Gardner Style
diamonds . . . She
a decade later. After the opening of the museum,
amused herself by th rowing them across
Ga rdner befriended the interior designer Henry
t he room to me to ca tch , as she sa id they
Museum in designing Beauport, his house north
2
sparkled better when flying thro ugh the air, t han at any other time. I was relieved when she stopped as I
"Itali an Gothic C hest" from Wh arton and Cod man, The Decorati on of Houses 22 .
was afraid of missing them. She is a really extraordinary woman, does everyth ing that mortal can, has read everyth ing, knows everyone, has great taste and is withal extraord inarily kind and puts herself to no end of trouble fo r you.64
(18 97)
Gardner took Peto to see houses and collections in Boston. In 1891, she commiss ioned him to make a beautiful altar screen for the C hurch of the Advent.65 Arou nd this time, Gard ner considered purchasing one of the most influential interiors of the per iod, Whistler's Peacock Room of 1876-77. She tried to arrange a commission fo r Whistler to do murals fo r the Boston Public Library, but this
1
28
67. C hong 2009, pp. 42-43. Sa rgent wro te to Whistler, I Nove mber [1 895), that Ga rdner was considering the Peacock Room for a la rge h all in the li brary. Because of this, Whistler ca lled her [3 Nove mber 1895 ), "a most da ngerous busy body."
68. Ha rris 2007, p. 203. O n Sleeper and Ga rdner, see Carter 1925, pp. 226-29; Sha nd-Tucci 1997, pp. 245-46, 276. 69. Rybczy nski and O lin 2007, pp. 26-28, 57, 65. Ha rwood 1985, pp. 7-8, asse rts th at Ga rdner recommended C h alfin to Ja mes Deering, but there is no evidence fo r this. O n Ga rdner and C h a lfin, also see Hadley 1987, pp. 354-55.
70. Wha rton to Sara lselin , l May [1 903 ]; tra nscription courtesy of Michael Bliss; Ga rdner cat.
2003, p. xvi.
tive style also exerted a strong influence on Pau l C halfin, the designer of Vizcaya , James Deering's house in Miami.69 C halfin was a curator at the Museum of Fine A rts from 1903 to 1905, when he beca me a fr iend of Ga rdner. Based on Gardner's exa mple, C halfin assembled a large collection of Italian furniture fo r Vizcaya, which was completed in 1916. Edith Wharton (1862-1937) and Isabella Gardner were friends or, more correctly, had many friends in common, like Henry James and Bernard Berenson. Wharton visited the Ga rdner Mu seum shortly after it opened and was du ly impressed with the "Palazzo Gardner," as she called it. "Her collection is marvelous, and looks beautifu lly in its new setting, but a spirit of opposition ro used in me when I am told 'there is nothing li ke it in Europe' especially when it is applied to houses." 70 Edith Wharton and the architect
was ca nceled because of lack of fund s. 66 In 1895, John Sargent told her the Peacock Room was fo r sa le, and she attempted to bu y it for the library, then under construction.67 Nothing came of the idea, and the room was bought by C harles Freer
The book starts off on common ground by praising the architectural clarity of the Italian Renaissance. French Gothic chairs and an Italian
23. Wi lli am Merritt C hase's studio on West 10th Street, New York., ca. r88o. Photograph 65. Lingner 2001, p. 33, fi g. I 2. 66. Sa rgent to Ga rdner, 2 Nove mber 11895]. by George C. Cox. Whistler s correspondence ca n be found ac: Archi ves of A merica n Art, Washi ngton www.whistler.a rts.gla.ac.uk. tesy of A nn Uppington. Henr y James's letter
of Boston (although one writer has mistakenly reversed this relationship) .68 Ga rdner's decora-
Ogden Codman Jr. had written The Decoration of Houses in 1897, a commentary on inter ior design which in many respects is the antithesis of Isabella Gardner's style.
64. Harold Peto diary, November 1887; courto Ga rdner is dated 20 October 1887; Ma moli Zorzi 2009, pp. 137-38.
leeper, who was directly inspired by the Gardner