Hands of F. Marion Crawford and Isabella Stewart Gardner
photographer
A.B. Cross
(active 19th century, Salem, Massachusetts,)
subject
Isabella Stewart Gardner
(New York, 1840 - 1924, Boston)
subject
F. Marion Crawford
(Bagni di Lucca, Italy, 1854 - 1909, Sorrento, Italy)
Dateabout 1882
Place MadeSalem, Massachusetts, United States, North America
MediumInk on albumen print
Dimensions21.4 x 13 cm (8 7/16 x 5 1/8 in.)
ClassificationsPhotographs
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberARC.006481
eMuseum ID721660
EmbARK ObjectID32327
Other NumberU3s388
TMS Source ID15896
Last Updated8/9/24
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryThe hands in this photograph belong to Isabella Stewart Gardner and the novelist F. Marion Crawford. Belonging to the same social circle in Boston, Gardner and Crawford bonded over a love of the Italian poet Dante. Their close relationship inspired rumors of an affair to swirl around them. It is impossible to know whether or not the two had a physical affair, but the surviving traces of their mutual admiration have romantic undertones. Crawford inscribed this photograph with, "Two hands are united in love—one spirit united and a single heart."
BibliographyNotesNathaniel Silver and Diana Seave Greenwald. Isabella Stewart Gardner: A Life (Boston, 2022), 51-52, fig. 23.
Diana Seave Greenwald, "Did They or Didn't They? F. Marion Crawford and Isabella Stewart Gardner," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 5 March 2024, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/f-marion-crawford-and-isabella-stewart-gardner
Diana Seave Greenwald, "Did They or Didn't They? F. Marion Crawford and Isabella Stewart Gardner," Inside the Collection (blog), Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 5 March 2024, https://www.gardnermuseum.org/blog/f-marion-crawford-and-isabella-stewart-gardner
MarksNotesInscribed in ink (bottom left) in F. Marion Crawford's hand: Due son le mani unite dall'amore- un spirito delle unisce, ed un sol core [translation: Two are the hands united in love- one spirit united and a single heart]
Printed in ink (bottom): Cross. / Boudoir Portraits. / Salem.
Printed in ink (bottom): Cross. / Boudoir Portraits. / Salem.
ProvenanceNotesA gift from author F. Marion Crawford (1854-1909) to Isabella Stewart Gardner in 1882.
Samuel Ward
7 February 1883
