#850232 | CHEZ TORTONI

ABOUT THE STOLEN ART

ÉDOUARD MANET - CHEZ TORTONI, ABOUT 1875

Oil on canvas, 26 x 34 cm (10 1/4 x 13 3/8 in.)

A dapper mustachioed young man wearing a top hat is sitting in a café, next to a sunlit window. He’s writing something. At least one of his eyes is focused on us, the viewers. A wine glass is on the table. It probably doesn’t hold a “biscuit Tortoni,” the specialty iced mousse associated with this café. The wine is transparent. The brush strokes are broad, and tactile. It’s amazing how much clarity this impressionist artist gets from these swaths of paint. And maybe it’s the paint itself upon which Manet would most like us to focus our gaze.

Manet, who was only 51 when he died, was in his 40s when he painted “Chez Tortoni” — in his full maturity. He was most famous for larger and more sexually daring works like “Luncheon on the Grass” and “Olympia,” but many of his later, smaller works are masterpieces. His images of café society — painted with such spontaneity, almost like snapshots — form a kind of social history of demimondaine Paris in the late 19th century. “Chez Tortoni” is a perfect example.

ABOUT THE COLLECTION

On March 18, 1990 at 1:24AM, two men dressed as police officers walked into the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. 81 minutes later they walked out with $500 million worth of artwork (today’s value). They forced the night guards into the basement, and duct-taped their hands, eyes, and ankles. The guards were not discovered until the new shift came to relieve them around 8 am. When the police examined the gallery, they noticed that the missing paintings had been cut from the frames, instead of carefully removed. None of the pieces have ever been recovered.

13 pieces were stolen from the museum. The value of the pieces makes this the biggest art theft in the history. The museum is offering $10 million in reward money for information leading to the recovery of the stolen items. Now each piece will live forever inscribed on Bitcoin.