“Bindo Altoviti’’
Benvenuto Cellini
An intimate, realistic bronze bust of this great patron of the arts and hated rival of Cosimo di Medici.
“Pietà’’
Michelangelo
Commissioned by Michelangelo’s only known intimate female friend, the poet and widowed marchesa Vittoria Colonna, this superb drawing was inspired by Dante, whose words - “There they don’t think of how much blood it costs’’ - are legible on the cross behind the Virgin Mary.
Long Gallery Chapel
One of Isabella Stewart Gardner’s most powerful ensembles, this “chapel’’ includes beautiful stained glass, choir stalls, polychrome sculptures, and an altar with a superb baroque crucifix carved from ivory.
Tile
Turkish
This Iznik tile, with its rich turquoise, red, and blue coloration, dates to the second half of the 16th century and is unusual in its use of black outlining.
“Seated Guanyin’’
Chinese
This large Song Dynasty sculpture shows a bodhisattva robed in princely garments. Representing calm and compassion, it was once placed over the doorway leading to Isabella Stewart Gardner’s private apartments.
“Crucified Christ’’
Spanish
This large, painted wooden sculpture, from 12th-century Spanish Catalonia, shows Christ being removed from the cross. Raw and weather-beaten, it is one of the most intensely moving works in the museum.
Empty frame
Thirteen works were stolen from the museum in the early hours of March 18, 1990. Among them were irreplaceable treasures such as Rembrandt’s “The Storm on the Sea of Galilee’’ - the master’s only known seascape - and Vermeer’s “The Concert,’’ one of only 34 extant works by Vermeer. A painting by Edouard Manet and five drawings by Edgar Degas were also taken. The frames are all we have left.
