Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner

Biographer Dykstra (Clover Adams) paints a captivating portrait of philanthropist and museum founder Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840–1924). Raised near New York City’s Washington Square, Belle (as she was known) developed an “early appreciation for art.” At age 20, she married Boston Brahmin Jack Gardner, who worked at her family’s shipping and real estate firm. Her charmed life collapsed five years later, when her toddler son died in 1865. Afflicted with “neurasthenia,” she was taken by Jack on the first of many trips abroad to recover, and the couple returned to Boston in 1867 laden with art and treasures. She became a fashion icon (known for her “signature” pearl necklace) and a patroness of the English label House of Worth. By 1880, she aimed to establish an art salon in Boston inspired by the Palazzo Barbaro in Venice. After Jack died in 1898, she devoted herself to building Fenway Court—today known as the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum—to display her impressive collection. Dykstra’s high-spirited narrative devotes ample time to Gardner’s friendships with famous figures, including Henry James (whose Portrait of a Lady she inspired) and John Singer Sargent (her museum’s inaugural artist in residence). It’s an elegant depiction of a larger-than-life trailblazer. Illus. Agent: Zoë Pagnamenta, Zoë Pagnamenta Agency. (Mar.)