Jun 22, 2009 8:30 AM

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What do security guards do when they're bored? Some sleep. Some read. Some watch TV. Christopher Fabbri drew recreations of the Gardner art.

From 1994 to 1996, Fabbri was a guard at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and he told me that his job was to stand in one position in a gallery and when no one was in the room, he could write with a pencil to help pass the time. Fabbri didn't write. Instead, he drew what ever picture was closest to him. And on one Sunday in February, at around 4 pm, Fabbri was in the Blue room of the museum and drew a sketch of "Portrait of Madame Auguste Manet" by Manet.

I emailed Fabbri about his pictures. I liked the simplicity of his drawings, and he gave me permission to share the Manet sketch. He told me that he drew the work on the back of a donation envelope, and you can see the seam circling the woman's head. I also asked Fabbri why he drew those pictures. "Because I liked them," he told me.

Fabbri is now a professional artist, and you can see more of his work on his website.

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