{"id":2894,"date":"2010-06-10T14:55:26","date_gmt":"2010-06-10T12:55:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/?p=2894"},"modified":"2020-10-21T08:39:37","modified_gmt":"2020-10-21T06:39:37","slug":"bardini-gardner-museum-blue-walls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/florence\/bardini-gardner-museum-blue-walls\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue walls: Florence’s Bardini Museum and Isabel Stewart Gardner"},"content":{"rendered":"

When the Bardini Museum reopened last year the most remarkable aspect of the restoration was the return of Stefano Bardini\u2019s blue walls<\/strong>. Bardini, a 19th<\/sup> century art dealer, left his show room and gallery, housed in a deconsecrated church and convent, to the city of Florence in 1922. Perhaps inspired by the contrast of white against \u201cDella Robbia Blue\u201d in the famous ceramics he collected and sold, Bardini painted his walls blue<\/strong> to better show off the marble sculpture and architectural artifacts for sale in his gallery. This concept proved short lived but well-appreciated by at least one important woman: Isabel Stewart Gardner.<\/p>\n

\"bardini2\"<\/p>\n

By 1925, Alfredo Lensi, the city of Florence’s architect, deriding \u201cthe fusty antique dealer\u2019s poor taste\u201d, had painted the walls of Bardini’s palazzo a yellow ochre and rearranged the entire gallery so the art was shown in chronological order.<\/p>\n

Isabel Stewart Gardner<\/strong>, arbiter of Bostonian taste and creator of her own museum at Fenway Court, saw Bardini\u2019s blue walls in the 1890s. She purchased a number of items from Bardini for her collection. In March 1900, she wrote to art dealer Bernard Berenson<\/strong>, asking \u201c\u2026will you please some day, get on a piece of paper the blue colour that Bardini has on his walls. I want the exact tint.<\/strong> Perhaps some little person can paint it on a piece of paper.\u201d<\/p>\n

Isabel Gardner wrote again to Berenson later in the year, \u201c\u2026When you get there (you are there) please do get me a piece of paper painted with the blue of Bardini\u2019s walls. You know you promised me before. I am working hard over my new house.\u201d<\/p>\n

Berenson wrote back, right away:<\/p>\n

I was most sincerely pleased to hear from you, after so long a silence \u2013 even tho\u2019 you mildly scolded me for not having gotten you a sample of Bardini\u2019s blue. The truth is that when you wrote about it last year, I saw Bardini about it directly. He solemnly assured me he would send it [to] you in a day or two\u2026.This time I went down and approached him. He was profuse in apologies, and to make sure that now you really got it, I told him to give it to me. I enclose it, the sample, and with it, the receipt for preparing it\u2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Unrelenting, Mrs. Gardner inquried again: \u201cDid you compare them [the paint chip and wall]? In case you have not, will you kindly do so. I enclose a piece. The important [thing] is to get the tint exactly\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

\"gardner3\"<\/p>\n

Visitors to both the Bardini Museum and the Isabel Stewart Gardner Museum can be glad they finally got the tint exactly right.<\/p>\n

Ann Reavis has remained insatiably curious in Florence for the past \u00a0ten years and helps other like-minded visitors through www.friendinflorence.com<\/a><\/em>. She also writes the wonderfully detailed blog, with geeky art history and library articles TuscanTraveler.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When the Bardini Museum reopened last year the most remarkable aspect of the restoration was the return of Stefano Bardini\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":2896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[41],"yoast_head":"\nBlue walls: Florence's Bardini Museum and Isabel Stewart Gardner - ArtTrav<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/florence\/bardini-gardner-museum-blue-walls\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Blue walls: Florence's Bardini Museum and Isabel Stewart Gardner - ArtTrav\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"When the Bardini Museum reopened last year the most remarkable aspect of the restoration was the return of Stefano Bardini\u2019s […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/florence\/bardini-gardner-museum-blue-walls\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ArtTrav\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https\/\/facebook.com\/arttravcom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2010-06-10T12:55:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-10-21T06:39:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/bardini2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1744\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"2476\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Guest_Post\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@arttrav\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@arttrav\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Guest_Post\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/florence\/bardini-gardner-museum-blue-walls\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/florence\/bardini-gardner-museum-blue-walls\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Guest_Post\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/#\/schema\/person\/26b56a6242fec08f805cd65aff29ac31\"},\"headline\":\"Blue walls: Florence’s Bardini Museum and Isabel Stewart Gardner\",\"datePublished\":\"2010-06-10T12:55:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2020-10-21T06:39:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/florence\/bardini-gardner-museum-blue-walls\/\"},\"wordCount\":489,\"commentCount\":4,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/#\/schema\/person\/c018af7844e33e94807101ca6432b808\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/florence\/bardini-gardner-museum-blue-walls\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.arttrav.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/06\/bardini2.jpg?fit=1744%2C2476&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"museum\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Florence\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/florence\/bardini-gardner-museum-blue-walls\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/florence\/bardini-gardner-museum-blue-walls\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.arttrav.com\/florence\/bardini-gardner-museum-blue-walls\/\",\"name\":\"Blue walls: Florence's Bardini Museum and Isabel Stewart Gardner - 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