Imagine for a moment you a rich person in let’s say 1890.  I mean really rich.  Rich like ridiculously rich.  And you decide to start collecting art.  Your ridiculous lucre allows you to travel the world and collect priceless treasures probably for a song.  The Europeans were down on their luck back then and there you are with your boatload of cash, ready willing and able to take whatever they need off your hands.

Now where are you going to put all of this?  Well, if you are Isabella Stewart Gardner, the odd cookie of the title, you are going to put it in your house.  Your very large house that you modeled to look like a Venetian palazzo.  As you do.  Room upon room of priceless treasures.  And this in the middle of it:

Now we get to the part about Mrs Gardner and her odd cookie-ness.  Her namesake museum was the victim of a spectacular robbery about 20 years ago.  Her personal Vermeers and Rembrandts were stolen.  Now as per her will, the museum cannot be changed, so there stand in the museum three empty frames where painting used to be.  The museum itself seems to be angry about it, but I think it is pretty great and a great way to attract people to the place.

Alas, you cannot photograph those frames.