--- title: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Heist Hits 25 Years Unsolved description: The 13 pieces were stolen in Boston on the morning of March 18, 1990 canonical: https://time.com/3744165/gardner-museum-theft-25-years/ author: Lily Rothman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-03-18T14:00:39.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:40:56.127Z article:section: History og:title: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Heist Hits 25 Years Unsolved og:description: The 13 pieces were stolen in Boston on the morning of March 18, 1990 og:url: https://time.com/3744165/gardner-museum-theft-25-years/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73318ecf1dcf8a17/6987837ea988ca0c816aceba/gardner.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Empty Frames At The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Art Heist Hits 25 Years Unsolved twitter:description: The 13 pieces were stolen in Boston on the morning of March 18, 1990 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt73318ecf1dcf8a17/6987837ea988ca0c816aceba/gardner.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # American History's Biggest Art Theft Hits 25 Years Unsolved > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: High Art's High Price: Museums Can't Afford It [Watch (HLS stream): High Art's High Price: Museums Can't Afford It](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/BR0tUoUi.m3u8) (2:31)  _Published 2013-11-15. The ultra-wealthy are snatching up prized works of art by 20th century masters. Many of these pieces, however, won't be seen again by the general public._  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Mar 18, 2015 2:00 PM UTC  An empty frame on the right is where Vermeer's "The Concert," circa 1658 - 166, once was. An empty frame on the right is where Vermeer's "The Concert," circa 1658 - 166, once was. David L Ryan—Boston Globe / Getty Images  by [Lily Rothman](https://time.com/author/lily-rothman/)  ## Lily Rothman Rothman is managing editor at TIME. Mar 18, 2015 2:00 PM UTC It was the morning of March 18, 1990 — exactly 25 years ago — when a security guard at Boston’s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum got a nasty surprise. Hours earlier, thieves dressed as police officers had entered the museum, immobilized the security guards with duct tape, removed 13 works from their places and got away. Those works, including several Rembrandts and Vermeer’s _The Concert_, are valued [by the FBI](http://www.fbi.gov/news/stories/2013/march/reward-offered-for-return-of-stolen-gardner-museum-artwork) at a combined $500 million, making it the largest single property crime in the nation’s history. A quarter-century later, the crime remains unsolved — but, as interest in the anniversary emerges, so have clues. Even though the criminals appeared to have gotten away scot-free, the clues have been trickling in since the very beginning. Most of the works, per TIME’s [original coverage](http://time.com/vault/issue/1990-04-02/page/72/) of the theft, are not especially significant ones, which indicated from the start that the thieves were no experts. The valuation of the stolen works, which was originally $200 million, may also have been exaggerated, suggested the magazine’s Robert Hughes; the idea is that thieves who can be persuaded to ask higher prices when fleecing their wares are more likely to have to go out to a variety of potential buyers, which increases the likelihood that someone will spill the beans in exchange for the reward ($1 million in 1990; $5 million today). If the criminals had been real experts, they likely would have targeted the pride of the Gardner, Titian’s _Rape of_ _Europa_, and would not have so crudely cut some paintings from their frames. The theft came during an [increase in the incidence of such crimes](http://time.com/vault/issue/1991-11-25/page/92/) as the value of the global art market expanded, increasing potential rewards and attracting more cons to the racket. The next major spate of clues came in 1997, when after seven years and thousands of leads, there wast still no sign of the stolen works. At that point, [TIME learned](http://time.com/vault/issue/1997-11-17/page/82/) that two career criminals — one of whom was Myles Connor, a former rock guitarist who was at the time in prison for crimes connected to a 1975 art heist — had come forward offering to broker a return of the art, blaming the theft on two other criminals who had since died. (Connor also told the magazine that if he had been the one to knock off the Gardner, _Europa_ would have been his target.) The news of the clue had first come to the world courtesy of the Boston _Herald_, whose Tom Mashberg was invited earlier in 1997 to be driven to a warehouse where he was shown, by flashlight, a Rembrandt. The newspaper hired an expert to analyze photographs and paint chips they acquired, and announced that he had decided they were authentic. Negotiations with Connor and his acquaintance Billy Youngworth, however, stalled out. As Mashberg [wrote ](http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/01/arts/design/isabella-stewart-gardner-heist-25-years-of-theories.html?%5Fr=0)in the New York _Times_ this month, Connor was eventually ruled out as a reliable lead. In 2013, another clue emerged. At that time, the FBI [announced](http://www.fbi.gov/boston/press-releases/2013/fbi-provides-new-information-regarding-the-1990-isabella-stewart-gardner-museum-art-heist) that they had determined who had committed the crime and where the stolen works had been taken. The works had been offered for sale in Connecticut and Philadelphia at some point, and the thieves were part of a larger criminal organization. Beyond that, the agency was hush-hush about its new knowledge. The following year, an FBI agent [released the names](http://www.bostonglobe.com/news/nation/2014/05/22/fbi-has-confirmed-sightings-gardner-artwork-agent-says/ganlgCOOl6dSB66AOYsEcK/story.html) of three suspects and said that sightings of the works had been confirmed. As reported in a [lengthy story by Stephen Kurkjian ](http://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2015/03/11/does-connecticut-shed-hold-secrets-gardner-heist/LHOwffI4jrOegKupbLdHwJ/story.html)last week — worthwhile reading for those interested in the intricacies of such an investigation — a raid in 2012 had uncovered evidence but no actual sightings of the paintings. Former _Globe_ reporter Kurkjian’s new book, [_Master Thieves: The Boston Gangsters Who Pulled Off the World’s Greatest Art Heist_](http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/books/2015/03/14/book-review-master-thieves-the-boston-gangsters-who-pulled-off-world-greatest-art-heist-stephen-kurkjian/lat6PUrCbXZVOONaYzu10I/story.html#), points a finger at a Boston criminal named Louis Royce for planting the idea in the actual criminals’ minds. But the crime remains, for exactly 25 years as of today, unsolved. **_Read TIME’s original coverage of the theft, here in the TIME Vault:_** [A Boston Theft Reflects the Art World’s Turmoil](http://time.com/vault/issue/1990-04-02/page/72/) ### See Never Before Seen Warhol Art  Parking Garage Sign 1976-86 Stitched Photo The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society  Building Facade 1976-86 Stitched Photo The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society  Mannequin 1976-86 Stitched Photo The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society  Striped Blanket 1976-86 Stitched Photo The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society  Greek Sculpture (Male Lower Torso) 1976-86 Stitched Photo The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society  Contact Sheet 1976 Warhol Opening; Dinner Party; Seattle Art Museum; Nov. 18, 1976 "Dinner with Andy" at Seattle Art Museum. Installation shots of Seattle Portrait show. The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society  Contact Sheet 1986 New York Flea Market and Jean Michel Basquiat; Man at Hot Dog Stand; Jean Michel Basquiat with emergency care package food and water for one person - 14 days wearing peace t-shirt The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society  Contact Sheet 1987 Paris; Eiffel Tower; Place Madeleine The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc./Artists Rights Society ## Transcript There it is, showing on the left, on your right, ladies and gentlemen, the magnificent Triptych. $ 80 million, $ 80 million. November 12th was Christie's annual fall sale of contemporary and modern art. It turned out to be a record- breaker overall, and it also set a world auction record for a single work of art. Any time someone pays $ 142. 4 million for a few square feet of canvas and paint, it's, it, it attracts attention. Most of these paintings will now disappear into private collections. They may occasionally be lent to public institutions, but more likely we, we won't see them again for many years. [ MUSIC ] You see, painting has now become, or all art has now become, completely a game by which man distracts himself. Bacon, when he died in 1992, his reputation as one of the great artists of the 20th century was already secure. And this a Bacon from 1969. It's from a period when he was at the height of his powers. It's a good painting. It doesn't make sense that it's $ 142. 4 million. That speaks more to the conditions of the market. One night after the Christie's auction, on November 13th, Sotheby's had its annual fall contemporary and modern art sale, and the Warhol painting called Silver Car Crash ( Double Disaster ) sold for 104. 5 million. There are Warhols and there are Warhols. From 61 to say, 71, you know, that's the stuff. And there isn't that much of it left in private hands that can still circulate through the market. [ MUSIC ] You can certainly talk about the public benefit of making these things available to the public. Museums, in a market as crazy as this one, have for years already been completely cut out of the possibility of buying modern and contemporary art. They can depend on gifts. And they often get them. But, as far as buying goes, it's just not something they can do any longer. I think most people reading about auction prices think, the way they often feel when they read about the prices being paid for professional football players and professional baseball players. Wow, could this possibly be worth that? Couldn't there be a better way to spend this money? One reason why so much valuable work came to market this fall, is that some big collectors may be concluding that this is the best time to cash in. We won't know until the big sales of next year. 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