Chasing Beauty

The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner

By: Natalie Dykstra

Narrated by: Maggi-Meg Reed

The vivid and masterful story of Isabella Stewart Gardner—creator of one of America’s most stunning museums—an American original whose own life was remade by art.

Isabella Stewart Gardner’s museum, with its plain exterior enfolding an astonishing four-story Italian palazzo, rose from Boston’s Fens at the turn of the twentieth century. Its treasures encompassed not only masterwork paintings but tapestries, rare books, prints, porcelains, and fine furniture.

An extraordinary achievement of storytelling and scholarship, Chasing Beauty illuminates the fascinating ways the museum and its holdings can be seen as a kind of memoir, dazzling and haunting, created with objects instead of words and displayed per Isabella’s wishes in the exact placements she initially curated.

Born in 1840 to a privileged New York family, Isabella Stewart married Boston Brahmin Jack Gardner as she turned twenty. She was misunderstood by Boston’s insular society and suffered the death of her only child, a beloved boy, not yet two years old.

But in time came friendships, glittering and bohemian; awe-inspiring world travels; and collecting beautiful things with a keen eye and competitive pace—all these were balm for loss. Henry James and John Singer Sargent—whose portrait of Isabella was a masterpiece and a scandal—came to recognize her originality. Bernard Berenson, leading connoisseur of the Italian Renaissance, was her art dealer.

From award-winning author Natalie Dykstra, Chasing Beauty is the story of the complex and singular woman behind one of the most fascinating museums in the nation and the world—a tale of beauty and loss, grit and American self-invention.

Supplemental enhancement PDF accompanies the audiobook.

PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.

©2024 Natalie Dykstra and Zoe Pagnamenta (P)2024 HarperCollins Publishers

Mrs Jack , America's greatest art collector .

dull reading of fascinating story of gilded age excess, social whirl of artists and artworld

A Very Strong Woman

This book is filled with information: names, dates, travel itineraries and gossip. It gets a bit chatty and there is MUCH name-dropping, which does get tiresome, as it is not relevant. What IS interesting is her drive to collect beautiful art and display it as it has never been displayed before. The tragedies she suffered would have destroyed anyone else but she just kept going, and going, and going. I will visit the museum again with a whole new appreciation for it and the art Isabella so generously offered to her public to see. One simply has to be grateful that she was already deceased when her beloved museum was robbed.

A chronology

I liked this book very much. It is a long timeline well told. Essentially an exhaustive list of who’s who, where they are, and what they did, principally Mrs Jack, as she was called. It is completely factual, with pages of references and citations in the back. Skillfully recounted by the narrator.

Great story about Isabella Stewart Gardner the art collector and human

As an undergraduate student in the Boston area, I would often visit her museum in the Harvard campus. Top notch and Beautiful collection that she left for various generations. This book is engaging and provides great background on how she built her legacy.

The details of the portraits

I enjoyed the entire book the reader did an excellent job describing the paintings and other objects in the museum

The best narrator I have ever listened to on an Audible!

This book was awesome! I recommend to all! One caveat… You probably need to look up the art as you go if you want the full experience

Sensory delight for fine art lovers

Sumptuous book outlining the life of Isabella Stewart Gardner that inspired me to enjoy the beauty of the everyday, people, art and experiences.

Chasing beauty is a great title

She did not have the massive wealth of JP Morgan. She did acquire great art, and had a unique way of displaying these treasures. She obtained one painting by showing the owner how she planned to display his painting. These displays were often accompanied by surrounding textiles. The descriptions of her overseas journeys that lasted for two or three months are unique compared to the short one or two week trips typical today. Traveling the Nile in Egypt on two houseboats for today’s cost of $115,000 was one of many unique excursions. The extended trips to Venice with palatial accommodations were some of her treasured memories.

Her life

Interesting life she led for sure told in a different way than usual biography very well done

Loved this book!

Isabella Stewart Gardener’s extraordinary vision and individuality. I can’t wait to go to visit her museum again now that I know more about her life and character.