Did They Ever Find the Art Stolen From Gardner Museum?

Art|Art Museum

The Gardner Museum heist is one of the most notorious art thefts in history. On March 18, 1990, two men dressed as police officers entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston and stole 13 works of art worth an estimated $500 million. The stolen pieces included works by Rembrandt, Vermeer, Degas, Manet, and Flinck.

For over 30 years, the case remained unsolved and the whereabouts of the stolen art remained a mystery. Despite a massive FBI investigation that included offers of immunity to anyone with information about the stolen works, no leads turned up. The FBI pursued more than 10,000 leads and offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the recovery of the artwork.

The Gardner Museum has been actively trying to recover the artwork since it was stolen in 1990. They launched an online campaign called “Stolen Masterpieces” that featured digital versions of all 13 works of art that were taken from the museum. This campaign was intended to raise awareness and keep hope alive that one day these masterpieces would be recovered.

In 2013, a major break came when authorities arrested Robert Gentile, who they believed had knowledge of what happened to some of the artwork. Despite months of questioning and searches at his home and elsewhere, nothing definitive was found.

In 2019 another development occurred when authorities discovered a safe deposit box containing documents related to some of the missing artwork which suggested that some may have been sold abroad or in Europe. However, this has yet to be verified.

Despite multiple leads over 30 years no definitive answer has emerged as to what happened to these priceless works of art or who is responsible for stealing them from the Gardner Museum in 1990. Despite a massive investigation by authorities no arrests have been made and no solid evidence has emerged as to where these masterpieces are located or who may have taken them from the museum that fateful night.

Did they ever find the art stolen from Gardner Museum? Unfortunately not yet; despite extensive efforts by investigators and law enforcement agencies over three decades no solid evidence has been found which would lead them closer towards finding this priceless artwork which remains missing until this day.