Part 8: Isabella’s Will
Some have questioned my assertation that Anne Hawley thought that because of the theft the museum would be discontinued and all the artworks sold at auction. The terms of Isabella’s will are widely known, it is because of this will that the museum retains its timeless quality. Here is a digital copy of the will obtained from the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court Archives. Law is open to interpretation. Luckily, the museum did not close and was able to grow by adding a new building while adhering to the terms of the will.
The relevant passage on pages eleven and twelve of the document is as follows: “Seventh, If at any time the Trustees above mentioned shall place for exhibition in the Museum established under this will any pictures or works of art other than such as I or the said Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in the Fenway Incorporated own or have contracted for at my death, or if they shall at any time change the general disposition or arrangement of any articles which shall have been placed in the first, second and third stories of said Museum at my death, except in the kitchen and adjoining bedrooms on the first floor, then I give the said land, Museum, pictures, statuary, works of art and bric-a-brac, furniture, books and papers, and to process this dissolution of the said Isabella Stewart Gardner…
