Extra-Special Boston Valentine –Venetian Night at The Gardner Museum
So you’ve had enough cold and wintry weather and want to celebrate Valentine’s Day somewhere lush and warm—a place where palm trees grow alongside lemon trees, orchids and tropical ferns. Better yet, without leaving town?
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is your ticket. This splendid museum modeled on a Venetian Palace right in the middle of Boston’s Back Bay “Fens” has just such a wondrous garden in its Eden/oasis-like center court, surrounded by antiques and works of art on three floors, collected from far-flung places and centuries past around the world.
All of this is the gift to the City of Boston by Isabella Stewart Gardner, the Grande Dame of Boston Society in the late 1800’s. Gardner was a New Yorker by birth who married a Bostonian and then proceeded to take Boston Society by storm, with bold and extravagant ventures culminating in the Gardner Museum, which served as her palatial home.
Gardner herself was a special event—no one in Boston had her emphatic joie de vivre or fearless sense of adventure, (she once wore a hatband that said “Oh You Red Sox” to a concert at the Boston Symphony). Few had the audacity—much as they might have wished--to follow suit.
At a crucial point in the construction of “Mrs. Jack’s” palatial home-destined-to-become-museum, the queen of society herself climbed ladder and scaffolding, the better to direct painters who were meticulously rendering cherubs and clouds on the ceiling.
The combined effects of this awesomely original cultural mission are on display today, open to the public Tuesday-Sunday 11 am-5 pm. Admission is $12.00.
A special Venetian Valentine Fete will be held at “the Gardner,” as the locals call it, on Wednesday, February 14, 6:00–9:00 p.m., where you will “experience the magic and romance of the Gardner at night. Enjoy jazz around the flowering courtyard, poetry and art in an “art of romance” self-guided tour,” with Valentine cocktails and hors d’oeuvres.
Tickets are:
Members: $100/couple or $60/person
Non-Members: $160/couple or $100/person—includes a full year of membership!
Please RSVP to 617 566 5643 or membership@isgm.org
Party or no party, “the Gardner” is a must-see on the Boston cultural itinerary. And in Mrs. Jack’s view, there was no place like home—every fabulous square foot of it.
The Gardner’s intimate little café serves a three-course Valentine’s lunch with champagne through February 18.
The Museum gift shop is stocked with beautiful, artful presents and books you can be certain your friends do not already own.
The Gardner has an ongoing music series.
For more information, or for a concert brochure, contact the Music Department at
617 278 5150 or concerts@isgm.org
For further information, see the Gardner’s website at:
- Barbara Sealock
