The Passionate Sightseer: From the Diaries, 1947-1956

by Bernard Berenson

"Notes and Index included. Preface by Raymond Mortimer. 168 illustrations in photogravure, 3 plates in full color. May 1947 to June 1954. July 1951 to June 1954. May to June 1953. Tripoly and Leptis May 1955. June 1955. June to July 1956. Photos and photos.almost on each page.marvelous ! . 'Temptation of Christ' detail. Scuola di San Rocco, Venice. - Side entrance, San Marco, Venice. - 'Head of a horse' detail of a mosaic [4th Century A.D.] Casale. - 'Early Christian Sarcophagus', Museo Archeologico, Syracuse. - 'Artemis and Actaeon', metope from Selinunte, Museo Nazionale, Palermo."

Genres: Art, Italy, Memoir

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1960

About the author

Bernard Berenson (born Bernhard Valvrojenski) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. He was a major figure in pioneering art attribution and therefore establishing the market for paintings by the "Old Masters".

Reviews

[Robin Tobin (On the back porch reading) · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is nothing better than being able to sneak inside and sit awhile inside the mind of any great individual...

[Bill Pritchard · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Passionate Sightseer by Bernard Berenson was a good work to review before heading for an Adventure in Australia. Written in 1960, it is the diaries of Bernard Berenson, who died in 1959 after touring Europe and Asia. He lived outside of Florence and was renowned as the world's foremost authority on Italian painting and was considered a legend in his own lifetime. The Passionate Sightseer gives us a glimpse into the wisdom a lifetime of viewing/reviewing great works of art that he himself helped make famous. But most impressively, what emerges is Mr. Berenson's passionate perception. From the dust cover, I love this line - "His greatest quality was that he touched life at all points, and everything he touched he enhanced."

Suggested if one is preparing for an adventure - it is good training to get one's eyes ready to see differently.

[Yooperprof · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a real treasure for the aficionado of old photography. It's a beautifully made art/travel/Italy book printed by Jarrold & Sons in Norwich in 1960. Only 3 color plates, but 168 of those wonderfully historic black-and-white "photogravure" images of the kind that you would find in the coffee table books of the 1950s.

I really think the ubiquity of high quality color photography - now accessible from our pocket phones - is changing the way that we perceive the world. It's so easy for us - for anyone - to make high quality reproductions of reality - but ever more difficult for us to appreciate the value of what we see. Books like this take us back to a society that didn't have I-phones or androids, but which may have seen more, remembered more, valued more of the heritage of the past and the treasures of the natural world.

I'm not saying that it was better, but it was different.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written towards the end of his life when, by his own admission, his physical energy and mental powers were flagging, these diaries of Berenson's travels in Italy and Libya are of passing interest, but no more. The book would, nevertheless, be useful preparation for a long stay in Italy as it introduces lesser known sites and would give readers good ideas of where to go and what to see, with a brief overview of what made it special to Berenson. In Florence, for example, he recommends getting away from the crowds (yes, even in 1956 it was intolerably crowded; God knows what he'd make of it now) by visiting the Chiostro dello Scalzo, the Castagno Museum, the Innocenti Pinacoteca, the Bardini Museum and the Horne Museum.

[Saxon Henry]

An anecdote from Bernard Berenson's remembrances of traveling through Italy led me to see what others have had to say about visiting Paestum. His and others' responses inspired an essay in my book “The Modern Salonnière.” Each person's reactions to the ancient ruins is powerful. You can see what all of them, including Berenson, had to say in this post I excerpted from the book: https://bit.ly/2VApOXu