Book illustrates Boston museum heist

BOSTON -- A new illustrated book about the theft of $500 million worth of artwork from Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum went on sale Monday.

The 37-page book "Stolen" was created in response to visitor requests for more information about the 13 pieces stolen in the early morning hours of March 18, 1990, by two men posing as Boston police officers.

No one has been charged, and the theft remains the largest unsolved art theft in history.

The thieves tied up two guards then spent 81 minutes in the museum before absconding with Vermeer's "The Concert," Rembrandt's "Christ in the Storm on the Sea of Galilee" and Manet's "Chez Tortoni," as well as a Chinese beaker and a Napoleonic eagle ornament.

The book includes images and the background of each of the works as well as an overview with before and after photos of the galleries from which they were removed.

"Our intention for this book, with its images of the stolen art, is to help keep these masterworks present until we can celebrate their return," museum director Peggy Fogelman writes in the foreword.

The book also includes an essay by museum security director Anthony Amore, who reminds readers of the $10 million reward for information leading to the recovery of the art.