[.ca] Mrs. Jack: A Biography of Isabella Stewart Gardner (ISBN 0914660195)

Read this before you visit the museum....:
I wish I had known of this book *before* a recent visit to the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. The museum building itself is breathtaking when you walk in. And then you move from room to room and see so many of the works referred to in this biographical account of her life, her artist friends, and her collection activities. Now so many of the pieces have interesting backstories--I must go back to the museum! The biography itself is fairly straighforward, but paired with a visit to the museum is quite a worthwhile package.