What Isabella Wanted: Isabella Stewart Gardner builds a Museum by Candace Fleming and illustrated by Matthew Cordell
Isabella Gardner was born RICH! She could do whatever she wanted to do. She lived in a mansion, in a fancy neighborhood, in one of the oldest cities in the country. Isabella especially LOVED to do things to shock the proper ladies of her neighborhood. She would walk a lion down the sidewalk on a leash like a dog. She would greet people to her house while standing in a large potted plant. But one of her favorite things to do was travel the world and look at artwork. Not only did she look at artwork but she bought artwork. LOTS of artwork and when she couldn't buy artwork on her own then she hired representatives to travel and purchase artwork for her. Artwork from Europe, Asia, Africa...anywhere and everywhere was of interest to Isabella. Oh, and if it wasn't possible to purchase the artwork she was interested in having then she would "rescue" the artwork. (Today, that's called stealing but around 100 years ago it was considered "rescuing" the artwork. Do NOT "rescue" artwork. It's fine where it is!) You might wonder what Isabella did with all the artwork she collected. She built herself a new house to live in with all her artwork. She built a HUGE house for all her artwork and a few times a year the public was allowed to visit her house to see and enjoy the artwork she collected. Today, the public can still visit her house and her artwork. Upon her death she left her home and her artwork to the city of Boston on the condition that her house becomes a museum and her artwork remains in place so people can see the artwork as she wanted it to be seen. I have to admit. This really was the perfect book for me. It has art...I love art. It has a museum...I love museums. It has a woman from an old New England family who liked to "shake up" proper society...I'm from an old New England family who likes to...I probably shouldn't tell that story. This book even has a mystery and I LOVE mysteries. I enjoyed that illustrations in the book were so detailed that it really kept your interest and the story was long enough to give you plenty of information without being so long that it became too hard to read. I especially enjoyed the additional information at the end of the story giving more information about Isabella Stewart Gardner and explaining the difference between purchasing artwork and "rescuing" artwork. Oh, and the mystery I mentioned... You'll just have to read the book to find out what it's all about. To learn more about Isabella Stewart Gardner and her artwork visit:
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