FBI identifies thieves who stole paintings from the Gardner Museum

The FBI has identified the thieves who stole 13 paintings from the Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990.

<i>The Concert</i> by Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675). Now missing, it is one of only 34 verified Vermeers.
Anthony Amore at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, with empty frames that held venerable paintings before the 1990 theft

In a law enforcement breakthrough, the Federal Bureau of Investigation announced on March 18 that it has identified the thieves who stole paintings valued at an estimated $500 million from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston in 1990, as the Boston Globe reports. The Gardner heist is widely considered history’s biggest art theft, and the FBI announcement came on its twenty-third anniversary.  The report states that the thieves are associated with a major criminal organization in New England and the mid Atlantic states, and that the paintings were sold in the Philadelphia area about a decade ago.  The paintings have not yet been recovered, though there is a $5 million reward for them or information leading to their recovery in good condition.

 The Gardner’s head of security, Anthony Amore, M.P.A. ’00, was the subject of an article in Harvard Magazine focusing on his 2011 book, Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists. The article links to a slide show of works purloined from the Gardner, and a video interview with Amore about art theft below.

You might also like

What of the Humble Pencil?

Review: At the Harvard Art Museums’ new exhibit, drawing takes center stage

‘Passengers’ at A.R.T. Blends Acrobatics with Einstein’s Relativity

Review: Quantum mechanics meets circus arts at the American Repertory Theater’s performance

Harvard Film Archive Spotlights Japanese Director Mikio Naruse

A retrospective of the filmmaker’s works, from Floating Clouds to Flowing

Most popular

Two Years of Doxxing at Harvard

What happens when students are publicly named and shamed for their views?

A New Narrative of Civil Rights

Political philosopher Brandon Terry’s vision of racial progress

Paolo Pasco and the art of making crosswords

Paolo Pasco and the art of making crosswords

Explore More From Current Issue

Vivian W. Rong sitting on bench outdoors.

Highlighting Harvard Magazine’s Fellows

The 2025-2026 Ledecky and Summer Undergraduate Fellows

Two women in traditional kimonos, one lighting a cigarette, in a scene from Apart from You.

Harvard Film Archive Spotlights Japanese Director Mikio Naruse

A retrospective of the filmmaker’s works, from Floating Clouds to Flowing