It is my own understanding of the history of the deCordova Collection and Museum that in contrast with the Isabella Stewart Gardner also a personal collector that he was unsuccesful in selecting pieces with wider than just personal appeal. The will was written in 1930 and the estate was probated around 1945. While the pieces in the Isabella Gardner Collection are in the same places on the same Museum walls as she left them scarcely any of deCordova's items were retained by the executors. The deCordova Museum owned items are relatively few and the items in exhibits are frequently borrowed from other museums. I did get the deCordova family relationships confused. I will see if I can get mine straight my grandmother was Amy Louise Burnett Bond the daughter of Charles granddaughter of Hiram Burnett and the grandniece of Joseph Burnett. Joseph's daughter Esther married George Peabody Gardner, their children were partly raised by Aunt Isabella Stewart Gardner. The families were once close my father and uncle visited them in boarding school.

Do not get me wrong though I like the deCordovas and the eccentric boulevardier image Julian cast in particular.