Stealing Rembrandts
by Anthony M. Amore with Tom Mashberg
Published Palgrave Macmillan 2011
Pages 226 Price $18 paperback

This book’s timely subject focused on works by Rembrandt is an exciting documentary today because it is the 350th year anniversary of  the death of Rembrandt. Museums across the world are showing his works. The author of the book, Anthony Amore, states, ”Rembrandt is the jewel of most museums’ collections and its loss can be a staggering blow. When I joined the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston as security director in the fall of 2005, I made my mission to recover 13 works of art including three Rembrandts stolen in the dead of night on March 18, 1990.”

It is 2019, and none of the Rembrandt works have ever been recovered by the local Boston Police Department or the national FBI. It is needless to say they have not been recovered by Anthony Amore; however, his  fantastic book discusses the mystery with clarity, humility, and interesting scholarship, that the general public as well as scholars can easily enjoy.

In fact, I recommend going to see the Gardner Museum in Boston located on the Fenway this spring. It is an Italian villa with an inside court and garden filled with sculpture, plants, and flowers at all times of the year. It is only two hours away from Maine and a hidden treasure. Isabella Gardner built a three story Italian Villa in 1902 which became a museum for her collection of art.

Her collection of art includes works by the following artists: Rembrandt, Titian, Raphael, Renoir, John Singer Sargent, James McNeill Whistler, Anders Zorn and many others. (In addition, a collection of letters displayed in glass cases from authors of the day with whom she corresponded is available to see.).

She died in 1924 and left an endowment for the museum to be opened to the public.

In her will she stipulated that fresh flowers were to be placed in rooms every day and if any changes were made in the museum things were to be sold in Paris, France, and the money given to Harvard for faculty salaries.

Many of the works were selected by Bernard Berenson, a friend and Harvard professor of art, who traveled in Europe selecting works for her collection.

Today the Gardner heist in 1990 remains an international mystery and tragic loss to the museum. However, the beauty of the museum remains intact with its magnificent architecture and  many other outstanding works.

In this book Amore explores other Rembrandt thefts, as well as the Gardner heist. Amore states that two of the stolen paintings at the Gardner, ”The Storm on the Sea at Galilee” (1633) and “A Lady and Gentleman in Black” (1633) by Rembrandt were cut out of their frames. Why? The author suggests thieves schooled in art or even art students would not have done that because they would have known better. However, it was done apparently for ease in transportation. Rolling up canvases may have made the getaway easier, not to mention storage and transportation.

To this day there is an empty gold frame hung in one of the rooms to show the public where Rembrandt’s self portrait once was hung. Now there is a new entrance to the museum designed in glass on one whole side of the building, which hides its inside beauty. But do not let that dissuade you from entering it, and once inside take a right to discover a world beyond imagination of Italian Renaissance architecture including a spectacular art collection.

The New York Times March 3, 2019  quoted Gregor J.M. Weber, who leads the department of fine and decorative arts at the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands, which owns the largest collection of Rembrandts in the world, said, “Every generation has its own Rembrandt. Eighty years ago people loved Rembrandt as the old man of the soul……now we think he is more or less a rebel who always invented himself anew.”

New information about Rembrandt is always exciting in the art world.  However, no one has ever found out about the missing Rembrandts from the Gardner Museum in Boston.

Recently in the Portland Press Herald of March 18, 2019, there was an article about Robert Gentile, a Connecticut mobster, who was just released at age 82 from prison on drug dealing. A list of the missing Gardner works and their cost with a news clipping of the heist the day after the robbery, was found in his home. Could he have had a part in their disappearance? He says “No.” He knows nothing about the heist at the Gardner Museum. No one has been able to find the Gardner Museum Rembrandts for 30 years.The topic of Rembrandt is a hot issue this year in the art world because of the celebration of the anniversary of his death, 350 years ago.

To read more about the Gardner museum theft, as well as Rembrandts stolen at other museums, read the book, “Stealing Rembrandts” by Anthony Amore. It is a timely subject to explore.  Make a date to visit the Gardner Museum in Boston this spring! You won’t be disappointed. There are many, many other exciting works to see. It is open Monday,Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday 11:00 am to 9:00 pm. It is closed on Tuesdays. For more information call (617) 566-1401.

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The Gift of Years, Growing Older Gracefully
by Joan Chittister
Pubished by BlueBridge 2010
Pages 222 Price $14.95

This book was dedicated to Eunice Shriver by the author, Joan Chittister, who thought of Shriver as a role model. The book’s themes deal with evaluating accomplishments, the need for adjustments, the purpose of life, the need of relationships, and the topic of aging, all important subjects in today’s society.

The book quotes many people on aging and gives stimulating insight on the subject. Many quotes from famous people are used which are inspiriting. For example in the book, Lowell Thomas is quoted as saying, ”The secret of my vigor and activity is that I have managed to have a lot of fun. Fun keeps us laughing and laughter keeps us young.” Finding a little bit of fun and laughter each day was revealed to be an important part of aging in a healthy manner.

Forgiving was another topic discussed in the book. The author quotes Oliver Wendall Holmes who said, ”The young know the rules. The old know the exceptions.” The author expands on that topic by saying,”There is a softening of the heart that comes with age, not out of virtue so much, as out of experience! We become more flexible and realize nothing is perfect.”

Every chapter deals with a different topic: Nostalgia, Productivity, Solitude, Spirituality, Memory, Mystery, Time and many other issues.

The author, Joan Chittista, states that Picasso wrote, ”It takes a long time to become young.” I chuckled at that quote, but after thinking about it, I agreed. It takes a long time to appreciate the simple things in life like, a flower coming up in the spring, an ice cream cone on a summer day, or a smile from a friend. This book reminds us all about the little things that are important which can give you happiness every day, if you make time to recognize them. It gave me time to think. It actually made me feel good. Therefore, I would call this book, a feel- good book and I recommend it to all.

The author quotes George Santayana as saying,”Nothing is inherently and invincibly young except spirit.” The author states that “Age is meant for a revival of the spirit. Age is meant to allow us to play—with ideas, with projects, with friends, with life!”

I think people with spirit are ageless. We can get as excited as a child over things, but are mature enough to keep our feet on the ground and think of others.

The author pointed out that Agatha Christie wrote some of her best novels in her eighties. The author stated that “Agatha Christie is an icon of the link between education and experience, of the notion that learning is not only a lifelong task, but also a lifelong renewal of the soul.” I believe that concept.

This is the kind of a book that is spiritually uplifting. It is a book to take to bed with you and browse through at your leisure. It is emotionally supportive and cheerful without being patronizing. I recommend it highly for all senior citizens.

— Pat Davidson Reef is a graduate of Emerson College in Boston. She received her Masters Degree at the University of Southern Maine.She taught English and Art History at Catherine McAuley High for many years.She now teaches at the University of Southern Maine in Portland in the  Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, Classic Films. She recently wrote a children’s book,”Dahlov Ipcar Artist, and is now writing another children’s book “Bernard Langlais Revisited.”