Bernard Berenson: Da Boston a Firenze

by Rachel Cohen, Mariagrazia Gini (Translator)

Nel 1888, quando arrivò in Italia nemmeno venticinquenne, il giovane dandy e aspirante letterato Bernard Berenson era già alla sua seconda incarnazione: nella precedente era stato il figlio di un venditore di stoviglie ebreo lituano, emigrato a Boston; ora, pur privo di ricchezze proprie o credenziali accademiche, si apprestava a diventare il portentoso conoscitore dello stile degli antichi maestri che il capitalismo sanguigno, dirompente, vorace della Gilded Age avrebbe eletto a propria guida nel mercato dell'arte. Sopravvissuto alla guerra e all'occupazione tedesca, terminerà i suoi giorni a novantaquattro anni, nel contemplativo, erudito splendore della sua principesca dimora fra i colli fiorentini, ma con l'amara consapevolezza di aver messo il suo prestigio al servizio dei grandi mercanti. Sullo sfondo di incoercibili forze storiche, gli amori e i segreti patti d'affari, l'imbarazzo e insieme l'attrazione per le proprie origini, i meriti intellettuali e i venali sotterfugi di colui che insegnò al mondo a leggere Botticelli (un suo dipinto, diceva, «sta alla rappresentazione come la musica sta al discorso») e gli affidò I pittori italiani del Rinascimento, nitidamente tratteggiati da Rachel Cohen, ci restituiscono una figura inimitabile, i cui «dintorni, l'ombre et i lumi» avrebbe detto il Vasari «fanno parere che ella venga innanzi».

Genres: Biography, Art, Nonfiction, Art History, Judaism, 20th Century, Biography Memoir

326 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2013

About the author

Rachel Cohen has written essays for The New Yorker, The Guardian, The London Review of Books, Apollo, The New York Times, The Nation, The Threepenny Review, The Believer, McSweeney’s and other publications, and her essays have been anthologized in Best American Essays and in the Pushcart Prize Anthology. Her third book, Austen Years: A Memoir in Five Novels was published by FSG in July 2020 to critical acclaim. Austen Years is a meditation on reading, having children, the death of her father, five novels by Jane Austen, and reading again in times of isolation and transformation.

Cohen's first book, A Chance Meeting: Intertwined Lives of American Writers and Artists, (Random House, 2004) is a series of thirty-six linked essays about the encounters among thirty figures in American history during the long century from the civil war through the civil rights movement; it won the PEN/Jerard Fund Award, was a finalist for the Guardian First Book Prize and the PEN/Martha Albrand Award, and was named a notable book of the year by the Los Angeles Times and by Maureen Corrigan on National Public Radio. Her second book, Bernard Berenson: A Life in the Picture Trade, (Yale University Press, 2013) investigates the development of a great art connoisseur who began life as a penniless Lithuanian immigrant and made his career in the world of Gilded Age finance and prejudice. It was longlisted for the JQ Wingate prize and an excerpt from it appeared in the New Yorker under the title "Priceless."

Cohen has received fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the MacDowell Colony, and the New York Foundation for the Arts. She is Professor of Practice in the Arts in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Chicago, and lives in Chicago.

Reviews

[Barry Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Art critic, connoisseur, writer, dealer and cultivator of the library at I Tatti, which he bequeathed to Harvard, Bernard Berenson was a self-made man who went from penniless immigrant to the top of society. He was also possibly the model for the Jastrow uncle in Herman Wouk's "The Winds Of War," and "War and Remembrance." Through his society connections he also managed to survive WWII in occupied Italy even though he was a well-known Jewish intellectual. A fascinating story of a complex and difficult man, who flouted all conventions of his time and invented a life for himself. This biography by Rachel Cohen explores his life and character in all its complexity and benefits from new scholarship which reveals previously unknown details. A remarkable read. - BH.

[Judy · Rating 4 out of 5]

In many ways he was a remarkable man. His Jewish parents emigrated from Lithuania bringing Bernard when he was about ten. He graduated from Harvard University, and became interested in Italian Renaissance paintings. He spent most of his life in Italy, writing definitive books on the subject, serving as a expert to art dealers. He helped build the collections of Elizabeth Stewart Gardner and Mellon. His home I Tatti in Florence held his art collection and library, and became a place for scholars. He donated it to Harvard at his death.

[Em__Jay]

Adding this to my to-read list after reading and enjoying the fiction novel The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray.

[L · Rating 3 out of 5]

Chock full of details from the life and times of Bernard Berenson. Having read Personal Librarian, I was especially interested in reading Rachel Cohen's descriptions of his relationship with Belle and how Bernard and his wife Mary balanced other relationships in their personal like.
The book peaked my interest about Edith Wharton and her many and varied interests and accomplishments.

[Maria Grazia Carrara Gala · Rating 5 out of 5]

Che dire : mi sono subito innamorata di Berenson e di Boston . E ho avuto la fortuna di leggerlo a Boston! Visitare il Gardner Museum, passeggiare al campus di Harvard … insomma mi sono immedesimata nella vita di Berenson in piena Gilded Age.
Consigliato a chi è appassionato di arte come me !!!

[Ben Kruskal · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fascinating biography of a fascinating person in a fascinating milieu. This is the 2nd bio of BB I’ve read and the 4th book of heavily overlapping content and I keep getting more and more fascinated.

[Gabe Chazan]

fascinating!

[Robert Poortinga · Rating 4 out of 5]

absolutely wonderfully written biography.

[John Stein · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderfully written book not only about fascinating man, but about the beginnings of the modern art market. The Jewish perspective is especially interesting

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

Concise story of Berenson's life, but didn't really entrance me.