Did the Security Guard Do It? Maybe.
The Boston Globe follows the handful of FBI investigators who’ve never really left the scene of Boston’s most exciting (art-related) crime, 23 years on:
Why, they ask, were Abath’s footsteps the only ones picked up on motion detectors in a first floor gallery where one of the stolen paintings, by French impressionist Edouard Manet, was taken? And why did he open the side entrance to the museum minutes before the robbers rang the buzzer to get in? Was he signaling to them that he was prepared for the robbery to begin?
It’s a thrilling tale (again, by art heist standards) for aficionados of unsolved mysteries, but you should also go to the Gardner Museum if you’re in Boston, enjoy Rembrandts*, and can arrange to be there when the one quirky, super-into-it docent is around. He’s in his fifties or sixties and refers to “Isabella” as if she were alive and they did shots last weekend and then dared each other to make out with strange guys.
*Did you know Rembrandt was his FIRST name? Can you imagine if the whitening toothpaste was called “Harmenszoon van Rijn” instead?