The Empty Frames in the Dutch Room

On the second floor of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, in the Dutch Room, empty frames hang on the wall with nothing in them. In the early hours of March 18, 1990, two men dressed as Boston police officers gained entry to the museum. They tied up both guards in the basement and spent the next 81 minutes in the galleries. They left with thirteen works, among them Vermeer's The Concert and Rembrandt's The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, his only seascape. Estimates now put the loss at around $500 million. No one has been charged and nothing has been recovered. The museum offers a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the return of the art in good condition. The frames stay where they were, holding the places the paintings are meant to fill.