Early Italian Room, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston (photo)

Isabella Stewart Gardner traveled all over the world but visited Italy more often than any other country. This room, the first you encounter after climbing the staircase to the second floor, takes its name from the collection of Italian Gothic and Renaissance paintings that line its walls. Together they introduce Isabella’s love of Italy and of Italian Renaissance art, which became the core of her collection. Surrounding the paintings are furniture and other decorative objects created in many different periods and cultures reflecting interests sparked by Isabella’s travels to Europe, Egypt, the Middle East, and Asia.