The thieves appear to have taken a second Rembrandt self-portrait—a painted version rather than an etching—but then set it down before leaving. It was found on the floor of the Dutch Room after the theft. The etching, however, was taken and not returned.
**Eagle Finial, French, 1813–1814**
The Napoleonic eagle finial is the most historically specific object among the stolen pieces—not a work of fine art in the usual sense but an artifact with a documented historical context.
The finial was cast in bronze between 1813 and 1814 to top a ceremonial silk battle standard of Napoleon’s Imperial Guard. The Guard was the elite force of Napoleon’s army, personally loyal to the Emperor, present at his most significant campaigns. Their battle standards—the eagles, as they were called—were objects of intense symbolic importance, carried into battle and defended at great cost. The capture of an eagle by an enemy army was a significant military event; losing one was a source of deep shame.
Isabella Gardner acquired the finial in 1880. By that point it had passed, presumably through the dissolution of the Imperial army after Waterloo and the subsequent dispersal of military property, through whatever sequence of ownership brought it to the art market. Gardner paid a price then commensurate with a Napoleonic artifact of this specificity; the current estimated value is considerably higher.
The thieves tried to take the entire flagpole to which the finial was attached, but could not unscrew it. They removed the finial itself and left the pole. This suggests an awareness that the finial was a specifically valuable object—not simply incidental to the theft. The attribution of the finial to Donati’s “calling card”—the object that would announce his involvement to those who knew him—is consistent with this targeted removal.