It was done quietly, quickly and very cleverly. In just over an hour $500 million worth of art disappeared from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Using a simple subterfuge, two men dressed in police uniforms gained access to the fabled Boston museum in the early morning hours of March 18, 1990. Once inside they managed to subdue the two guards without violence or injury, methodically remove paintings from their frames and fade away into history. With them went thirteen works of art, including three works by Rembrandt, five drawings by Degas, a Vermeer, a Manet, and oddly, a finial in the shape of a Napoleonic eagle. Two and a half decades later, the heist remains the largest property theft of all time. The five million dollar reward has never been claimed, and the crime remains unsolved despite an ongoing investigation by the FBI.
The Gardner theft provides the factual backdrop to the fictional work of mystery, romance, and betrayal that B.A. Schapiro weaves in The Art Forger. It’s a fascinating read of fact meets fiction. We follow the story of Claire Roth, a talented but disgraced artist, who is lured into a Faustian bargain in order to restore her reputation in the Boston art world. The book sheds light on the moral and emotional dimensions of forgery, the politics and personal rivalries of artists, art collectors, dealers and appraisers, the history of forging and the technical processes that fool authenticators. The Art Forger has been chosen for this year’s Raynham Reads: One Book, One Community.
We invite you to read the book, join the discussion and meet the author during this year’s event. Books are available now at the library. The Friends of the Library have planned several special activities during April in connection with the read. Highlights include a bus trip and guided tour of the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum where you can see the empty frames still waiting for their paintings to be returned. There’s also a book discussion, an afternoon of painting fun, a Sunday afternoon spotlight on the arts and a book talk and presentation by the author, B.A. Shapiro. Tickets are limited for the bus trip and afternoon painting session, so don’t delay. Tickets may be purchased at the library. For a full schedule of events, visit the library’s website, raynhampubliclibrary.org, or pick-up a schedule the next time you’re in the library.
Check it out at the Raynham Public Library 
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