The Isabella Stewart Gardner Heist

          In the early morning of March 18, 1990, two thieves dressed as Boston cops stole thirteen pieces of artwork from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The guard who was on duty at that time granted the two thieves entry because they claimed they were responding to a call. The other guard was told to get behind the security desk. The thieves then tied both guards to a pole in the basement, far from each other. While the two guards were tied up, the thieves roamed the entire museum, stealing thirteen paintings. They stole a total of $200 million worth of art. Some of the paintings included Rembrandt's Storm of the Sea of Galiee, Manet's Chez Tortoni, and Vermeer's The Concert. In The Art Forger, Claire is requested to copy Degas' After the Bath painting, which was one of the stolen paintings. Isabella Stewart Gardner was an art collector who displayed all the paintings she collected in her home, which later became a museum. The layout of each floor of the museum was to remain unchanged, so the empty frames of the stolen paintings serve as a reminder of the losses the museum suffered. To this day, the Gardner heist remains unsolved.