Crest of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
primaryDesigned by
Sarah Wyman Whitman
(Lowell, 1842 - 1904, Boston)
designer
Isabella Stewart Gardner
(New York, 1840 - 1924, Boston)
stone carver
John Evans and Company
(active Boston, 19th century)
Dateabout 1900
Place MadeUnited States, North America
MediumSandstone
ClassificationsArchitectural Elements
Credit LineIsabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston
Accession numberSOn3.a-b
Status
Not on viewWeb CommentaryIsabella asked her friend, artist and writer Sarah Wyman Whitman to design this distinctive crest bearing a phoenix rising from the ashes, an emblem of immortality, and the phrase C’est Mon Plaisir (It’s My Pleasure), one of Isabella's mottoes and in the words of her biographer, "the reason and, in her opinion, the justification for her every action." It is installed above the museum’s former entryway on the north side of the building.
Id718596
Last Updated8/9/24
Original NumberSOn3
EmbARK ObjectID15079
Previous NumberSOn2
Source ID3696
