Scope and Contents

Letters from Isabella Stewart Gardner to Berenson and his wife, Mary.

Biographical / Historical

Art historian, critic, collector, and teacher; Florence, Italy. First name often spelled Bernhard. Was "discovered" by Isabella Stewart Gardner immediately after his graduation from Harvard. As a patron of the fine arts, Gardner financed Berenson's travels in Italy to collect Italian Renaissance art for the Venetian palazzo she re-created in Boston. Berenson bought Villa I Tatti, his home in Florence, before the Second World War. During the war he and his wife and his personal secretary were exiles in the villa for several years. He lived there until his death where upon he bequeathed it to Harvard University.