Bernard Berenson

Summary of Bernard Berenson

Bernard Berenson was the pre-eminent authority on Italian Renaissance during the late 19th and early 20th century. An innovator in the field of art attribution, his numerous publications, coupled with his work as a dealer and consultant, laid the foundations for America's most prestigious art collections. For American collectors, trusting in the provenance of Renaissance paintings posed a serious investment risk given the uncertainty surrounding the identities of individual artists, and the possibility of falling foul of unprincipled dealers. Although his first love was for Renaissance art (and while he was highly ambivalent towards Modernism), Berenson has also been given credit, principally through his early influence on the famous collector and critic, Leo Stein, with introducing the Post-Impressionist art of Cézanne and Matisse to American audiences.

Accomplishments

• Berenson rejected the use of historical documents, empirical sources, and philological studies in art analysis, in favor of an experiential analysis. Since artworks were aesthetic objects, he reasoned that they should be respected as such. Berenson argued that history and empiricism merely distracted from the essence of the artwork that had become buried beneath layers of extraneous material.
• Berenson is perhaps best known for his ideas on "tactile values". He used the term to describe a rarefied quality in a painting through which the viewer could, by sight alone, be made to "feel" the volume, weight, and texture of the painting. For Berenson, the notion of tactile values could produce "life-enhancing" affects on the viewer. In his view, Giotto and Masaccio provided a benchmark of excellence for tactile values.
• On an early visit to the Louvre, Berenson noted that the museum's vast collection of Italian drawings were grouped under one all-encompassing category: "Italian School". It was an anomaly that stayed with him and led him to develop a method for sub-classifying Italian paintings. Berenson proposed that it was through the analysis of a work's stylistic attributes that one could ascertain (and then adjudicate on) the "artistic personality" of paintings created by the hand of the same artist.
• As Renaissance scholarship has evolved, a number of Berenson's attributions have been challenged. There has also been speculation that some of his (mis)attributions were deliberate because he had had a considerable financial stake in the sale of the works. However, the strong subjective element of connoisseurship means that these accusations remain impossible to substantiate. Nevertheless (and these misgivings notwithstanding), Berenson's early writings, which were collected into one volume, The Italian Painters of the Renaissance (1930), served as the definitive authority on Italian Renaissance painting throughout the 20th century.

The Life of Bernard Berenson

Ideas and Analysis by Bernard Berenson of Important Artists and Artworks

Biography of Bernard Berenson

Childhood

Bernard Berenson was born Bernhard Valvrojenski in Butrimonys, a small town in the Russian Empire (now Lithuania). He was the only son of Albert Valvrojenski and Julia (nee Mickleshanski) Valvrojenski. (Bernhard used the original spelling of his first name until 1914, when he adopted the more familiar "Bernard". Over the years, he acquired the nickname, "BB", or "Bibi" in Italian.) Berenson shared a deep connection with his father from who he inherited his sharp intellect and natural charisma. However, Albert's entrepreneurial ambitions led to financial hardship, leaving him to reluctantly take on work as a salesman. Historian Parker Blum writes, "The young Bernhard witnessed his father's resentments and promised himself he wouldn't become the same frustrated intellectual, unable to meet his full potential".

In 1875, the Valvrojenski's emigrated to the USA. They settled in the West End of Boston where they changed the family name to Berenson. At the time, the West End's Jewish community was small, numbering only around one hundred, yet the Berensons still struggled to assimilate. The more established, predominantly German Jewish residents, viewed new arrivals with skepticism. But the situation was not helped by the fact that the Berensons did not attend synagogue because Albert subscribed to Haskalah, a more liberal, Westernized, version of Judaism. (When he reached his early twenties, Bernard converted from Judaism, through ceremonial baptism, to Christianity.)

Early Training and Work

In 1881, Berenson enrolled at the Boston Latin School, and then, Boston University in 1883. During his freshman year at university, he developed a close friendship with Edward Perry Warren, a wealthy art collector, and author. Recognizing Berenson's intellectual promise, Warren sponsored his transfer to Harvard University, where he began his studies in 1884. Under the guidance of Charles Eliot Norton, a prominent writer and art historian, Berenson studied Dante and enrolled in Norton's two-semester course on Medieval and Renaissance art history. Influenced by the writings of Walter Pater and John Addington Symonds, Berenson interest in art deepened. He regularly frequented the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and engaged in long discussions with the American philosopher and psychologist, William James. An active member of the literary society, the O.K. Club, Berenson formed lasting friendships with figures such as philosopher George Santayana and art collector Charles Loeser. He also contributed 19 articles to Harvard Monthly, before, in his final year, assuming the role of the journal's Editor in Chief.

After graduation, Berenson initially planned to pursue literary criticism and history with the support of a Parker Fellowship (which would fund his travels throughout Europe). However, when his application was rejected, Warren and other influential Boston patrons provided generous financial support ($700) for him to undertake his planned tour. It was during his European tour that his academic focus shifted from literature to the visual arts. While in Italy, he identified a need for a more rigorous and systematic method for attributing Renaissance paintings. This issue was made all the more apposite given America's burgeoning interest in Renaissance art.

Mature Period

In 1890, now in England, Berenson met Mary Whitall Smith, the daughter of prominent Quaker preachers Hannah Whitall and Robert Pearsall Smith. At the time, Mary (who counted Walt Whitman amongst her close circle of friends) was in an unfulfilled marriage with the Scottish political reformer, Frank Costelloe. It was their shared intellectual interests that drew her to Berenson. Having become involved in the women's movement (in the US and UK), publishing articles and delivering speeches on feminism and women's suffrage, she devoted her attentions more fully to Renaissance art. As the British Library writes, "Not long after the marriage [to Costelloe] and feeling constrained by the weight of the social convention, [she returned] to her latent interests in art and design. [...] Focusing on art research, Mary rapidly became an art authority with a prolific output of journal articles, and particularly after the publication of a pamphlet, in 1894, on the history of the Italian paintings at Hampton Court".

Mary followed Berenson to the European continent where their relationship deepened into a romantic and intellectual partnership. Reflecting on her first meeting with Berenson, Mary wrote, "To my great satisfaction, [he] always said you could only enter into the spirit of a work of art when you reached the stage of concentration upon it where nothing else, scarcely even you yourself, existed". It was around this time that Berenson met the Italian art critic and politician, Giovanni Morelli, and the young art historian Adolfo Venturi. The newly galvanized Berenson - Morelli had systematically purchased paintings from private collections in Bergamo, and then from other cities across Italy and Europe, mostly on behalf of friends - took his first steps as an art dealer, securing works for collectors such as German art historian, Jean Paul Richter, London dealer Otto Gutekunst, and his longtime patron, Warren. His early acquisitions included Impressionist paintings and a work by Renaissance artist Piero di Cosimo for the British collector James Burke.

Berenson's association with Norton led him to a new friendship with the heiress Isabella Stewart Gardner. Gardner had recently inherited her father's fortune and had shifted her focus from collecting curiosities to acquiring art masterpieces. Her first major transaction through Berenson was for Botticelli's, The Death of Lucretia (c. 1500). In 1894, a few months after Berenson first wrote to her about the painting (according to Blum the pair exchanged many "lengthy and somewhat seductive letters"), they met in Paris. The following day, Gardner purchased the Botticelli from him for £3,000, making it the first of the artist's works to enter an American collection. Recognizing Berenson's expertise, Gardner formally enlisted him as her agent in acquiring Old Masters, paying him a five percent commission on each new acquisition.

Berenson's ideas on connoisseurship were first articulated in his essay The Rudiments of Connoisseurship (1894). His analytical method was strongly influenced by Morelli who had argued for a scientific approach to restoration. In Morelli's approach, the attribution of artworks - including paintings that had often been subject to crude modifications by restorers - could be confirmed by the "connoisseur" who would then attribute the work to its rightful creator. Beck explains the problems Berenson faced, "when one deals with objects that are 500 or 600 years old, much has happened to alter the original appearance. Sometimes they merely aged poorly, with flaking of paint, cracking, color changes, splitting of the wood supports; in other cases, paintings suffered from accident or abuse, fire or smoke. Frequently altarpieces have been cut down, divided up and sold off, so that an ensemble as planned no longer exists. Perhaps the most damage has come from repaintings and restorations that have taken place over the centuries, usually with the best of intentions. The connoisseur must be able to spot all such factors, so that his judgment concerning an attribution is based only on that part which is original, or which closely reflects the original. Naturally, mistakes will be made, and Berenson was quite willing to admit the provisional nature of his conclusions, changing his attributions without much hesitation".

In 1895 Berenson published The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance. Although Berenson is cited as its sole author, it is now widely acknowledged that Mary played a major role in its writing. (The British Library writes, "With such an established and undisputed calibre of art scholarship, it will not be difficult to imagine how the role of Mary in Bernard's works has been widely re-evaluated in the latest years. It appears now, that her hand in Bernard's writing production and fame, is unquestionable".) In 1896 he published his essay "Florentine Painters of the Renaissance". It was in this essay the Berenson introduced his concept of "tactile values". He argued that a great painting does more than simply imitate reality. A great painting must evoke a physical sense of presence, allowing viewers to feel the weight, volume, and texture of the depicted events and objects. Along with a sense of movement, tactile values enhance the ambient quality of a painting, making it more immersive and compelling. Berenson came to regard Giotto as the true master of this technique.

Meanwhile, one of Gardner's most prized acquisitions, Titian's, The Rape of Europa (1559-62), was secured on Berenson's recommendation. Believing Gardner would be overwhelmed by its dramatic and sensual qualities (as she was), he informed her of its availability for £20,000, a price she willingly paid (inclusive of his five percent commission). However, unbeknownst to Gardner, the true cost of the painting was significantly lower. The dealer Otto Gutekunst had acquired it for £14,000, leaving an excess £6,000, of which Berenson secretly kept £4,000. Blum writes, "The shady Europa deal was not Berenson's only ethically-dubious moment. In fact, Gutekunst [helped Berenson with] the majority of Gardner's acquisitions. This wouldn't have been unusual, except for the fact that Berenson claimed to Gardner he was dealing with the owners personally, when he was actually dealing through Gutekunst's firm in London. In turn, Berenson was able to get his hands on great pieces and got all of the credit. He would often draw commissions from both sides of the deal and inflate prices. Gutekunst urged Berenson to tell the truth as the Gardners became increasingly suspicious, and Berenson was almost revealed a few times. He never told the truth, however".

In his 1897 book, The Central Italian Painters of the Renaissance (I pittori del Rinascimento nell'Italia centrale), Berenson introduced the concepts of "decoration" and "illustration". The idea of "decoration" addressed the elements of a painting that directly engage the senses, such as color, form, movement, and texture which combine to deliver their aesthetic impact. "Illustration", on the other hand, refers to aspects of a painting that attract attention, not because of their artistic quality, but because of what they represent - be that real or imaginary. For example, a portrait that is poorly drawn and badly colored might fail as decoration but still succeed as illustration if it effectively captures the essence of its subject. Through this distinction, Berenson highlighted the difference between an artwork's sensory appeal and its narrative or symbolic meaning (although ideally there would be a fine balance between the two).

Late Period

In 1900, Berenson purchased Villa I Tatti in the Tuscan hills of Settignano, near Florence, which he and new wife, Mary (her first husband, Frank Costelloe, had recently passed), then transformed into a center for Renaissance studies. Two years later Berenson helped Gardner set up the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston. Blum writes, "Berenson's investigative efforts for Gardner resulted in the foundational masterpieces [for the Museum]. Both wanted the museum to be a resource and guide for the city. Berenson never forgot his experience as a child yearning for a culture to which he had little access. The Museum would provide an experience usually available only to the very wealthy: the chance to experience great art and enjoy it for the sake of beauty".

It was also around this time that Berenson made the acquaintance of Leo Stein, the soon-to-be famous collector and critic, who was studying 15^th century Italian art in Florence. It was Berenson who (despite his devotion to Classical art) drew Stein's attention to Paul Cézanne, a modern artist who he greatly admired, and whose work was all-but unknown at the time. Historian Catherine C. Bock-Weiss writes, "An aspiring painter himself, [Stein] was interested in art theory and the psychology of perception. He was a friend and intellectual peer of [Berenson] with whom he often argued. The concepts of 'tactile sensations' [were] being explored in Florentine circle, and [Stein] was able to apply them in his evaluation of Cézanne and later of the new work of Matisse and Picasso". Bock-Weiss adds that by the time Stein had arrived in Paris in 1902, he "already understood the tension in Cézanne's work between 'the shifting planes and the resolute masses, spatial illusionism and the flatness of the picture plane'". Indeed, through their famous salon at 27 Rue de Fleurus, Stein, with sister Gertrude Stein, became the "acknowledged connoisseurs" of the new avant-garde. (The Stein's would lend works from their collection to the famous 1913 Armory Show. The exhibition is widely credited with introducing European avant-garde art to American audiences.)

In 1903, Berenson completed, The Drawings of the Florentine Painters, the first systematic study of an artistic school based on connoisseurship, and later that year, collected his essays into three volumes: The Study and Criticism of Italian Art. Berenson's collaboration with collectors, meanwhile, extended beyond his role in acquisitions to include the publication of scholarly catalogs. Historians Emily Crockett and Lee Sorensen state that in 1907 "after introducing Mrs. Gardner to the aggressive and unscrupulous art dealer Joseph Duveen, he sealed a secret deal with Duveen. Though Berenson had advised Duveen since 1906, the new agreement cut him in an unconventional 25 percent of the total Duveen sale. Duveen used Berenson's authority to sell pictures to the wealthiest collectors in the United States (and former Berenson confidents) Morgan and Joseph E. Widener".

In 1909 Berenson and the prominent American librarian, Belle da Costa Greene, enjoyed a passionate love affair that eventually settled into a close and lasting friendship. Indeed, the pair corresponded for over four decades. Greene destroyed the letters she received from Berenson, but he saved all of Greene's correspondences. (Now housed at Villa I Tatti/Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, one letter, dated May 1911, reads: "What fun it would be to have you here - to go out into the woods - with all their promise of blooms with all their fresh colours washed by the dew before the dawn - to talk when we pleased, to walk when we pleased - sit down when we pleased - then 'loaf on up the hill' - Nature has me in her bonds today and holds me with a grip of steel from which I have no desire to break away".)

Over the following decades, Berenson published Venetian Paintings in America: The Fifteenth Century (1916), Essays in the Study of Sienese Painting (1918), Three Essays in Method (1926), and Studies in Medieval Painting (1930). He had also developed a keen interest in Byzantian art. Berenson began work on a planned magnum opus on the topic in the early 1920s but sadly the project was never realized. (In 2023, Gabriella Bernardi and Spyros Koulouris, published, Bernard Berenson and Byzantine Art, Correspondence, 1920-1957, a vast collection of his correspondences and travel notes on the topic of Byzantinism.)

During World War II, Berenson remained at Villa I Tatti, where he was viewed with suspicion by Mussolini's government on account of his American nationality and his Jewish heritage (his conversion to Christianity notwithstanding). He spent much of the war in hiding, aided by local allies. When Germany occupied the country, Berenson and his secretary (and rumored lover) Nicky Mariano, were forced into hiding at a friend's villa for nearly a year. Meanwhile, efforts were made to safeguard the invaluable contents of I Tatti - masterpieces were concealed, while less significant works were left on display to divert attention. Mary, who had been too unwell to leave I Tatti, passed away, aged 80, in 1945.

In 1948 he published the book, Aesthetics, Ethics, and History in the Arts of Visual Representation, followed, in 1952, with Rumor and Reflection, and Sunset and Twilight, both based on his diaries. His final works included studies of Caravaggio (1953), Piero della Francesca (1954). In 1955, shortly after the artist's death (in 1954), Berenson published his short essay, "Encounters with Matisse". The pair had recently met at Matisse's apartment in Nice but Berenson had not warmed to the Frenchman, referring to him as "self-absorbed". Indeed, Berenson felt the artist's work had lost its early intensity and reversed his support for the artist (he had defended an exhibition of Matisse's drawings in a letter to the American journal, The Nation in 1910) placing him second to Picasso in importance (Berenson had previously been critical of Picasso).

On October 6, 1959, Berenson passed away at the age of ninety-four. His death is generally attributed to natural causes and the infirmities of old age. In his final years, he withdrew more and more from public life, scaling back his scholarly activities while dedicating his days to reading, writing and corresponding with fellow intellectuals. He was buried alongside Mary in a chapel on the Villa I Tatti estate. Upon his death, he bequeathed the villa and a library, of over 50,000 volumes and 170,000 photographs, to Harvard University, establishing it as the Harvard Center for Italian Renaissance Studies.

The Legacy of Bernard Berenson

Berenson's expertise in Italian Renaissance art, and especially his groundbreaking methodologies in authenticating and attributing artworks, transformed the discipline of late 19^th/early 20^th century art history. As critic and historian Robert Hughes observed, "No student of Renaissance art today can do more than imagine the obstacles that lay in Berenson's path of connoisseurship. In the age of art history, they have vanished, but their disappearance was very largely Berenson's doing". Berenson's emphasis on tactile values - especially in the way artists conveyed a sense of touch and three-dimensionality - reshaped evaluations of Renaissance art and became a foundational model for other art historians and modern critics, influencing figures of the stature of Kenneth Clark and Roger Fry.

Beyond his scholarly contributions, Berenson played a pivotal role in bridging the domains of academia and the art markets. His meticulous attention to detail earned him the trust of prominent collectors like Isabella Stewart Gardner, Leo Stein, John Pierpont Morgan, and Henry Clay Frick. Moreover, his attributions influenced the formation of many of America's most esteemed art collections - The Venice Guggenheim writes, for instance, that Peggy Guggenheim "accepted a friend's challenge to understand Berenson's criticism and became a persistent reader" - which later became central to major museum holdings. However, his dual role as a scholar and connoisseur was not without controversy, with some critics pointing to conflicts of interest given that his assessments often directly influenced the value of artworks he was selling. However, art critic James Beck mused, "I wonder how many fine pictures would not have been purchased by Americans, and how many croste [scabs], and outright fakes, would have ended up in American collections, had there been no [Berenson]. If he made money from these dealings, he would seem to have earned it, and the benefit was certainly America's".