tmen t of the Operating Fund ($76,560) a nd the Maintenance and Depreciation Fund ($4 3,73 6) as o f that date. The adjustment to th e Maintena nce and Depreciation Fund is required since the transfer in 1974 of opera ting surplu s to thi s Fund was based upon accrua l basis operating results. The effect of this change upon net income (loss) in 1976 and 1977 was not material.

B. Inves tment s - During 1977, the Museum Corpora tion changed its ba sis for recording investments from quoted market value to cost. A s a res ult, changes in unrea li zed appreciation (deprecia tion) a re no longer recognized for financia l s ta tement purposes, however, this information has been included below the Statement of Opera tion s for di sclosure purposes. The cumulative effect o f thi s change to December 31, 1975 ($4,726) has been reflected as an adjustment o f the General Fund a s of that date. This cha nge resulted in a decrea se of $1,413,760 in net income in 1976 and an increase of $1,338,447 in net income in 1977.

C. Museum Property - Mu seum property is stated a t a ppraised value s es tabli shed on December 24, 193 6. Additions made sub sequently are stated a t cost. The Museum Corporation has cons is tentl y followed the practice of charging renova tion s to expense ra ther tha n providing fo r d epreci a tion of Mu seum property. Allocations to th e M ai ntenance a nd Depreciation Fund a re credited thereto when a uthorized b y the Trustee s.

D. Fed era l Income T axes - Under the Internal Revenu e Code, the Museum Corporation is class ified as a p rivate operatin g foundation and, accordingly, required to pay a tax of 4 o/o of " net investment income," as defined.

1 .

Pension Plan Prior to 1976, th e Museum Corpora tion had no forma l pension a rra ngement s with its employees; the Board of Tru stees a uthori zed discretionary paymen ts to ce rta in ret ired employees. These payments we re ma de either d irectly from the Pens ion Fund or through the purchase of a nnuity contracts .

In 1976, th e Mu seum Corpora tion instituted a forma l retirement plan ; th e initia l funding of the pla n was cha rge d to th e Pension Fund ($18 5,5 85), and to the Sta tement of Opera tions ($14,415). The amount charged to opera tions represented the normal cost of the pla n for 1976, plus the amortization of prior

2.

service over a thirty-year period. The balance remaining in the Pension Fund, after these transaction s, wa s tran sferred to the General Fund.

In 1977, the normal cos t of the plan, plus the amorti zation of prior ser.vice costs charged to operation s, was $13,633 .

Th e pension plan adopted covers, substantially, all full time employees of the Museum Corporation who meet certa in age and employment requirements.

The M useum Corporation' s policy is to fund pension cos ts accrued. The actuarially computed value of ves ted benefits under the plan did not exceed the assets of th e pension plan at December 31, 1977.

3. R estric tion on Op erating Surplus The Trustees are directed under the will of Isabella Stewart Gardner to pay to certain designated ho spitals any surplus of income which, in the opinion of the Director and Trustees, will not be needed for the proper and rea sonable maintenance of the Museum. These amounts, if any, are payable at the end of successive five-year periods, the next of which end s December 31, 1979.

REPORT OF INDEPENDENT PUBLIC ACCOUNT ANTS To th e Tru stees of Th e Isa bella Stewart Gardner Mu seum, incorpo ra ted, T ru stee Und er th e Will of Isabella Stewart Ga rdne r: We have examined the s tatement of net asse ts of THE ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER MUSEUM, INCORPORATED (a Massachusetts corporation, not for profit), TRUSTEE UNDER THE WILL OF ISABELLA STEWART GARDNER as of December 31, 1977 and 1976, and the related statements of operations, fund balances and changes in net as sets for the years then ended. Our examinations were made in accordance with generally accepted auditing s tandards, and accordingly included such tests of the accounting records and such other auditing procedure s as we considered necessary in the circumstances, including confirmation of securities owned at December 31, 1977 and 1976 by correspondence with the custodian.

As described in Note 1(A), the Museum changed from the accrual basis to a modified cash basis of accounting in 1977. Under this method, revenues and expenses are recognized when received and paid rather than when earned or incurred, except for Federal income ta xes which are recognized when incurred. In addition, as described in Note 1(B), the路 Museum changed its basis for recording investments from quoted market value to cost. Accordingly, the a ccompanying financial statements are not intended to present financial position, results of operations and cha nges in net assets in conformity with generall y accepted accounting principles.

In our opinion, the accompanying financial statement s present fairly the financial position of The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Incorporated, Trustee Under the Will of Isabella Stewart Gardner as of December 31, 1977 and 1976, and the results of its operations and changes in its net assets for the years then ended, on the basis of accounting as described in Notes 1(A) and 1(B), which basis has been applied in a consistent manner during the periods after giving retroactive effect to the changes de sc ribed in Note s 1(A) and 1(B).

ARTHUR ANDERSEN & Co. February 3, 1978.

Bos ton, Massachusetts