In the wee hours of the morning on March 18, 1990, a car pulled up to the side entrance of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, Massachusetts. Two men in police uniforms got out and paged the intercom at the door. They told security they were responding to a disturbance, and needed to come inside. Security buzzed the men in, and left their assignments to attend to the problem. The two guards on duty were handcuffed and detained in the basement while the men proceeded to pull off the single largest property theft in the world. Thirteen precious works of art were stolen, and none have been recovered, to this day. The FBI has valued the loss at $500 million, and the museum is currently offering $10 million for information leading to the art's recovery.
The Process
The inspiration for my bottle shape and texture comes from the frame of one of the most famous pieces stolen in the art heist, Rembrandt's Storm on the Sea of Galilee. Many of the frames, which were left by the thieves, remain hanging in the museum as a placeholder for the missing works and as symbols of hope awaiting their return.
