{"id":17546,"date":"2025-08-06T11:33:02","date_gmt":"2025-08-06T15:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=17546"},"modified":"2025-08-06T11:33:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T15:33:03","slug":"chasing-the-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/summer-2025\/chasing-the-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"Chasing the Storm"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>
\"Rembrandt\u2019s<\/div>

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Chasing the Storm<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

Anthony Amore\u2019s Quest for the Missing Gardner Museum Masterpieces<\/strong><\/p>\n\n<\/p><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n

Rembrandt\u2019s \u201cChrist in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee\u201d is one of 13 works of art stolen in 1990 from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in the largest art heist in U.S. history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thirty-five years ago, two thieves impersonating Boston police entered the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum and stole half-a-billion-dollars\u2019 worth of art. Anthony Amore \u201989 has spent 20 years searching for the art, and he\u2019s more determined than ever to find it.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Marybeth Reilly-McGreen<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some things you might not know about stealing masterpieces:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n
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  • The perpetrators aren\u2019t Thomas Crown types rappelling from ceilings and diving under infrared rays with the dexterity of ballet dancers.<\/li>\n
  • Priceless art theft is more likely to happen during the day because museums are alarmed at night, making stealing infinitely more difficult.<\/li>\n
  • Scotland Yard, Interpol, and the FBI will be called, of course, but stolen art generally stays local\u2014stashed on, say, a pig farm or under a friend\u2019s bed. <\/li>\n
  • Eighty percent of art heists are inside jobs. <\/li>\n
  • Selling stolen art is hard. Buying it is a criminal act, which eliminates most of the demand for multimillion-dollar artwork. So, in a real sense, \u201cpriceless\u201d stolen art is worthless.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

    These are some of the lessons that come from spending an afternoon with Anthony Amore \u201989, director of security and chief investigator of Boston\u2019s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.

    2025 marks the 35th anniversary of the largest art heist in history. Amore has spent the last 20 years searching for 13 works stolen from the Gardner, pieces by artists so legendary we need only know their last names: Degas, Manet, Rembrandt, Vermeer. Today, the 13 pieces are valued at between $500 million and $1 billion. The Vermeer alone has an estimated value of $250 million.

    There\u2019s a $10 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the paintings. And though the FBI announced more than a decade ago (2013) that they knew who stole the artwork, the perpetrators have not been named, nor has the artwork been recovered. In 2015, the bureau announced that the thieves were dead, but still did not identify them. The FBI, the U.S. Attorney\u2019s Office, and, of course, Amore, are still seeking leads as to the whereabouts of the art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n
    <\/div>
    <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n

    Anthony Amore \u201989, director of security and chief investigator at the Gardner Museum. Behind Amore is a portrait of Isabella Stewart Gardner painted by John Singer Sargent in 1888; the portrait is on display in the museum\u2019s Gothic Room.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    The crime:

    At about an hour after midnight on March 18, 1990, two men posing as Boston police entered Boston\u2019s Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, bound and gagged its two college-aged security guards, and stole 13 pieces of art. Of the 13 works, the piece of greatest notoriety is \u201cChrist in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee\u201d (1633), Rembrandt\u2019s only seascape.

    Amore has a particular affinity for that painting.

    \u201c\u2018The Storm on the Sea of Galilee\u2019 is a story about faith, and I think it\u2019s a perfect allegory for my work,\u201d says Amore, a devout Catholic. \u201cI have to have faith that I can recover these paintings. If I lose faith that I could do it, I should leave the job.

    \u201cYou have to operate in the realm of hope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n
    \n
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    \"Vermeer\u2019s<\/figure>\n\n\n\n
    <\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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    \"Rembrandt\u2019s<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Vermeer\u2019s \u201cThe Concert\u201d and Rembrandt\u2019s \u201cA Lady and Gentleman in Black\u201d are among the works stolen from the Gardner Museum collection in 1990.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Amore is arguably the world\u2019s foremost expert on art theft. He came to the Gardner with an impressive r\u00e9sum\u00e9 in federal law enforcement. After äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾, he became an inspector and port intelligence officer for the U.S. Department of Justice\u2019s Immigration and Naturalization Service and then took a position with the Federal Aviation Administration\u2019s security division, assigned to five New England-area airports, including Boston Logan International Airport. After earning a Master of Public Administration degree at Harvard University\u2019s John F. Kennedy School of Government, he went into security, consulting for a time, but 9\/11 spurred Amore to return to government work. In 2001, he became assistant federal security director for screening and regulatory inspections at the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, serving in that role for four years.

    In 2005, Amore became director of security and chief investigator at the Gardner.

    In addition to his work for the museum, Amore has written national bestsellers about art heists: Stealing Rembrandts: The Untold Stories of Notorious Art Heists<\/em> (with Tom Mashberg), The Art of the Con: The Most Notorious Fakes, Frauds, and Forgeries in the Art World<\/em>, and The Woman Who Stole Vermeer: The True Story of Rose Dugdale and the Russborough House Art Heist<\/em>. Amore co-teaches a graduate class, Art Crime: Investigations and Implications, in the museum studies program at Harvard University, and he is also a popular guest lecturer in äçÐÄvlogÃâ·ÑBÕ¾\u2019s Forensic Science Seminar Series.

    In November 2025, Simon & Schuster will release Amore\u2019s fourth book: The Rembrandt Heist: The Story of a Criminal Genius, a Stolen Masterpiece, and an Enigmatic Friendship<\/em>, which chronicles the life of one of the world\u2019s most notorious art thieves, Myles J. Connor Jr., one of Amore\u2019s close friends.

    Yes, you read that right. Amore\u2019s decades-long hunt for the stolen artwork has earned him the respect of Boston\u2019s criminal element, in addition to law enforcement. Major broadcasting outlets, such as the BBC, NBC, CNN, and NPR, also seek his expertise on security and terrorism issues. Journalist and friend Kelly Horan, deputy editor of the Ideas section of The Boston Globe<\/em>, calls him a \u201cone-man walking brain trust.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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    \u201c<\/span>Anthony has a natural self-confidence. He commands attention. And you need to have that because you\u2019re dealing with expert con men.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00ad\u2014Kelly Horan,<\/strong> deputy editor, The Boston Globe<\/em>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

    \u201cHe is our Sherlock and Watson rolled into one,\u201d says Horan. Amore is featured prominently in Last Seen<\/em>, a 10-episode podcast produced by Horan that premiered in 2018 on WBUR, a Boston NPR station.

    \u201cAnthony\u2019s won the trust of such an array of people. To do what Anthony does, you cannot be closed-minded. You cannot be arrogant. You cannot look down on anybody,\u201d Horan says.

    \u201cNor can you tremble in the presence of anybody,\u201d Horan adds. \u201cAnthony has a natural self-confidence. He commands attention. And you need to have that because you\u2019re dealing with expert con men.

    \u201cThis is a tale of two cities: You\u2019ve got the world of high art and the world of crime, and you have to be able to move between those two worlds and be respected. Be trusted.

    \u201cAnd Anthony Amore is,\u201d adds Horan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    You Have to Be Willing to Speak to the Devil<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Located at 25 Evans Way in the Fenway neighborhood of Boston, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum is a palatial building with Byzantine, Gothic, Renaissance, Roman, and Romanesque features. It houses a multibillion-dollar collection of more than 2,500 items, including paintings, tapestries, sculptures, furniture, rare books, and ceramics.

    Gardner was an American heiress and art collector who, after her father died in 1891, used much of her $2.75 million inheritance (about $78 million today) to build her world-class art collection\u2014and an equally stunning repository for it. Dubbed \u201cAmerica\u2019s Most Fascinating Widow\u201d by The New York Journal and Advertiser<\/em>, Gardner ran with America\u2019s artistic elite. Artist John Singer Sargent and author Henry James were her close friends. And novelist Edith Wharton attended the New Year\u2019s Day opening of Gardner\u2019s museum in 1903, though she called the champagne and donuts served \u201cfit for a provincial French train station,\u201d according to the 2022 book Isabella Stewart Gardner: A Life<\/em>.

    Gardner\u2019s will stipulates that everything in the palace remains where it is, which is why some of the most dramatic sights in the museum are the empty gold gilt frames in the museum\u2019s Dutch Room, frames that formerly held Rembrandt\u2019s \u201cChrist in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee\u201d and \u201cA Lady and Gentleman in Black,\u201d and Vermeer\u2019s \u201cThe Concert.\u201d

    \u201cIt\u2019s like being a homicide detective and walking by a chalk outline every day for 20 years,\u201d says Amore.

    In his investigative work, Amore has interviewed thousands of people, including hundreds of criminals. They don\u2019t scare him. There is truth to the saying that criminals have a code, Amore says.

    \u201cI grew up in Providence, amongst that sort of element. Both of my brothers served time in prison. As a child, I would be on Federal Street sitting on the stoop with my grandmother, and Raymond Patriarca would walk by and tip his hat to her. She could sit outside as late as she wanted,\u201d Amore says, implying that she was protected.

    That\u2019s Raymond Patriarca Sr., head of the New England Mafia from 1954 until his death in 1984.

    Amore\u2019s not boasting or being dramatic. He talks about the Mafia the way a person might talk about the weather.

    \u201cI\u2019m not saying they were good guys, but this was in a time of \u2018Stay out of their way and you\u2019re fine,\u2019\u201d he says. \u201cI\u2019ve never been afraid of people, even the worst bad guys.

    \u201cWhen I first started investigating, I had this mentor, a retired Scotland Yard investigator, and one of the first lessons he taught me was that you have to be willing to speak to the devil,\u201d Amore says. \u201cAnd I go out looking for devils to speak to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/div>\n\n\n\n
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    \u201c<\/span>I have to have faith that I can recover these paintings.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

    \u00ad\u2014Anthony Amore<\/strong> \u201989\n<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

    Amore\u2019s mentor was legendary Scotland Yard detective Jurek \u201cRocky\u201d Rokoszynski, who recovered two Turner paintings for the Tate Gallery in London between 2000 and 2002. Amore has also worked closely with the FBI Boston over his 20-year tenure, specifically former FBI agent Geoffrey Kelly, who himself investigated the Gardner heist for 22 years until April 2024, when he retired.

    In his last week on the job, Kelly repatriated artifacts back to Okinawa, Japan, that had been looted in World War II. It was one of those situations where a relative was cleaning out a home after the death of a family member and, lo and behold, discovered stolen art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Priceless and Worthless<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    Kelly and Amore\u2019s investigation took them up and down the East Coast, chasing down leads about where the art might have gone. Both men believe the art is still in America, not in Japan, Ireland, Germany, or the many other places people have posited. It is highly unusual for an FBI agent to work with a civilian, but the bureau made an exception for Amore, at Kelly\u2019s urging.

    \u201cI realized just what an asset he was to this investigation; I had somebody who was a really qualified, able investigator. We became partners in the investigation,\u201d Kelly says.

    \u201cWe received some credible information that a few pieces went up to Maine and a few pieces went down to Connecticut, and then maybe a few pieces might have gone to Philadelphia,\u201d Kelly says. \u201cWe\u2019ve had some very credible sightings of \u2018The Storm\u2019 over the years, and the Manet, too, but also some of the pieces nobody\u2019s ever mentioned seeing.

    \u201cSo, my gut says that this collection was split up sometime after the theft,\u201d Kelly says. \u201cIt would be wonderful to think all 13 pieces are in one big shipping container somewhere, but my guess is that they\u2019ve probably been scattered to the wind. But I think there\u2019s a good possibility that some of these pieces have been hidden somewhere.\u201d

    As in, somewhere close by. There\u2019s precedent: Rembrandts stolen from Massachusetts museums have been stashed locally, sometimes in unusual places. One taken from the Worcester Art Museum in the spring of 1972 ended up at the Picillo Pig Farm in Coventry, R.I. And when Myles Connor stole Rembrandt\u2019s \u201cYoung Girl in a Gold-Trimmed Cloak\u201d from Boston\u2019s Museum of Fine Arts in 1975, he hid it under a friend\u2019s mother-in-law\u2019s bed. Connor successfully used the Rembrandt as a get-out-of-jail-free card for another crime.

    Aside from Connor, there aren\u2019t a lot of thieves routinely stealing priceless artwork, because you just can\u2019t move masterpieces, Kelly says.

    \u201cSmaller thefts, more anonymous artwork, jewelry that can be melted down and its stones removed, yeah, that\u2019s a huge trade,\u201d Kelly says. \u201cBut when you\u2019re talking about famous pieces of art, recognizable pieces of art, pieces that are part of an artist\u2019s catalog, you steal it once and you don\u2019t come back and do it again because you realize it\u2019s not worth anything,\u201d Kelly says. \u201cI\u2019ve been asked so many times about the Gardner work; the term that\u2019s bandied about is \u2018priceless,\u2019 and that\u2019s true.

    \u201cBut I also like to say they\u2019re worthless, because the pieces only have monetary value to one organization in the world, and that\u2019s the Gardner. So, from an aesthetic standpoint, they\u2019re priceless; from a monetary standpoint, they\u2019re worthless.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    It Would Be Torture<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The cost to the individuals at the center of this drama is great. In a 2015 interview with Boston Magazine<\/em>, the Gardner\u2019s former museum director, Anne Hawley, called the heist \u201ca devastation. It was like being knifed in the heart, really, for all of us\u2014and for the city.\u201d

    \u201cYou need to temper the passion that you have with the other things going on in your life, and it\u2019s difficult to keep that at arm\u2019s length,\u201d Kelly says. \u201cMany times, over the years, the case has gotten too close, and it\u2019s the same for Anthony. It\u2019s difficult not to get a little obsessed with a case when you know it so well, when you\u2019re so attached to it.\u201d

    Amore recalls a conversation he had with Hawley in which he shared that he intended to meet with a notorious Boston criminal to discuss the Gardner Museum case. According to Amore, the conversation went like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n\n
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    Hawley:<\/strong> \u201cAre you sure you want to do this meeting?\u201d
    \nAmore:<\/strong> \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d
    \nHawley:<\/strong> \u201cYour life is not worth these paintings.\u201d
    \nAmore:<\/strong> \u201cYes, it is. The paintings are supposed to live forever. They\u2019re supposed to be there for my children and my grandchildren and everyone else\u2019s, too. They\u2019ve been around for 300 years and there are still things to be learned from them. So, yeah. It\u2019s worth my life.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

    The thieves spent nearly 90 minutes in the Gardner Museum on the night of the heist. This is an unusually long time. As mentioned, most art thieves prefer the middle-of-the-day, smash-and-grab approach. Over the years, Amore has tried to recreate as closely as possible the events of the evening, including once having been in the museum at 1:24 a.m., the time of the theft. Amore\u2019s walked in the footsteps of the two perpetrators and sat where the two young guards were held, restrained, in the basement.

    \u201cI\u2019ve sat in the dark and pictured them walking,\u201d Amore says. \u201cI\u2019ve pictured these guys moving around in their police uniforms. They weren\u2019t rushing. They were comfortable here.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

    <\/div>
    <\/div><\/div><\/div><\/section>\n\n\n

    Anthony Amore \u201989 in the Gardner Museum\u2019s iconic courtyard, located in the center of the museum and visible from most of the galleries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    They were also peculiar for what they didn\u2019t take. Other paintings in the room were also valued in the tens of millions of dollars.

    \u201cSo, they left behind a huge amount of money,\u201d Amore says. \u201cRight there, that tells you they\u2019re not art connoisseurs.\u201d

    When she was making the Last Seen<\/em> podcast, Horan says it wasn\u2019t unusual for Amore to reach out late at night with the name of a person she should talk to or something she should look into.

    \u201cAnd I thought, \u2018My God, is he ever not working on this?\u2019\u201d Horan says. \u201cHow many investigators are actually occupying the scene of the crime, actually living in the scene of the crime in the majority of their waking hours?

    \u201cI think it would be a torture to have to walk by those empty frames every single day,\u201d Horan adds. \u201cFor me, it would be a torture.\u201d

    In March, a filmmaker staged the recovery of a fake \u201cChrist in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee\u201d at a Brooklyn gallery to promote his upcoming film. The video went viral on TikTok and Instagram. Such antics are more than salt in the wound for Amore. He was inundated with emails, calls, and texts that took up the better part of a weekend to answer. Kelly had sympathy for his friend and contempt for the filmmaker.

    \u201cThis is artwork, not a human being, but to a lot of people in this world, especially people at the museum, that artwork is special. There are people out there who really want to see this artwork recovered.\u201d

    Isabella Stewart Gardner often visits Amore in his dreams\u2014not in a woo-woo way but in the way a thing that dominates your daily thoughts tends to creep into your subconscious. In his dreams, Gardner is consistent both in her message and in her general appearance. Amore shares a sepia-toned digital image of Gardner in a black feathered hat and a dark moir\u00e9 silk bodice. She is looking across her shoulder at the camera, her face wearing an appraising expression just shy of judgment. Think of Almira Gulch, the Wicked Witch of the West\u2019s counterpart in The Wizard of Oz. The way her face is set. It\u2019s that kind of vibe.

    \u201cMrs. Gardner asks me why I haven\u2019t found the paintings yet,\u201d Amore says. \u201cShe\u2019s urging me, not in a chastising way, but urging me, saying, \u2018You have to find these. When are you going to find these?\u2019 I very clearly see her asking me about them.\u201d

    In April, Amore interviewed Gardner\u2019s biographer, Natalie Dykstra, at the Harvard Club of Boston. Dykstra wrote the 2024 national bestseller, Chasing Beauty: The Life of Isabella Stewart Gardner<\/em>. Amore asked Dykstra what she thought Gardner might think of his 20-year quest to restore the stolen artwork.

    Dykstra replied, \u201cIt was said of Mrs. Gardner that she annihilated the thought and possibility of failure.\u201d

    \u201cTalk about inspiring,\u201d Amore says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    This Is Command Central<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

    The least impressive space in the Gardner Museum might be Amore\u2019s office. The former bedroom of Gardner\u2019s maid, the narrow, cramped space seems far too small for Amore\u2019s 6-foot-2 frame. Amore had a bigger office elsewhere in the museum, but he wanted to be closer to the art. The room holds a desk, a computer, a chair, a set of shelves, and not much else. Put two adults in the space and it’s claustrophobic.

    Behind his computer screen, dominating the wall upon which it\u2019s mounted, is a reprint of \u201cChrist in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee,\u201d maybe 2 feet from Amore\u2019s face. Some days, hope doesn\u2019t come easily for Amore. Some days, \u201cThe Storm\u201d evokes feelings of failure.

    The Roman Catholic Church ascribes certain characteristics to its saints. St. Peter is the patron saint of fishermen. St. Teresa of Avila is the patron saint of the sick.

    Amore\u2019s namesake, St. Anthony, is the patron saint of lost things.

    \u201cI did an interview with a podcaster yesterday, and it\u2019s funny because these people who interview me will introduce me saying that I\u2019m the guy looking for these paintings,\u201d Amore says, \u201cand not five minutes later they\u2019ll say, \u2018Do you think they\u2019ll ever find them?\u2019\u201d

    \u201cWho\u2019s they<\/em>?\u201d Amore asks.

    \u201cI\u2019m<\/em> gonna find them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    PHOTOS: SETH JACOBSON<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    2025 marks the 35th anniversary of the largest art heist in history. Anthony Amore \u201989 has spent 20 years searching for the stolen art\u2014and he\u2019s more determined than ever to find it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":17566,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[347],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17546","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-summer-2025","architecture-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17546","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17546"}],"version-history":[{"count":37,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17546\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19540,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17546\/revisions\/19540"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17566"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17546"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17546"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17546"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}