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Henry Walters and Bernard Berenson: Collector and Connoisseur,New
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Collecting Italian Renaissance paintings during Americas Gilded Age was fraught with risk because of the uncertain identities of the artists and the conflicting interests of the dealers. Stanley Mazaroffs fascinating account of the close relationship between Henry Walters, founder of the legendary Walters Art Museum in Baltimore, and Bernard Berenson, the eras preeminent connoisseur of Italian paintings, richly illustrates this important chapter of Americas cultural history.When Walters opened his Italianate museum in 1909, it was labeled as Americas Great Temple of Art. With more than 500 Italian paintings, including selfportraits purportedly by Raphael and Michelangelo, Walterss collection was compared favorably with the great collections in London, Paris, and Berlin. In the midst of this fanfare, Berenson contacted Walters and offered to analyze his collection, sell him additional paintings, and write a scholarly catalogue that would trumpet the collection on both sides of the Atlantic. What Berenson offered was what Walters desperately neededa badge of scholarship that Berensons invaluable imprimatur would undoubtedly bring.By 1912, Walters had become Berensons most active client, their business alliance wrapped in a warm and personal friendship. But this relationship soon became strained and was finally severed by a confluence of broken promises, inattention, deceit, and ethical conflict. To Walterss chagrin, Berenson swept away the selfportraits allegedly by Raphael and Michelangelo and publicly scorned paintings that he was supposed to praise. Though painful to Walters, Berensons guidance ultimately led to a panoramic collection that beautifully told the great history of Italian Renaissance painting.Based primarily on correspondence and other archival documents recently discovered at the Walters Art Museum and the Villa I Tatti in Florence, the intriguing story of Walters and Berenson offers unusual insight into the pleasures and perils of collecting Italian Renaissance paintings, the ethics in the marketplace, and the founding of American art museums.
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