The storied life of the founder of Boston鈥檚 famed Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum will be the focus of an illustrated lecture at Hope College on Wednesday, Sept. 11, at 5:30 p.m. in Winants Auditorium of Graves Hall by Dr. Natalie Dykstra of the English faculty, whose recent biography of Gardner has been receiving national acclaim.
The public is invited. Admission is free, although an RSVP at is requested.
Published earlier this year by Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins, 鈥淐hasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner鈥� culminated Dykstra鈥檚 10-year quest to understand the mixing of experience and personality
that led Gardner (1840-1924) to establish the museum that has borne her name since
it opened in 1903. 鈥淐hasing Beauty鈥� has been praised by, among others, the New York
Times, which has described it as 鈥渆xquisitely detailed and perceptive,鈥� and the Wall
Street Journal, which has called it 鈥渁 sympathetic, impeccably researched biography.鈥�
Dykstra followed in Gardner鈥檚 footsteps in France and Italy as Gardner encountered the masterworks of art and places that inspired her, and in New York and Boston as Gardner navigated 鈥� and sometimes scandalized 鈥� the elite social circles in which she moved. Continuing the project after retiring as a professor emerita in 2020, Dykstra complemented her travels with countless hours of research in a variety of archives, uncovering previously unknown sources that helped shed light on the events and relationships that shaped Gardner鈥檚 life. At the center, as something of a three-dimensional memoir, was the museum, a Venetian-style palazzo that Gardner designed, filled with artwork that she collected and endowed 鈥� with the stipulation that it never change 鈥� for the public to enjoy in perpetuity.
Dykstra was a member of the Hope faculty for 20 years before retiring, and today lives near Boston with her husband. She became interested in Gardner while conducting research in Boston for a previous book, 鈥淐lover Adams: A Gilded and Heartbreaking Life,鈥� published in 2012 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. She received external support for 鈥淐hasing Beauty鈥� including a 2018 Public Scholar Program Award from the National Endowment for the Humanities and a 2018 Robert and Ina Caro Research/Travel Fellowship from Biographers International Organization. She was assisted in her research by Hope students, not only on campus but in Boston and France, work funded by Mellon Foundation grants and Jack Nyenhuis summer faculty fellowships.
For her work on Clover Adams, she had also received an NEH fellowship, as well as grants from the Schlesinger Library and the Massachusetts Historical Society, where she was elected a Fellow in 2011. 鈥淐lover Adams: A Gilded and Heartbreaking Life鈥� was named a Must-Read book of 2013 in the 13th Annual Massachusetts Book Awards 鈥� and featured in 鈥淏ooks About Curious Minds, Recommended for the Curious Minded鈥� in The New York Times.
Dykstra鈥檚 public presentation on Sept. 11 is scheduled as the opening keynote of a two-day celebration of faculty and student research in the arts and humanities and social sciences at Hope, and will be followed by two events for the campus community. On Thursday, Sept. 12, she will participate in an afternoon panel discussion with four recent graduates who as students conducted collaborative research with her and will reflect on the experience and its positive impact on their post-college careers. Also during the afternoon of Thursday, Sept. 12, a Summer Research Showcase will share the breadth and depth of research by faculty and students in the arts and humanities and social sciences at Hope.
To inquire about accessibility or if you need accommodations to fully participate in the event, please email accommodations@hope.edu. Updates related to events are posted when available at hope.edu/calendar in the individual listings.
Graves Hall is located at 263 College Ave., between 10th and 12th streets.
*photographer - Ellen Dykstra