Connoisseurship, Criticism and Collecting in the Gilded Age: Remembering Bernard Berenson

Bernard Berenson is known to many in the field of Italian Renaissance art as an American connoisseur, critic, and aesthetic theorist.  Born in Lithuania, Berenson grew up in Boston and entered Harvard in 1884. He departed for Europe following graduation and, after several years of travel, settled in Italy, which became his permanent residence. From 1900 to his death in 1959, Berenson lived on a large estate in Settignano, outside of Florence. At his residence, the Villa I Tatti, with its eclectic art collection, enormous library, and formal gardens, Berenson received the artists, intellectuals, and European dignitaries who composed his vast network of social contacts, as well as the American millionaires who sought his advice in the formation of their personal collections.

Berenson’s early reputation rested on extensive knowledge of the stylistic particulars of Italian Renaissance painting, acquired through years of careful study and maintained through a vast collection of photographic reproductions. [He was a pioneer in using photography to supplement his visual memory.] At his death Berenson gave his estate to Harvard, where it has become a world-renowned research center--Villa I Tatti—Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies. Along with the property and grounds—Berenson left his personal library consisting of over 50,000 books and 300,000 photos.