Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum: The Tapestry Room

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I was lucky to be invited to attend a private tour at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston with several design bloggers. The best part is that we were allowed to take photos as long as we were with the museum staff members. Last week I shared images of the famous courtyard from various vantage points. This post will focus on the Tapestry Room, which is very large and very dark. It’s fabulous.
Gardner Museum Tapestry

There are two big focal points in the Gardner Museum Tapestry Room: the fireplace and the tapestries. Showing Mrs. Gardner’s truly international viewpoint, elements in this space come from all over the world. The first focus in the room is the enormous stone fireplace that comes from France. It’s so big that it was impossible for me to capture it in one image! In the above photo, you will see the shadows of someone’s head standing in front of the fireplace that’s how tall it is.

Here’s a close up of the center piece of the mantel which shows carves angels, fleur-de-lys motif, court jesters, griffins, and more.
Gardner Museum Tapestry

 

Gardner Museum Tapestry
Over the mantle: The Archangel Michael by Pedro Garcia de Benabarre, 1455-1480
Gardner Museum Tapestry

Details of the carving in the stone mantle.

Gardner Museum Tapestry

 

Gardner Museum Tapestry

The restored floor, that had been hidden under years of gunge and black paint.

Gardner Museum Tapestry

The gorgeous 16th century tapestries in the Gardner Museum Tapestry Room are going to be sent back to Belgium for restoration soon.

More about the Tapestry Room here.

All above photos by Linda Merrill

Below are photos taken in 1926, TE Marr & Sons, via WBUR.

Gardner Museum Tapestry
Gardner Museum Tapestry

And a photo from early 2012, showing the renovated space, returning it to its former glory. Photo WBUR/Jesse Costa.

Gardner Museum Tapestry

You may enjoy:

The Courtyard at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

The new Renzo Piano Wing at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

 

xoxo Linda

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