Dear Friend,
[St. Moritz] Sept. 12, 1904
At last a brilliant, warm day, after a week of grey cold days in this Alpine solitude-so solitary after all the birds of paradise had fled leaving a few of us alone too suddenly to recover the mood of quiet. The three preceding weeks had been very gay, and I must confess to having enjoyed myself very much. As there was no one person to monopolize me, I had time for several, and I found several delightful whom in former times I could devote no sufficient attention to, to discover their merits. In the forefront stand out the two Rothschild sisters, Lady Sassoon and the Baronne Lambert, then the exquisitely simple, candidly straightforward Princess Trabia, 1 and a little Neapolitan girl with the figure of a Tanagra, and the mind of a poetical English youth [and] a Countess Ruffo di Calabria. 2 Then I enjoyed Montesquiou's performances, and made the acquaintance of Kreisler, 3 a cultivated intelligent man apart from his music. But now we are so reduced that the Pallavicini, her daughter, Placci and I spend the evenings playing bridge. But why are not you here, where I feel well enough to enjoy-and you above all? It is a severe instance of never the time and the place. Placci and I leave in a few days, and his nephew 4 will take us for a fortnight's motoring thro' the Tyrolese Alps, and Friuli. Mary will join us in Venice at the end of the month, and she and I will spend Oct. in North. Italy, taking notes for my book on the North Italian Painters. How lovely it must be now at Brookline with the first hints of autumn in your Italian garden! I wish I were with you-I wish it more than I can say. If only one could annihilate space. Please believe that I think of you constantly, always with pleasure, affection, and devotion. B.B. » l. Princess Giulia of Trabia and Butera, wife of Don Pietro, twelfth prince of Trabia.
»2. Possibly Eleanora-Maria-Vittoria, Countess Ruffo di Calabria (b. 1882), unmarried daughter of the duke of Guardia Lombarda. »3. Fritz Kreisler (1875-1962), American (Austrianborn) violinist. »4. Lucien L. Henraux (1878-1926), French industrialist, art collector, and writer.
High Buildings Haslemere Dear Mrs. Gardner,
Sept. 18, 1904
My autumn plans have suddenly changed, and instead of lingering here to close houses and move people into new dwellings I am off tomorrow to join B.B. and Carlo Placci on a motor-trip in the Veneta. It is a desertion of obvious duties, but the one who urges it is the one to whom the duties are owed-my dear Mother, who simply won't let me forego this pleasure for her sake. So I am off, and with a light heart, looking forward to days of 347
pleasure among those little fortressed towns, while the others move all the furniture, and generally, bear the burden and heat of the day. And it is time for my soul's good to get away from this burden of Possessions. I have felt buried alive under household things, and have kept repeating over and over to myself that wonderful classic (one-line) Japanese poem: "How heavenly falls the rain on the hat I stole from the scare-crow." I feel that is the only way to really live-to be free from possessions, free to enjoy even the rain in this beautiful world. But oh dear, if you own things, a part of your joy and peace of mind goes into them. I bring my doctrine to a strange reader, you who own so much that is best in the world! But you are firstly, an exception to all rules; and secondly, you have known enough, I am sure, to understand. Bernhard hopes to write his North Italians this winter, and prepare the new edition of his Drawings. I am thinking of bringing out the Golden Urn list of beautiful pictures for pious travellers, and also a students' companion to all galleries and then we mean to pull together our notes on American pictures. So we shall be busy-if only his health holds out. We return about November rst, and Senda, who is quite broken down in health, is coming to spend the winter with us. How lovely it must be at Green Hill now! I can see the Italian garden with "The statues gracing that lovely place of heathen godesses most fair Homer and Nero and Nebuchadnezzar All standing naked in the open air." 1 I am tempted to wish it were a year ago, and we just starting on our delightful pilgrimage, of which Green Hill and Fenway Court were the best part! Believe me, dear Lady, ever yours devotedly, Mary Berenson ÂťI.
Misquoted from the comic Irish poem "The Groves of Blarney," by Richard Alfred Milli-
ken
(I 767- I
8 I 5) .
Dear Mary Berenson
Green Hill Brookline September 28, 1904
Such an enchanting letter. So you have chucked duty and are off for that (to me) most desired and wished for fun, a journey up and down the map of beloved Italy. Your letter came just in time. I had taken to tears from worries and vexations of every kind. I only wonder if (your letter) didn't make me hate you from pure envy! But it didn't, it only sent me to dreamland, from which there are days when I wish there was no awakening. B.B. sent me also, an enchanting letter a few days ago. It sounded giddy
and free. May the healths hold out, and may the work go well, and may golden pleasure sift through all. Brookline is beaming today to punish me for my blues, and Thacher and the other gardeners are still exuberant over the last Horticultural Show, when we wiped up the earth with the other exhibitors. My little dog Kitty is like you. She has just broken loose and gone off on a tear. Okakura is still fine. He is now reading a paper at St. Louis! Poor man. But he loves the sun, and basks often in the garden and scribbles (he calls it) instead of doing Art Museum work (catalogues). Here follows one of his scribbles. Lafarge and I love it. He wrote it in the garden.
A Night-thought Aum to the great darkness! Aum to the Eternal Light! Aum to the King of Teachers The Sakya-Budha! In his lotus-soul Folds and unfolds The mystery of the Law. If it be spring, I shall be a flower, If it be summer, a Cuckoo To wander among the dreams Of youthful leaves. If autumn comes, Let me be a cricket, To talk to the moon among the stones In the barren night of the great, Great-Wall. The winter mist gathers and mingles With the smoke of burning Ghats, Let me sleep, Awake me not. It is the floating world Which the Budha never renounced. It is the Budha which the world ever forsook. Was it a parting or a meeting? Why the meeting? Why the parting? Stars are my tear drops, 0 Galaxy! Rush on forever, thou river of Heaven In thy restless search of Infinity. 349
Aum to the Eternal Light of Sadness Aum to the Darkness of Love. He (Okakura) wrote it first in Japanese, and then translated it into his own English. Do love it. Aum is even more than Hail . I hav~ a Japanese robin who is singing to burst his soft throat. He is giving a message, so I send it on to you both, for it must be full of love. Alfy yours Isabella
Dear Friend,
[Venice] Oct. 9, I 904
You see I am in the familiar old place. We arrived nine days ago intending to stay three or four at the utmost, but hitherto it has been impossible to get away. My joy in Venice is quite new; for when I was last well enough to really enjoy things-and that must be a matter of seven or eight yearswhen I was last well enough to take intense pleasure in things, I had nothing like my present insight and ecstasy. So I have been wandering and floating about with my eyes and mouth wide open, as insensible to anything but beauty as a dancing dervish to the knives that cut him. I want to stay on and on, but I think we really must move on in a day or two to Padua, Verona, Brescia, etc. to complete notes for my volume on the North Italian Painters. The I 5 days before I got here were only less wonderful. They were passed motoring with Placci and a charming nephew of his thro' the Tyrol, the Dolomites, and the Friuli. For the last part Mary joined us at Bassano. Now路 I want to say just a word about the enclosed photo. I am sending it to you because it is in the first place a beautiful picture by a great master; then because it must have special interest for you; and finally because considering its quality and its interest it is to be had at a singularly reasonable pnce. The master you possess already-Antony Moro whose Queen Mary you have. The portrait I am offering you now is of no inferior style or execution to that one, and has the additional interest for you of being the effigy of Mary of Guise, the mother of Mary Stuart. 1 She wears a black dress with brown fur lining, sitting in a red-backed chair, has red sleeves, and all against a brownish grey rather light background. She is on panel and measures 46 by 3 5V2 in. She comes from the well-known collection of H. W Erskine of Pitlochrie in Scotland. The price is two thousand pounds (拢2, ooo). So you can have a magnificent pendant to your Queen Mary, by the same master, and the same quality for about half that we paid for the other. That was reasonable and this is a bargain. Its historic interest is considerable for any one. What it is for yourself you best can judge. Voila tout. If you want 350
to buy it, let me know at your earliest opportunity, addressing me after this to Settignano, Florence. We shall be there by the end of the month at the latest. How I envy you your contact with Okakura! Both my curiosity in Japan and my sympathy for it are boundless. Did I tell you-I remember I didthat I met Percival Lowell at S. Moritz, and heard him talk most eloquently onjapan? 2 Affectionately and devotedly B.B. Mor, Mary of Guise; its present location is unknown. Âť2. Percival Lowell (r855-r9r6), American astronomer known for his studies of the planet Mars and his prediction of the discovery of Pluto. ÂťI.
Dear Berenson
Green Hill October 24 [1904]
I am looking longingly at the photograph of my Queen's Mother, but I shall never get nearer than that to the picture. What seems to you very cheap for it, seems frightfully dear to me. Of course the picture has merit and charm, but I can't afford to put one cent into (mere sentiment) anything not A No. l. After great fasting and prayer and starving, and doing my own housework, as I have been doing all summer (partly from economy, but also because the servant question is a very vexed one here), after all these denials I pray that the Lord may be kind and drop into my hands one more perfect screamer! Oh that it might be a Raphael Madonna! It probably annoys you to have me say these silly things, these things that seem so wise to me! Okakura is still a great joy-so interesting, so deep, so spiritual, so feminine. Have you got to Settignano, and does the sun shine as beautifully as here. Such an autumn. We have never had any so beautiful. Okakura says it makes him ashamed of Japan! Robinson is in a box I think, and the lid seems closing. He seems to have been a little less wise than usual. Love to you both. Tell me about it all. I envied you those Italian wanderings. Yours Isabella
Dear Friend,
[I Tatti] Nov. 22, 1904
The days glide by so softly that one scarcely takes note of their passing. We have been back nearly a month, but except that almost all of it has been of surpassing loveliness, and that I have spent most of my time in a sort of dream, there really is nothing to be said about them. I do not yet feel well enough to get to work, but on the other hand I am already too well to remain wholly idle. But as I get idler and idler, days and days drifting by, I know not how, I am beginning to have bad moments of self-reproach. The
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outcome will doubtless be that I shall put myself to some task, I know not what. Probably it will be the 4th volume in my series. Santayana has been staying with us for a week and goes tomorrow to Rome, Naples, Sicily, Egypt, etc. 1 Lucky man, he feels perfect freedom and enjoys loafing, has his health after finishing a piece of work with which he is satisfied. He is the most self-contained, contented person I have ever known, and all in all the least like myself, and therefore the most unintelligible of all my more friendly acquaintances. He is too remote from me, and too little interested, for me to say anything to him, but I enjoy hearing him talk for he has much to say, and can say it well. My sister Senda is spending the winter with us. She had a bad breakdown last spring, and is a wreck. 2 No news of note in the art-world, and I am glad of it. I am in the mood when art seems like falling in love, something to keep very secretly to oneself and to the object-something you would desecrate by talking of it. But this won't prevent me I suppose from writing more books. Yours devotedly B.B. P. S. A year ago we were seeing so much of you-and how delicious it was! ÂťI. George Santayana (1863-1952), American philosopher of Spanish extraction, met BB at Boston Latin School. They were friends at Harvard, during which time Santayana probably met ISG. On several occasions during the l 89os he was a guest in her house. Santayana taught philosophy at Harvard until 1912, when he became an expatriate. He and BB saw each other with some frequency over the years, but gradually their paths diverged. Âť2. Senda was granted a leave of absence for reasons of health from Smith College for the 1904-05 school year.
[I Tatti] Dear Lady Isabella
December
10, 1904
I am just starting for London to spend Xmas with my youngsters: but before going I want to send you my Christmas greetings and the expression of my devotion. How constantly you are in our minds you would not be able to imagine! For we pretend that the study of Art has made us especially capable of appreciating what is wonderful in human beings. We think of them as works of art-and in our gallery you have the first place! We are having a dull winter so far. The 'Ramus can't seem to get to work, and poor little Senda is very ill, and Carlo Placci is away. We were entertained and delighted by a week's visit from Santayana, composed, observant, subtle and aloof as ever-but otherwise our six weeks here has been dull. B.B. is going for Christmas to Naples to stay with a Mrs. Harrison who keeps eight hunters and a steam-yacht, so I daresay he will have an exceedingly good time. I shall be in London superintending children's sports. 352
I wonder if you ever have any more of that old, old music that delighted us so at your Tea? And do you give Teas often? And how is Mr. Proctor? and Mr. Loeffler? Please write us a gossipy letter, but chiefly about yourself. If you send it here, there will be but little delay in its reaching me, and then B.B. at Naples will share it two days later. This is my letter, not his, so I won't send messages from him, but from me all best Christmas greetings and good wishes. Devotedly yours Mary Berenson
Dear Friend,
[I Tatti] Dec. r 9, r 904
This is to wish you a Happy New Year, and may it be the happiest you ever spent, and a prelude to still happier ones. I have no news except of fabulous sunshine, and gem-like loveliness of nature out of doors. If one could be but contented with that how happy I should be. For I can enjoy it and abandon myself to its ecstasy. But out of the midst thereof comes a gnawing worm which without rhyme or reason, without telling why or whereof says "Go to work, go to work, be up and be doing." The nasty creature neither persuades nor intimidates me, and yet spoils my fun. Gladys Deacon has suddenly appeared to spend a few days with Senda and me here. We are passing the Xmas holidays with the Laboucheres 1 who are having a house party to entertain their son-in-law Carlo di Rudini. If only the latter's sister, the Carlottai, and her "guliman friend" D' Annunzio 2 were to be there, the cup of bliss would be complete and I should be entertained. I am taking the occasion of Mary's absence to go down to Naples where I have not been for ever so many years. As my health improves my curiosity gets rampant. By the way when you are next in New York, drop in at Glaenzer's, and you may see the Greco there about which we corresponded last summer. Please give my New Year's greeting to the Merchant Prince, 3 and to Prichard. 4 Yours ever devotedly B.B. » r. Henry Du Pre Labouchere (183 l-1912), English journalist and Liberal politician. Dora di Rudini was his daughter. »2. Guliman is slang for magician . Gabriele D'Annunzio's current mistress was Contessa Pasolini. »3. The identity of the "Merchant Prince," probably said in jest, is not known. »4. Matthew Stewart Prichard (1864-1936), assistant director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1903-06. With ISG and several younger associa.tes he fought the "battle of the casts" against museum director Edward Robinson (see ISG to BB, 12 May 1904), who favored displaying the museum's large collection of plaster casts of famous sculpture for
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teaching purposes. Although both Prichard and Robinson had left by 1909 when the new building opened, Prichard had won the battle: only original works of art were considered acceptable for the museum's collection.
Fenway Court December 19, 1904 It is nearly my bedtime, dear friends, but I will prop open my eyes for I must send a Xmas greeting. May you both be merry and happy. My dance is over. I mean the one I gave as "Come-Out" for Catherine Gardner, daughter of G. P. Gardner. I have lived through it, and am floating on the top wave of flattery. And it was wonderfully beautiful. I looked perfect, and had 2 earrings (diamonds) in each ear. A little idea of my own! It really was great, but then you two, I can see, sitting there laughing at me when you ought to have given your ears to see it all. I do think it was wonderfully beautiful, the whole thing, I mean. Lots of New Yorkers came on for it, 2 and fancy Cesnola 1 being dead, as well as the President of Metropolitan. How do you feel about Morgan at the tip top of it, and do tell me what you 3 think of the Velasquez Ross bought for the Museum of Fine Arts. Do you know it? What do you do for Christmas festivity? How are you both, and how is Senda? A lot of love and good wishes to you both. I am to eat my way through four Christmas dinners. The first one is to be here on Friday the 23rd. On Saturday the 24th I go to one of New Yorkers given by Mrs. James Lowell Putnam (who is a New York foreigner like me). 4 On Sunday, Christmas Day, I dine with the Cushings, 5 and on Monday the 26th the big family Christmas dinner comes off. Fortunately overeating is not one of my sins. The very thought of it all is making me very sleepy. Goodnight-Pleasant Dreams. Yours Isabella P.S. My Christmas dinner here on Friday the 23rd is for waifs and strays who don't have families here-i.e. Prichard, Potter, Chalfin6 and Okakura of the Art Museum, and Miss Little and Proctor. Again Goodnight. »I. Emanuele Pietro Paolo Marian Luigi Palma, conte di Cesnola (1832-1904), self-styled general and third son of an Italian count, had a remarkable military career on both sides of the Atlantic. He formed a collection of antiquities while consul in Cyprus that he later sold to The Metropolitan Museum of Art, of which he became secretary in l 877 and director in l 879, serving in both capacities until his death. »2. Frederick W. Rhinelander was president of The Metropolitan Museum of Art from 1902 until his death in 1904. »3. The portrait Philip IV, King of Spain, by Velasquez and his workshop. »4. Mrs . James Lowell Putnam, like ISG, moved to Boston from New York. She may be Mary Lowell Putnam, who wrote ISG a number of letters in which she referred to herself as "friend and cousin." »5. Howard Cushing (1869-1916), American painter, whose portrait of his wife, Ethel Cochrane Cushing (d. 1948), is in the Gardner Museum. »6. Paul Chalfin (1874-1959) was curator of Chinese and Japanese art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1902-05. He left the museum in 1905 to accept a scholarship for the study of mural painting in Italy.
354
Fenway Court December 24 [ 1904] Your Christmas letter, dear friend, has this moment come and been read, with greatest joy and thankfulness. And fancy, it is Xmas Eve. I am too sorry to hear that B.B. gets no more working microbes, and that poor Senda is still so far from well. I can't fancy the 'Ramus with steam yachts, hunters and etc., but Naples must make up for a great deal. My Christmas is a full one, particularly from the dinner point of view. I wrote to you the other day that I was to eat 4 Christmas dinners on 4 successive days. The one that I was to give to the "waifs and strays" came off last night! I only hope the others may be V2 as pleasant. My guests were 8 in number. Here is my table. Prichard, Proctor, Fisher, 1 Miss Little, Potter, Chalfin, Okakura and I. Proctor Prichard Fisher
I
Little
OK Chalfin
Potter
Principally Art Museum, with the two musicians. I had put magnificent little gifts on their plates, and made a rule that all conversation was to be general. So we really talked. Then we had music; Beethoven, Bach, Scarlatti, Chopin, Miss Little sang "Who is Sylvia." Then we made procession and wandered through the house, the moon pouring down into the court. I think everyone was pleased. If you two had only been here. Tonight I dine dinner No. 2, come back early and prepare for midnight Christmas Eve Celebration in my chapel. So "Peace be with you both." Goodwill towards all. Yours Isabella Richard Fisher joined Ned Warren in 1891 at Lewes House, Sussex, where he took charge of household affairs and studied photography. ÂťI.
Dear friends,
Fenway Court December 28, 1904
I enclose a calendar for you to mark your red letter days. Yesterday a man, Perkins by name, 1 came with a man, Rankin by name, to see my pictures. The former happened to say that outside of Siena was a Lorenzetti, the only one existing that is on sale. Do you know this and can it be bought without too much money? He, Perkins, named a very possible sum. Please look this up, will you? dear 'Ramus. A very happy New Year from Alf yours Isabella Frederick Mason Perkins (1874-1955), American expatriate collector and connoisseur and a protege of BB. ÂťI.
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Dear Friend,
[Naples] New Year's Day 1905
My first letter this year as in many a year gone by, shall be to you, wishing you every joy and happiness thro' the entire course of it. A year ago at this hour I was in the train going to Chicago, eagerly looking forward to seeing you there the next morning. Would I were to see you here tomorrow, then the cup of bliss would be full. For in every other respect I am having a delightful time here. I am staying in a villa 1 in a great park overhanging the town, and thus hearing no sound, and perceiving no unpleasant sight while in the noisiest and dirtiest town in Europe. I explore the churches in the morning, and am taken long drives in the afternoon, and have interesting men, and attractive women during the rest of the day. Then the weather till today at least has been like May, and the beauty of this earthly paradise has penetrated me as never before. When my curtains are drawn in the morning, I look over tree tops to the sea enclosed by the cameo-shapes of Capri and the Sorrentine Peninsula. As in all beautiful places here also I wonder where one gets the courage to leave them. But I shall stay another week in Rome before returning to my desk and going on with my North Italian Painters. London and Madrid and Paris are ringing with boisterous laughter over the last exploit of the Art Museum. Mark you I have not seen the Velasquez they have bought but it is said to be a notorious humbug, and that it did not belong to the nobleman who nominally sold it. He, it is said, received 60, ooo fr. for lending his house and his name. Do you recall the tremendous efforts we made 8 or 9 years ago to get Lansdowne's Mill-Rembrandt's Mill by far and away the most remarkable landscape in existence? You authorized me to offer ÂŁ40,000 for it, but Lansdowne simply smiled. But I have been given to understand that he probably would not refuse such an offer now. Unfortunately times are changed for you as well as for him. You no longer have the fresh enthusiasm for acquisition that you had then. Perhaps the picture no longer tempts you, and perhaps you can not afford it. But I thought it was my duty to tell you about it, and give you the chance should you care to take it. It is probably as great a work of art as is ever likely to be bought or sold. If by miracle you want this picture at about the figure named-forty thousand poundsyou will do well to cable YEMILL. That would remind me of les beaux jours
d'antan. Well today also has its beauty, and splendour tho' it may not be of yesteryear-at this moment comes your enchanting letter of the I 9th. I should say I did not laugh at you at all, but rather weep that I was not present at your ball, and that I could not see my darling Queen of Sheba in all her glory. I love her dearly and wish her every happiness. Devotedly and affectionately B.B.
The Villa La Floridiana, Naples, was acquired by King Ferdinand I for his second wife the princess of Partanna, duchess of Florida. On her death it was divided into three parts. The villa was then being rented by Mrs. Ethel Harrison, formerly of Boston. ÂťI.
Morpeth Mansions Victoria Street, S. W Jan. 8, 1905
2 I,
Dear Mrs. Gardner,
Your delightful Xmas Greetings reached us at very different places-the 'Ramus revelling in the sunshine and beauty of Naples, and me choking in the blackest of London fogs. We heard of your party, 1 that it was one of the most beautiful things ever seen, and well could we believe it! A year ago we were all in Chicago together-do you remember? I sometimes think I dreamt it, all that snow, the horrible dirt, and those fabulously rich people; and a vague, distant sound of my own voice giving "lectures"-what could have come over me! The talk here is all of the "Velasquez"-on dit-in fact Mr. Claude Phillips assured me he knew it-that the Paris dealer who owned it, paid the Duke in Madrid 60,000 francs for the "use" of his Spanish Palace and old name, to bait the hook for our dear friends. There seems to be no one here who believes in it, and many people are rejoicing at the downfall of the Omniscient. We have only seen a small reproduction, but that looked very inferior to yours. I wonder if the Museum will ever acknowledge its mistake?! I went to the reception at the New Gallery last night-the vernissage of the International Ex[hibition ]-and it seemed to me that everyone was still laughing over 1t. I am going back to Florence in a few days: but it is hard, in the squalor and dirt and rush of London, to believe I shall ever be in a clean, beautiful leisurely place again! Have you written your Autobiography yet, and begun to receive the ships of gold floating in? If you had, I should tell you of an adorable little sacre imagine on stamped gold ground, a tiny Madonna by Sano di Pietro that might be had for five hundred dollars. She would present a very strange appearance beside the Degas; but would harmonize with Chinese and Japanese goddesses. Give our regards to Mr. Prichard please. Is Mr. Robinson really going to New York? Do tell us some gossip! Yours devotedly, Mary Berenson Âť r. Elsie de Wolfe wrote BB: "Bessie [Marbury] has just returned from Boston where she
went to Mrs. Gardner's ball on Friday. Said it was most beautiful." (Letter in I Tatti archives.)
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Dear Friend,
[Rome] Jan. II, [I90]5
My best thanks for your New Year's wishes and the Jap. calendar. I am glad you were kind to Rankin and Perkins. They are both as men go staunch disciples of mine. Rankin knows more than most people about pictures in general, and Perkins's acquaintance with the Sienese painters is almost unrivalled. But he is a fanatic, and provided he is sure that a picture is by a given author he gives no consideration to the quality and condition. For instance, the Lorenzetti he spoke of to you must be the Madonna belonging to the Gruciolis at the Monastero. It is a picture which I first identified and brought into vogue, but it is in horrible condition, and frightfully repainted-a mere whitened sepulchre. I absolutely refuse to be an accomplice to your degrading your collection with such a ruin. Talking of your collection, I was not a little pleased to see in the recent quasi official volume on the New Berlin Museum, 1 a statement to the effect that it could not of course attempt to rival the marvellous perfection of Mrs. Gardner's installation etc. etc. I left Naples two days ago after having such an enchanting time in the heavenly place and with the jolly people. I am here for a few days on my way back, and between sight-seeing and friends I work about 48 hours a day. I have just seen, for the first time adequately, the Brancaccio pictures. 2 They have a Velasquez Pope Innocent ·that I think I like as well as Doria's. It is more quick from the life, and even more spontaneous, altho' not so fetching. I wish you had heaps of money, and I would urge you to buy it. But I understand they will yield only to irresistible temptation. Much love, B.B. Then the Kaiser Friedrich Museum. » 2. ISG purchased Prince Brancaccio's picture. A bust-length copy of the Palazzo Doria portrait of Pope Innocent X, the painting is now thought to be a version of a Velasquez in the Wellington Museum (Apsley House), London. »I.
Fenway Court January I2 [ I905] Well, dear Berenson, when are you going to be where? Every day I hear from people new plans of yours. Some of them have had an offer of your darling I Tatti, for the month of May. Others are to spend the month ofJune with you in Spain. Othersin England etc. etc. etc. So please let me have a word of your plans. In all of them I seem out of it. No America seems to have claimed you. Rejane is here now, very Canaille-but delightful in an old way. Ralph Curtis I hear has asked to be buyer for the Fine Arts Museum here. You say nothing about their Velasquez. Do. Ross has nearly finished painting a portrait of Prichard. 1
What a convenient little Senda it is to have Gladys Deacon come to see her! Isabella Give my love to all, Mary, Senda and Bernhard from Âť r. ISG probably means Denman Ross's portrait of]. B. Potter, now in the Gardner Museum.
Dearest Friend,
[I Tatti] Jan. 22, 1905
Yes, I have offered Elsie de Wolfe our house for May. To begin with I like her very sincerely, and want to do what little I can for her. To end with, she and Bessie Marbury are perfect angels of hospitality to me when I am at Versailles, and I shall feel less over burdened with moral debts if I can do something for them. We expect to leave at the end of April to spend May at Sintra with the Cooks. 1 The villa Monteserrat is said to be one of the few improvements upon the pristine garden of Eden. With that as a centre we shall radiate in every direction, exploring the art treasures of Portugal. We shall then spend as much of June in Spain as the season will permit. Mary will I suppose leave me in Paris for a while, and I will probably be in England thro' July, and St. Moritz in Aug. Farther my eyes sees not. I am no longer what I used to be when I made plans for years ahead, and kept them to the instant. If you are left out of all this no one regrets it more than I do. There is no person on earth with whom I would rather be than with you when you really want me. But souvent femme varie, and confess you do at times make it felt that one is but a second, third, or fourth. As I am not a trust, nor a monopoly, and something of a philosopher, I suppress my too preposterous male instincts and end by approving you entirely. But I have explained why I spoke of the times when you really want me. I dare say tho' if America were not so far from shore, or had a summer climate that I could live thro', that you would soon be making subtle and kindly devices for getting rid of me. I returned from Rome just a week ago, and have been asleep most of that time to make up for too gay nights in Naples and Rome. In Rome, I saw a good deal of the Grazioli, Gladys Deacon, the Rudinis, the S. Faustino etc. etc. We are going for a week toward the end of March-when Placci is going to accompany Joachim 2 in some Beethoven concerts to be given at the Palazzo Farnese. That week is to be flanked with a week of motoring at each end, the first in Umbria, and the second in the Abruzzi. Motoring combined with sight seeing is one of my ideals of bliss. I hope Mr. Raph Curtis will be appointed buyer for our Art Museum. He is just the man they want. I envy Prichard being portrayed by Denman Ross. He is the only painter alive I would sit to. 359
Mary and Senda join me in best love. Senda by the way is a great favounte 1n sooety, but poor dear she is not well enough to enjoy her successes. Ever and sincerely most devotedly yours Bernhard » r. Villa Monteserrat, Sintra, Portugal, the home of Sir Herbert Cook.
»2 .
Joseph Joachim
(1831-1907), Hungarian violinist and composer.
Dear Berenson
Fenway Court January 22, I 90 5
I am still full of the sentiment and flower of the great Tea Ceremony, the "Chano-yu," which was performed here yesterday at 5 pm (candlelight) by Okakura. If you two could only have been of the five guests. Also yesterday I went to the memorial service for Theodore Thomas, 1 also yeste~day I saw Roger Fry, who had been "turned down" by Pierpont Morgan! 2 Could anything be more asinine than the latter's appointing the South Kensington Clarke! 3 I am sending you a photograph of the Copley Square Art Museum Velasquez. When do you go to Spain? Yours Isabella » r. Theodore Thomas (183 5-1905), conductor of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, 1891-
1905. »2. Roger Fry (1866-1934), English artist, scholar, and critic, came to New York for the first time in l 904 to raise money for the Burlington Magazine. He was offered and accepted the assistant directorship of The Metropolitan Museum of Art; when he asked for more money than originally agreed upon, however, the appointment was annulled. He became curator of paintings on New Year's Day, 1906, resigning in 1907 in favor of becoming European adviser on paintings. In December 1909 this arrangement was terminated by the museum. »3. Sir Caspar Purdon Clarke (1846-191 l), former director of the South Kensington Museum (now the Victoria and Albert Museum), was appointed director of The Metropolitan Museum of
Art in 1905.
My dear Friend,
[I Tatti] Febr. 5, 1905
Many thanks for the photograph of the Velasquez recently bought by the Art Museum. If the photograph does not lie the picture is as fine as Velasquez ever painted at the time when he painted it. It looks as good as yours, and that is saying a great deal. It might have amused me if it had turned out otherwise, and the Museum's treatment of me has never been of a kind to attach me to its interests, but I am Bostonian enough to rejoice that money has been spent properly, and a real masterpiece added to the public collections. I have been very ill since I wrote last, and am better again, and at work on the North Italian painters. I read a good deal of history, and see the few devoted friends such as my beloved Serristori and Placci. We had a visit from Fox, the Boston architect, a man full of delightful stories, and excel-
lent taste in architecture. 1 Now a young cousin of Mary's is with us, Denman Ross's favourite pupil. 2 It is great fun to see him battle with and conquered by Florentine art. I wish indeed I had been at your tea-ceremony. Why don't you who are omnipotent furnish me with a wishing carpet? Ever devotedly B.B. » r. Thomas Fox (1871-1949), Boston architect who made the model of the dome of the Bos-
ton Museum of Fine Arts for his friend John Singer Sargent when the latter was working on the museum's murals. »2 . MB's young cousin was Willie Taylor.
Dear Mrs. Gardner,
[I Tatti] Feb. 6, 1905
The 'Ramus says he has written to you to express his belief in the Boston Velasquez, and I want to tell you what I think is the explanation of the stories that are current and credited in London. There was ·another portrait offered to them at the same time in Madrid, and this one did belong to a Paris dealer, and had been hawked about all over the universe. The Boston Museum (for some strange reason!) is not popular, and people hastily jumped to the conclusion that they had been taken in. I found it a little easier to believe than I should have done if Mr. Ross did not hold what we feel quite sure is a poor school work to be a genuine Paolo Veronese-the little justice in the Museum. 1 But this time it would appear that he knew very well both the quality and the author of the work, and both he and the Museum are to be congratulated. We are having des }ours de benediction this winter, a perfectly marvellous season of sunshine and soft mists. The only objection to this place is its distance from the Fens 2 -and that, I admit, is a serious drawback. We try to make up by thinking a great deal about you and speaking of you with warm affection. Yours devotedly, Mary Berenson is now attributed to a follower of Veronese. » 2. The Gardner Museum was built on the street bordering The Fens, one of a series of parks designed for the city in the l 88os by Frederick Law Olmsted. »I. justice
Dears,
Fenway Court Boston February 17 [1905]
I have been hoping for a moment long enough to write a real letter to you both. First of all, an outrageously scolding one to 'Ramus, for his nasty words. Fancy his saying "When I really want him!" And Souvent femme varie! That wretched 'Ramus is 'Ramuser than ever, if he doesn't even know me by this time. He is always wanted, and is always first with me. His wife Mary is running him a close second, but it is a bad field, nowhere in com-
parison. Your plans for spring and early summer make my mouth water. Oh, some day I must automobile in Italy with you. Today come the letters apropos of the Museum Velasquez. I shall tell the people there, and although they don't do you justice, they shall. How glad they will be; pretending they don't care what you think, all the time. Tomorrow closes my ordeal of open house to the multitude. They have tramped through it and tramped. They all like it for some reason or other, but rarely for the right reason. One woman read from the catalogue to a friend "Those are the great Dynamo Screens!" 1 The friend curled up. And the art criticism of an art teacher to her pupils about the Degas is perfect. She began "The fundamental characteristic of Frenchmen is superficiality. Therefore when you see anything done by a Frenchman, you must always first search for its superficiality!" I overheard both of these things. Isn't it perfect? The fundamental characteristic, and searching, allied to superficiality. Good-bye-love to both. Affy yours Isabella ÂťI.
The term is Daimio, a title for the chief territorial nobles of Japan, vassals of the mikado .
My dear Friend,
[I Tatti] March 19, 1905
I was delighted with your letter telling us about the dynamite tapestries, and the profound shallowness of the French spirit. I have had you in mind constantly altho' it is some time since I have written. All the writing in me has recently been concentrated upon the book I am travailing over. Why, why, why does one publish books! They bring no genuine friends and make one very genuine enemies. If they give fame it is contemptible, and if they are still born it is despairing. It is a cruel destiny. I could enjoy life and art, and beauty, so much if only I were not groaning under this incubus of scribbling. On mornings like this-and we have so many of them! it is the sin against the Holy Ghost to stay in, and not be roaming on the hills! However, tomorrow Mary and I are off to Rome for ten days. Joachim is to give all the Beethoven Quartettes in the Caracci Hall of the Palazzo Farnese. That is the cause of our journey, but of course we shall see things and people. Then we expect to motor in the Abruzzi with Placci and his nephew for another ro days. It is a high, wild, most romantic and practically unexplored country, full of sombre churches built in the early middle ages on the sites of Roman temples. If the weather is good and the roads tolerable we shall see marvels. Yes, I wish with all my heart that you were here to motor with me. I dream of nothing more blissful than that would be. I remember what an incomparably jolly traveller you are. Owing to the book I am writing, and which I must not interrupt for too long, we have given up Portugal. We may go to Spain in the autumn.
Dooly 1 is here, and heaps of people like the Mortimers. But we do not see very much of them, being out of reach of mere time-killers. With much love Affectionately B.B. ÂťI.
Finley Peter Dunne (1867-1936), the famous "Mr. Dooley" of the Chicago Daily News.
[I Tatti] Dear Lady Isabella,
April
20, 1905
The 'Ramus is oppressed with the weight of his own silence, yet unable to break the spell. So I will break it for him, that at last you shall hear from us and know we are always thinking of you. It is the writing of the North Italians that has woven this blanket of silence. He hates the subject, he feels tired and unfit, and yet he says that he cannot be at peace till he has done it. For this we have given up our trip to Spain and Portugal, and are staying on here quietly till mid-June. He got about a third of it done, and then was so weary of the job that we took the occasion ofJoachim's quartette playing seven afternoons the Quatuors of Beethoven, to go to Rome and hear him. We stayed with Gladys Deacon, whose mother was attending to her spring toilettes in Paris. Poor Gladys was ill in bed, since four months, and seemed little disposed to get up again. She said she felt fearfully tired, and hated society. What will be the end of it I can't imagine. I fancy some fiasco, or else-even worse-just fizzling out-and with such promise! Her foolish mama is the talk of Rome, on account of Prince Doria's attentions, but B.B. and I feel perfectly certain that the talk is based upon nothing but Mrs. Baldwin's reckless disregard of appearances, for Prince Doria is a boring, pious old Catholic, and Mrs. Baldwin's idea of a good time contains nothing so serious as people imagine. Then, from Rome, we went motoring for a week in wonderful, out-ofthe-way little towns between Viterbo and Siena and Grosseto. We made endless "discoveries," which I suppose will in due time appear in pedantic reviews and art journals, or else be shut up in our own memories to give us joy. We were enchanted with that week, and feel as if we asked only one thing of Fortune, the means to have a motor of our own and go exploring whenever we like! We hear you have Mr. Ross 's fine portrait of John Potter-our hearty congratulations! And what else is happening? We have seen no Boston people for an age, although we hope that Mr. Frank Bullard 1 will come this way soon. I've had a pleasant lunch with the Nortons in Rome. I have made out a dull letter in comparison to the eloquent silence of B.B. Please think what nice things he would say ifhe did not feel paralyzed by work. But he says I must at least send his always increasing affection and admiration to the Lady of his Ideals. And I join him in being always Yours devotedly and affectionately Mary Berenson Âť r. Francis Bullard (1862-1913), Boston print collector and Charles Eliot Norton's nephew.
Green Hill Brookline May 3, 1905 Well, my dear, I was saying to myself what a wonderful letter she writes! when I got to those words of yours "a dull letter." Can it be that you don't know how delightfully you wrote and how you make the weary and sad cheer up and stretch for very joy. That is what I did, for I had gone to bed tired out! It was only 8 P.M. ! I stretched myself in the soft cool sheets, enjoyed it-and myself-and you-and went to sleep. In an hour I woke up. It is now 9. I have got up, lighted the lights and will at least politely say good night and thank you. The reason of the weariness is that all this week in the Music Room at Fenway Court there is going on the annex of the big bazaar which is held at Horticultural Hall for the tuberculosis hospital. I was asked six weeks ago to take charge of the Japanese booth in the big bazaar. That 路1 would have none of, and by and by made up my mind what I would do, which was to have a "Japanese Festival Village" in my Music Room. Such a thing was almost the very first sight I saw in Japan. They are delightful little things of the people, held at times of fete in some temple grounds, little shops on both sides; the temple, the Tea House and the merry little people. And so, presto-only not presto-for it took a whole month for the Japs to make the little village in my Music Room. But such neat, able, delightful little workmen! There are 4 or 5 shops on each side, down the middle a wide street, the Shrine of the Red Fox with his lanterns and Torii 1 on the stage, where at the side of the shrine is the Tea House. They seem to be in a large garden, for there is a huge trellis of wisteria, cherry trees in full bloom and the dark sweet smelling pines making a wonderful distance. Then there are I 8 Japs, no, 20 I mean. And they love it, they are like children. There are jinricksha rides, games, selling penny toys, singing, dancing, and last and very first-the jiujitsu men. They are wonders and beautiful too. Well all this account goes to you to tell why I am so tired. It is open from one to 5:30 daily, and when I get out here after it is over I am a wreck. So your letter was a boonier boon even than usual. The moving out here also is going on, so that I am not quite sure of anything but my bed-and back to it I go now! With greatest love to you both. Tell the 'Ramus for me, that I don't find silence golden nor eloquent. But poor dear, don't let him get too tired! What a pleasure to hear of yourselves and doings, and the other naughty things, but poor Gladys I really am sorry for her. As you say her finish is what one reads. Sleepily and affy yours Isabella
禄 r. Torii is the Japanese term for a gateway marking a sacred place of the Shinto, usually two
uprights supporting a long crossbar in a gentle arc.
Dearest Friend,
[I Tatti] May 18, 1905
I have an interesting piece of news to give you, and I hope it will excite you somewhat. It is this. I was invited by a friend, Henry W Cannon, to go with him to Alaska. I hesitated because of the magnitude of the adventure. But the thought of seeing you, even tho' only for two or three days was too much for me, and I accepted. Detailed plans are not decided yet. I am coming alone, and must be in New York July 7 to start West. We shall be back about the middle of Aug. I must sail on the return voyage about Sept. l. I shall try to get to America a week or ten days before July 7, and if I succeed I shall be able to spend two or three days with you at Green Hill, all by ourselves, if you care to have me. If that can not be arranged then we must meet after my return from Alaska. I tell you quite simply that I look forward to nothing so much as to seeing you, and that but for this hope, I might have refused the invitation. It is most unexpected of me to become thus a globe-trotter, tearing myself loose from my usual haunts. But the chance I am offered is splendid. It will be travelling en prince, thro' country said to be very wonderful, among conditions and people sure to interest me. Mary, my doctor, and everybody tells me it will do me such good, build up my health, improve my character, elevate my soul, strengthen my liver, warm my heart, etc. etc. etc. Certainly there is much in me of every sort, open to improvement. I read with delight and envy your description of your Jap. village. You do manage to have a time. I could have a time too. But I can't stand it, and you can, you lucky creature. We have been having such a rout of peopleentertaining 12 hrs. a day. I confess I enjoy much of it, but Mary pulls a long face and says it is killing me, that I ought to retire to a rest-cure, anywhere out of her sight and equally out of the sight of other women. She forgets nurses tho'-such dangerous creatures for rest-curing males. And my doctor aids and abets Mary. This afternoon we expect the visit of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Lindon Smith. Elsie de Wolfe is coming about June l, and hosts and hosts. I will tell you all about it when we meet. It will be such fun-if you are in the mood. Be sure you are, or don't let me come. Yours most affectionately B.B.
Dear Berenson
Green Hill Brookline, Mass. June 7 [ 1905]
Alas, all that money is not within my grasp-and the Raphael I want is a Madonna. So with tears streaming down my cheeks, because I haven't Morgan's money, I do up [two?] photographs to return. 1
It is a nasty blow not to have that flying visit from you. Brookline is beautiful, only needs you two to make it perfect. Hetty Sargent and Peter Higginson are to be married today, and I go. 2 So a hasty farewell and love to both. Yours Isabella The photographs were of the Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici, then attributed to Raphael and in the Sciarra-Colonna Collection, Rome. Now in The Metropoltian Museum of Art, it is considered a contemporary copy of a portrait by Raphael. »2. Francis Lee (Peter) Higginson (r877-r973), Boston banker, was one of the original trustees of the Gardner Museum (appointed by ISG). He married Henrietta Sargent, who died in r92r. »I.
Dear Friend,
Duino June 28, 1905
I scarcely expected you to buy the Raphael portrait. But I wanted you to know that such a thing was going. I am in the most beautiful spot, I believe, in Europe. It is a castle on a beathing [breathtaking] cliff overhanging the Adriatic. Tawny stretches of piled up rock extend to right and left. Below under me juts up a grey crag with infinitely picturesque ruins dating from the most medieval of times. Literally I sit by magic casements opening on the foam of perilous seas in fairy land forlorn. 1 And my hostess is a gifted highly cultivated woman and dear friend, who talks and listens well, and takes me about in a motor to explore such memories of old as Aquileia, and Grado. Dear me, how refined the beauty is that I look out upon! The sea is still, the little grey sails dip their pointed reflections into the leaden grey water. The skyline is almost as simple, and the whole tone almost as perfect as Whistler at his best. I am very tired. We have seen far too many people this spring, and I have done too much talking and motoring. I am going from here to soothe myself for a week in Venice. There I can plant myself before one of twenty pictures, and look at it until it becomes my Nirvana. After that I expect a friend to motor us about in France for a fortnight and more. At last I can begin to satisfy my pent up eagerness for seeing places. I shall visit a score of towns I have never seen. Sometimes I wish I were but an eye, an untiring eye. I dare say I should soon want to be something else. You see I have nothing to say. But I could not be in a place of such entrancing beauty without sending you a kiss across continents and oceans. With much love B. B.
»I.
Duino, near Trieste, is probably the castle owned by Alexander, prince of Thurn and Taxis.
Paris Sept. 14, 1905 Why, oh why, am I not hearing from you? What I have done to merit your utter forgetfulness I know not. I think of you so constantly, and with such affection-but one can not go on writing to a person who does not answer. And you doubtless have heaps to tell, for instance about the row between Robinson, and the trustees of the Museum. Only just now and very indirectly have I got echoes of it. Tell me all about it. I am sure you know all. The six weeks since I last wrote have been very pleasant for me. Four of them I spent at S. Moritz resting, really recovering health, and amusing myself. I made a new acquaintance who entertained and delighted me-the famous Parisian Mme. Greffulhe, 1 she who if the French were not so ignorant would be called the Mrs. Jack of Paris. I honestly prefer, and greatly, the original. Still where originals lack one must put up with copies-and even the copy was good enough. Since leaving S. Moritz Placci and I have been seeing something of Burgundy, both by rail and motor. I am quite mad about French towns, French medieval and Renaissance art, and French landscape, but above all about motoring in France. I arrived last night, and leave again the 19th to join Placci and his nephew at Chambery, whence we shall start motoring first thro' Piedmont, and then after a few days rest in Florence, thro' the Abruzzi. Have you heard that the poor Grazioli was nearly killed in her motor. Poor thing even inanimate things are turning against her. Do let me hear from you. Affectionately B.B. Countess Marie-Anatole-Louise-Elizabeth Greffulhe (b . I 860), nee princess of CaramanChimay. )) I.
Dear Berenson
Near the Catskills, N. Y September 29 [ 1905]
As I think of you, most of the time, I seem to be constantly writing to you! So sure am I too! that I always answer your letters. They are a joy to me. So you have got to Paris! I envy you there. In fact I envy you everywhere, and am burning to get over there and taste some of the fruit, so long forbidden to me. I am thinking and contriving to get to Europe next spring, but I must not speak of it-or it can't be done. Where will you be in April and May? And then in the summer and autumn? I want to know your proposed whereabouts so that I can see something of you both-I must include Mary, for I love her too. Your last love, the Greffulhe, and I have been writing to each other lately apropos of Roffredo Caetani's music. 1 I don't believe she is so real as I am! Oh! How I envy the motoring in France, in Italy, in any old place! This
is a delightful spot; I am stopping with some delightful people-very allround people. I must stop writing and speak to them. The weather is so perfect, we are all under the trees. My love to you both. Affy Isabella Âť r. Prince Roffredo Caetani ( l 871-1962), Italian composer.
Dear Friend,
[I Tatti] Oct. 16, 1905
It is very naughty of you not to write. Of course I love it that you think of me so often that you can forget whether you have or have not written. Yet I want more-I want to hear once in a while what you are doing, whom you are seeing, and what is exciting you. As I see almost no common acquaintances and am in correspondence with none, I have no news of you except what I get directly from you. So you really must not be so negligent. Your talking of coming abroad electrified me. Of course I shall do all in my power to arrange to see you as much as possible. Our plans are as yet in alternative condition. In April we may go to Greece, but not likelymore probably we shall be here and in May too. When you come you must stay with us. We can make you at least as comfortable as a hotel would. In June we shall probably be in England. There is a chance I may go to Alaska in July and Aug. in which case we should spend the autumn in America. But that again is not likely. More probably I shall spend July in Germany, and Aug. at St. Moritz, and Sept. in France. But I repeat I shall be more than happy to harmonize my plans with yours. We must see a great deal of you, and have a jolly time-that is to say if you still care for real sightseeing, real beauty, and real talk. If you do, then I can promise you a good deal. What fun it would be! We got home two days ago satiated with motoring and adventure. We enjoyed ourselves but I've had enough junketing for the present, and am so glad to get back to my permanent horizons, my books, and my writing. Change is lord of life. By Xmas I shall enjoy my trip south to Rome, Naples, etc. Do be good and dear, and tell me some gossip. Why has Robinson left the Art Museum, and why is Chalfin doing the same? Who is to take their place? Is Prichard going too? Then tell me what you have been buying of late? Is it true that since I saw you you have bought of Knoedler a Titian for $90,000, etc.? You have no idea of all I hear you're buying. If report were true you would be spending about $so,ooo,ooo a year on purchases. Well, I hope some of it is true, for it is great sport to spend money. Mary announces an intention of writing, so I warn you. With much love Affectionately B.B.
Green Hill Brookline, Mass. October 26 [1905]
Dear Berenson
I think I should write all the time if I thought I could give an account so interesting as the ones you get of me. Where do they come from? Not one single thing of any kind have I bought! As for a Titian-I haven't even heard of one! Your dear, dear letter has just come. I chewed it, with my coffee, a la Fletcher. 1 The cockles of my heart are warmed to bursting by it-that you and dear Mary should be glad to have me think of Europe. Oh, if if if-to see you both, be with you and look at pictures together, and then talk. Oh! This little house on Green Hill is more or less in turmoil. We are working hard to close it for the season and move to Fenway Court, that is to be open to the public for two weeks in November. Then I hope for a little rest. My beloved dog Kitty Wink had to be chloroformed because she was so very ill. It breaks my heart. My pleasant excitement is that Okakura has just returned from Japan. He has coine here from the train for 2 days, before starting for the winter. I fancy he found wonderful things for the Art Museum. He is to be there for the winter. That mess seems to be dying out. Robinson goes to Egypt for the winter, he says. In his letter of resignation he said "it was final." No one is thought of as a successor yet, but as he did absolutely nothing for 2 years, but appear, and the Museum work went on, as never before, under efficient go ahead hands, it will undoubtedly do the same indefinitely, until the Trustees decide on future things. Chalfin only stayed as long as he did, to tide them over. His own desire was to try for the art scholarship for Rome. He is specially studying for it now. The examinations are due very soon. Ross has had him as pupil all summer and thinks he must succeed as artist. Whether he gets the scholarship or no, he will study to be a painter. It is his heart's desire. I await Mary's letter without fear! My best love to you both. If we could meet! Yours Isabella
Night-thoughts in Fenway Court 2 The One, Alone and white. Shadows but wander In the lights that were, Lights but linger In the Shadows to be. The Moon White and alone. The Stars have dissolved
To make a crystal night. Fragrance floats Unseen by flowers, Echoes waft, Half answered by darkness. A shadow glides On the stairway of jade. Is it a moonbeam? Is it the One? In the Abode of Solitary Shadow-( this is what Fenway means in Japanese). Horace Fletcher (1849-1919), American nutritionist, attributed his health to thorough mastication and contributed Fletcherism and Fletcherize to the English language. Âť2. ISG included a copy of this poem, written for her by Okakura, in her letter. ÂťI.
Dear Lady Isabel,
[I Tatti] Nov. 9, 1905
Your delicious letter finds me still a laggard-with my pen only, for ever since you hinted that you might come abroad we have been eagerly talking of it and hoping for it, and we have said again and again to each other"Oh, we must show her this!" or "She must see that," among the treasures of the New Italy that the motor (alas not ours) is opening out for us. Two days ago we spent many hours talking of you with Mrs. George Gardner and her very intelligent daughter who positively adores you-as well she may!1 They are here in Florence for a week, and we had the pleasure of having them here to lunch on one of the rare days of sunshine of this wet autumn. They told us of your motor, and how you drive it better than any chauffeur-but of course yo'u would, that is what is so maddening about you! Mrs. Sears 2 is here also, living quite near, in a villa she has taken with Mrs. Nickerson. 3 There are two of your pictures which make her almost break the-which is it?-third? Commandment about coveting-your Fra Angelico, and your Degas. She cannot speak of them without a sigh. I went to the Academy with her the other day, but we found no Angelico to surpass yours. The other day a friend took us motoring to the little sanctuary church of San Vivaldo, where Mrs. Wharton's famous "discovery" of Della Robbias, which she has flourished before an astonished world, was made. The place is most lovely, a sunny little plateau hidden in the pine forest-but of course the terracottas have no more to do with any of the Della Rob bias than they have to do with St. Gaudens. They are crude, hideous local work, possibly by the traditional "Cecco di Gambassi," or possibly feeble attempts at sculpture by a certain Vincenzo Tamagni of San Gimignano, who cer370
tainly painted the backgrounds. 4 Mrs. Wharton, I think, had better stick to her novel-writing, which she does so well, and leave dull and pedantic problems of connoisseurship to people who (for their sins!) know something of the matter! Of course we are much excited and much mystified about the M.F.A. But you know much as we loathe casts, we did like Mr. Robinson, and so we drift about, unable to find out which side we are really on. B.B. is groaning in travail over his new book. The preliminary stages of all his b~st things are doleful litanies about being "finished," about having no ideas, about having lost his grasp-and so on. Yesterday he really felt that "All was Over": so I waited confidently, and at dinner he announced with modest pride that he hoped he had "done" Tura. His characterization will interest you in view of the admirable Tura you are lucky enough to possess. When I came to typewrite, this morning, what he had done, I found it extremely good, and I could see no trace of the dreaded falling off! We are gradually becoming imbued with "Fletcherian" principles, you will be amused to hear. You saved the seed, and Miss Gardner, the other day watered it, and it is springing up into a healthy plant. Carlo Placci was here the other day. He begs to be remembered to you, although he is sure you have for gotten him. Like all the many people whom you knew here, he dep1ores your having given up Europe! We should be so very happy, dear Friend, to have you come and stay with us, for whatever time suited you. Not in the Spanish but in the full Anglo-Saxon sense, our house is yours. May you soon enter it! With all good wishes from us both for a very amusing winter for you, and with our love, I am Yours devotedly, Mary Berenson » r. Esther Burnett Gardner (18 59-1954), who was married to ISG's nephew George, and her
daughter Catherine (1885-1987). »2. Sarah C. Choate (1858-1935) married]. Montgomery Sears of Boston in I 877 and began painting shortly afterward, although she is better known as a portrait photographer. »3. Possibly Mrs. Ellen Nickerson. »4. The terra-cottas are now attributed to Giovanni della Robbia.
My dear Friend,
[I Tatti] Dec. 14, 1905
I have not written to you for a long time, not that a day passed without my thinking of you but because all the writing in me went into a book. It was a book I hated to write, and should not have written except for much urging, and for its being a duty to do so, namely on the North Italian painters. I felt I had nothing to say about them, but it was necessary to get the series done. So after much groaning to put on steam I got started, and rushed thro' it. I have just finished, and instead of feeling any joy in a task done, I feel merely out of a job. But that is why I did not write. Indeed I should 371
have had little to send except messages of affection. Nothing has happened. The autumn with its perpetual hot rains passed quietly and rapidly. None of my Florentine friends were here, altho' once or twice we were enlivened by the visits of Bostonians. You will have heard from the Gardners whom we found so pleasant, the mother most sweet, and the girl most interesting. Mrs. Sears was here too, a simple, unaffected, unpretentious person. Now Mary is leaving for England, and after Xmas I dare say I shall go for a lark to Naples. I get so little news from Boston about the Museum, but I hear at last that both Robinson and Prichard are to leave. I am heartily sorry not only because they are both my friends but also because I think they will be hard to replace. Prichard I need not praise to you, but Robinson you do not esteem as I do. Say what you will, he is a scholar and a moderate man, and in the long run, considering the welter of amateurishness that pervades our Museum, such a director had his great uses. I hope you will be good and let me know what has happened. I dare say you have been hearing of the Rokeby Velasquez which is now in London for sale. 1 Ten years ago and repeatedly since I made every effort to induce the owner to part with it so that I might offer it to you, but he could not be induced. Now the increased taxes, and the depreciation of land have brought him low. But now I hope the National Gallery will get it so that I may be able to see it often, for I believe it is the finest Velasquez out of Madrid. I wonder what that one thing you speak of having bought recently is. Why don't you let a fellow know? I should be so grateful. I hope your prospects of coming over are brightening, and that we shall have the fun of seeing you here, and larking about with you. Good-bye, dearest Friend. Keep me warmly in your heart. May you have a Merry Xmas, and a Happy New Year. Most devotedly B.B. Âť l. Velasquez's Toilet of Venus went from the J. B. S. Morritt collection, Rokeby, Yorkshire, to
Thomas Agnew and Sons, London, in 1905. The National Art Collections Fund purchased and presented it to the National Gallery, London, in 1906.
Dear Friend,
[I Tatti] New Year's Day 1906
My best wishes to you, and may this auspicious day bring you every joy and every happiness. I hope you are coming here in the course of this new year, and that I shall have the fun not to say the pleasure of seeing a great deal of you. I am living here all by myself very quietly, resting, and too tired to care to see much of people. Mary has been away for over a fortnight and will be away as long again.
372
There is little news in the art world. I hear that Morgan whether for himself or for the Metropolitan Museum is treating for a so-called Raphael which was offered me repeatedly years ago . It would amuse me if it landed in N. Y. The Velasquez of which I wrote last is now likely to go to the National Gallery where, by rights, it belongs. Here there is for sale the best preserved Luca della Robbia, one of the few finest Madonnas it is-that that very very rare master ever did. I suppose tho' you are not at all in the running for it. Let me hear from you Affectionately B.B .
Dear Friend,
[I Tatti] Jan. r I, 1906
It does me good and warms my heart to have from you at last a real letter 1 telling me something about your interests and giving me some news. Viciisti 0 Isabella, thou hast conquered 0 Isabella, and now I shall be glad to see what you make of it for evidently the Museum lies prostrate palpably at your feet. I more than agree with you about separating entirely the art from the house-keeping guidance of a Museum. It is the confusion of the two which acted as one of the many reasons why despite efforts to make me do so, I never consented to stand for the Metropolitan. But you will be in a fix for an art director. Many thanks, 0 Lady of the Fenway, for Okakura's perfectly charming verses. If he still is near you please tell me what he thinks of Lafcadio Hearne's last book called Japan: An Attempt at Interpretation. 2 I am reading it with great interest, but I am eager to know what such an intellectual Jap as Okakura thinks of it. Miss Catherine Gardner put me off a little at first by reminding me a trifle of Miss Satie Fairchild's manner. 3 But that first impression wore off very quickly, and I was amazed at and delighted over her intelligence, altho' at times I wondered whether her mind was not in too excited a state. She left me rather anxious. But if she weathers the few coming years she will grow into a remarkable woman formed in a fine school, the second of that Aunt Belle whose name is on her lips at every instant. As you know already I have not gone to Naples. Altho' I am very fond 4 of Mrs. Harrison, love her father, and adore the Princess Candriano, I was afraid of the racket which is really excessive for my advanced age, my staid habits, and the great fatigue I have been feeling. On the whole I am glad that I remained here to rest. I have done a wondrous lot of reading , the kind you can do only when you have long evenings all to yourself. As a measure of hygiene I arranged to see some one almost every day. The Boston ladies have left. Mrs. Nickerson is certainly very attractive, but I seem to have lost the way between my heart and those-do they exist?-of my younger 373
countrywomen. Their manner seems to me too cordial to be inviting. I really feel more at home with the French and Italians, and have no fear of smashing things while we play together. And I confess the older I get the more engrossing do my intellectual interests grow on the one hand and my delight in playing with women on the other. If only you were accessible I should leave them all for you. Do not fear-altho' of course you do not really care-that I shall ever put any one above you. Please write soon. Ever affectionately B.B. »I. ISG's letter is missing.
»2. Lafcadio Hearne (1850-1904), writer, translator, and teacher in Japan whose best-known book was Japan: An Attempt at an Interpretation (New York, 1904). »4. Donna Maria, daughter of Ruffo, prince of Calabria, »3. Blair Fairchild's sister Sallie.
married Don Giuseppe, prince of Candriano .
Fenway Court Boston January 25, 1906 Poor, dear old man. Your letter has come, and strangely does not seem as feeble and dilapidated as your age seems to warrant. I am almost glad you are so far away, (but I am really not at all glad-just simply miserable because of it), for perhaps I should find out how much I dislike you, whereas, I seem to think I love you! Perhaps you know by now, that Randolph Coolidge1 (one of my husband's nephews) is made temporary director of the Art Museum. He took the place to bring peace, as all sides agreed on him. But I fear he will have to be very temporary as he has too much of his own work to attend to. The people I endorse have won out, but not my policy, for the trustees still think the director should look after the floor scrubbing! People do seem to hate me! Why? But it can't be helped, so must be endured. At any rate I shall always go straight for my own goal. Where will you both be during the summer and autumn? I am now hoping, striving and praying to get over there, but probably no chance whatever for the spring. But still I can't think of it aloud. Do get strong and well, so as to take care of me. Sarah Bernhardt is here, packing the houses and rightly. She is at her high-water mark. Great love to both of you. Mrs. Nickerson seems to me only half cooked! hushAffy Isabella Okakura probably does not go [for] all Lafcadio writes-but admires him surely. » r. Joseph Randolph Coolidge (1862-1928), Jack Gardner's nephew, was a prominent Boston
architect.
374
Dearest Friend,
[I Tatti] Febr. 7, 1906
I have just received a letter from the most fascinating woman in the wodd. Like Venus deserting Paphos she seems to have left her lovely seat in Fenway Court, and she now sits I am told high enthroned in a directorial chair in the crypt of an Art Temple in a town among the towns of far away Atlantis. Thence she writes as follows: "People do seem to hate me! Why?" . . . . . . "At any rate I shall always go straight to my own goal." So this Lady of the Fens knows after all why she is hated. Everybody is in the measure that he goes straight for his own goals because he is sure to spoil the fun of other people also amiably engaged in making for their own goal. When they are tripped up, they cry if they can't do more, and if they dare not even do that they hate. Alas, that is inevitable. Apparently Jesus Christ had his enemies, and so did St. Francis. Your enemies are one of the things that attach me to you. They make me think of mine-curse them!!! But-I am frightfully disappointed that you are not coming this spring. I am sure it is due to your girlish ardour in trying to put the crooked straight. You believe you can do something with the Art Museum. You can't. It was conceived by well meaning people, has been brought to birth, nursed, and fostered by them. And what can you expect from well meaning people but good intentions, and you know the ultimate fate of good intentions, as paving stones for a place perhaps not more absurd but presumably less well ventilated-I must add however, infinitely better managed than our artless Museum. In the summer we shall be in England and France, and Germany, and if you come over I will prostrate myself palpably before you. I am not as well as I should be, but still not so bad, and after all I enjoy much, my reading, my present pottering work, my walks, and a few people. I have not seen d' Annunuzio since he changed partners, but we are .. to meet again in a day or two. With all his faults he is a most enchanting talker. It is a treat to hear him speak Italian paralleled only by what it is to hear Montesquiou in French. D'A. has of course infinitely more genius. Shivering weather after such glowing days, but I like the bluster and cold. It reminds me of Boston. Ever affectionately B.B. Be a dear and write another real letter.
Dearest Friend,
[I Tatti] April 3, 1906
My plans are as nothing for if only you come I will drop everything for the fun of being with you. If you come to Paris in June I will join you there. At the end of Aug. I shall be at S. Moritz, but I would hie to you where ever you commanded me. At the end of Oct. the same. So there is no question 375
of illusion. Come, and it won't be my fault if you get the impression that there is anybody else in the wide world I would rather be with. We are having our winter now, but in milder form after all. Transients innumerable. J. T. Coolidge1 spent a night with us, and was perfectly charming. The Walter Gays 2 were here yesterday. All talked much of the Museum and of the candidates for a director. Now that you have brought it to this pass, the only sensible thing would be Prichard. I don't think they can get a man who would do as well. I have been working hard over my last book, but this month has to be given over to entertaining. At the end of it we start on our travels, North Italy, Austria, Germany, etc. Mary sends her love, and so do I. Ever affectionately B.B.
J.
Templeman Coolidge (1856-1945), author, artist, and trustee of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. Âť2. Walter Gay (1856-1937), Boston painter, studied painting in Paris. He traveled widely and maintained a residence in both cities . Gay married Matilda Travers in I 889 . ÂťI.
Dear friends
Fenway Court May 6, 1906
I fancy you have started on your spring movement. You will be somewhere quite still I hope the end of August. I shall (D. V) be in London at the very end of that month for a week, and if I could hope to see you both then, and a few pictures I should think myself a happy one! Do write me a little cheerful and inebriating word. I am putting Fenway Court into curl papers and then to bed. I shall not move to Brookline at all, but if I can let it, or in any way get some money I will go to Europe-I will (D. V )-but come home in November. Can I bring you with me? I am crazy to go, but yet awfully fearful. I count on seeing you both, and that dispels clouds. With love Yours Isabella S. Gardner
[I Tatti] Dear Friend,
May 20, 1906
I shall pray all summer whatever gods there be that nothing shall prevent your coming in the early autumn. We will give you the heartiest welcome, and do everything we can for your amusement. At all events you will not go away feeling that the Berensons were not beside themselves with delight in being with you. Our immediate plans are to stay here till about mid-June. Then Milan for a week or so, and Germany until the end of July, when Mary goes to England, and I to S. Mortiz. I hate Germany and hate to go there, but as I am not likely to love that barbarous land better I must go now if ever. It is a bore of a spring in the way of weather, almost perpetual down-
pours and cold. But Tuscany looks lush and green, and that is nice. I am becoming more and more of a motor-parasite. I suppose I shall scarcely ever be rich enough for a machine of my own. However,-there are so many things one must do without, and yet one lives, fairly happily too. The little dog will bark to see such fine sport, and the dish run away with the spoon at the joy of seeing you again. With much love B.B.
[I Tatti] May
Dear Lady Isabella,
20, 1906
Your news seems almost too good to be true: but as I regard you as a magician, I daresay, if you so will it, you will bring even the impossibly delightful to pass. No one could be more welcome to us than you will be: and we count upon you for giving us as much time as you can spare. We are lingering on here for a few weeks longer than we planned, partly because the weather is too cold and rainy for travelling, partly because we are behindhand with the necessary work for the 'Ramus's new book, 1 and partly to repair the ravages of a fire that we had in the house about a fortnight ago. We lost all our linen and lots of useful things, but no pictures or books-so it might have been much worse. It has made some confusion, however, and the house is smoke-begrimed and many of the walls ruined by the water and subsequent rains. Elsie de Wolfe talks of coming this week for a little visit, and I am going to try to make her comfortable-but I fear she will soon sigh for Paris and her exquisite little house there. But everything will be in order by the autumn, as nothing could make us so happy as to have you come and stay with us then-you fixing the date, for we shall hold ourselves entirely at your disposition. We both pray that nothing may interfere with your plans, and that not later than the end of August we may see you in London! Yours always devotedly, Mary Berenson ÂťI.
BB's new book was The North Italian Painters of the Renaissance (New York and London,
1907).
l
Dear Berenson
52 Beacon Street Boston May 26, 1906
I have heard (10 minutes ago) that your house was burned. What does it mean? What house? Not that Settignano darling? Do tell me. Perhaps you must write to care of Earing's London-D. V. I shall sail the end of June, and D. V., shall see you and Mary in August or September or October or November, and bring you both home with me! Hurrah boys! But if that darling house is gone, what will it mean? I am too distracted about it, and 377
my distraction of work to be able to get off, to think straight or to write a letter. So let me find at Earing's a letter from you, telling me everything, past present and future. Good bye now. Too hurried, only can send all my love. Yours Isabella
Dearest Friend,
[Venice] June 23, 1906
Is it true that this word is to reach you somewhere in Europe? I hope it is, altho' it seems too good to be credible. If you are on this side, it means that we shall meet before very long. And what fun that will be! Only please let me know as long ahead as you can when you wish me to join you, so that I may disturb other people's plans as little as possible. We are here for the day only to see some dear friends from Buffalo. Tomorrow we begin our tour thro' Austria and Germany. And as I am barely up from an influenza which nearly killed me, the doctor has ordered me a week of the mountains. This we shall spend just this side of Vienna at Semmering. The rest of July I shall have to take it easy, seeing that I seem incapable of any serious exertion. Since I last wrote we had a fortnight of motoring in the Abruzzi. For sheer beauty it knocks out the rest of Italy. You must tell me ten thousand things when we meet. In writing you are such a close, uncommunicating creature! With much love in which Mary joins me B.B.
Dearest Friend,
[Vienna] June 30, 1906
We got here early this morning, and found your note written just before you were sailing. How I hope you did sail, and that your crossing was as pleasant as possible, and that you now are happy to be on this side. But where, oh where are you? Please let a fellow know. After all one likes to be able to locate one's friends. My few days of pine-scented mountain air seem to have done me good, so that despite being up since 5 this morning I still feel fit. But Mary is down with a bad cold, and I fear influenza-however we began our campaign at once. We visited the Baron Tucher's collection1 in the forenoon, and after lunch went to the gallery. This is a really marvellous collection and not yet arranged as most other public collections on the postage stamp album principle. People here are very kind, but we sigh for the days of namelessness. Collectors, directors, etc. etc. are so much more fatiguing
than the things they have to show-you always excepted, but then you are unique. We remain here for about a week, but this is our headquarters for about a fortnight. We shall make excursions to Budapest, and Cracow and pay a visit to friends in Bohemia. Good luck. Amusez-vous bien. With much love from us both B.B. ÂťI.
Baron Tucher's collection in Vienna included a number of Italian pictures.
Dear friend,
Care Hottingner 3 8 rue de Provence Paris Ouly 1906]
I was too glad to get your letter, and know we are on the same continent. But I can't stand hearing of your illness. What does it mean? I got here, much belated by a broken screw, and am off for Spain. I like countries when Americans aren't in them. I am full of making preparations, and so can only send words of love. A great great desire to see you both. Let me know where you may be later, all September and the end of August. I am floating. Yours, Isabella
Dear Friend,
[Cracow] July 8, 1906
I was glad enough, as you may imagine, to hear that you were safe and sound, on this side. And I wonder where you are now? Where in Spain, and how you dare to encounter the terrific heat that is supposed to prevail there at this season. I hope you are standjng it well. But if you wished to avoid compatriots you should have come here. This is pretty well out of their beat. Indeed it scarcely is Europe any more. In the streets one hears nothing but Polish, and it seems to occur to nobody that other languages may be spoken. It is a fascinating town with a most picturesque castle, churches full of very precious works of art, stately palaces, and a marvellous museum, the least part of which are the pictures, yet among these is a lovely Raphael portrait, and another that most people believe Leonardo's. We return to Vienna tomorrow to excurse to Budapest, then Prague, Dresden, Berlin, Cassel, etc. etc. All very interesting, but so fatiguing. I look forward to a very quiet August at S. Moritz, and then in the very first days of Sept. where-ever you say. But London then will be so dull, everybody away, and nothing but the museums to see. With much love from us both B.B. 379
Grand Hotel de Paris Madrid July 9 [1906] Here I am now, dears. B.B.'s letter I found this very A.M. as I arrived by train from Southern Spain. So, so glad he is well. So, so sorry she is ill. I have had a nice little trip. All southern Spain cool and delicious. But the railway journey very bad and uncomfortable. The Prado has such wonders. They seem better and better, and worse and worse installed and cared for. My fingers itched to be made Director. I have said this before to you, as I think it every day! Before long I shall be in Paris. Proctor is with me and we go there to meet his mother. They both will be with me for a little, then they go back to America. After that I am free, and must, must, must manage somewhere, somehow, sometime to eat, drink the merry with you two. My address is permanently Baring Bros. Do write to me a little definitely, what your plans are and how we can best find a moment of your time free enough for me to fit into it. I love the things one can see. I do not love travelling. Have you solved the mystery? Can one see the things without the terrors of railways etc.? An all night journey in the train has made me tired and dizzy. Great love. A.ff Isabella
Dear Berenson
Paris July 19 [ 1906]
I am so glad you will be at Settignano in October for surely I shall be with you then and there, if only for a wee tiny visit. I have decided now pretty definitely to go to London about the end of August for ro days. And then I slowly want to get to Venice to meet Joe Smith Sept. 30. Then Italy, somewhere, then back to Paris and America. Between London and Venice if I can, I want to spend 2 or 3 days with friends at La Tour de Peilz, Suisse, 1 and a few days at Munich to hear the opera, if there is any. But what I do en route to Venice through September, depends on how I feel, for travelling is surely not for me! And the distances are too great for automobiles, to say nothing of the badness of the inns on the road. But it is good to know where you are and very bad to kno-vv about lumbago. My neuralgia, and heart make me afraid of St. Moritz. Goodbye now. I am really tired today and for no reason. A.ff Isabella Love to both. Âť r. ISG was going to stay with the Dwights. See ISG to BB, 17 August 1906.
Dearest Friend,
[St. Moritz] Aug. l, 1906
But where and when shall I see you?! (How I wish you were seeing with me the gold purple sunset on the mountains!) I am so afraid you will escape me, or that I shall have just a glimpse, while you devote yourself to peopk-I don't mean Proctor-whom you surely must see something of when at home. I am almost jealous. Can't you be masterful, and give me a rendez-vous, for at least a week in the earlier part of Sept? Is there nothing we could do together-no more cathedrals, no galleries. How I wish I were visiting the Loire chateaux with you, and all the great Gothic piles, instead of wasting time here! I always hate it on arrival. I am shocked by the first view of the intense town-life, the over-dressing, the over-gaiety. I am getting old, and always have had just a touch of the Puritan. Only worldliness brings it out. I smile at the pile of books I found waiting for me here, wonder how many will get read, and whether I shall be the wiser for having read them. Things fade, and fade. I still love beauty, and women, and thought, but am too inactive for much thought, and too hard to please in women. So I live with my eyes chiefly. But why am I boring you with this outpouring; I had no idea of inflicting it upon you, dear, dear Friend. Don't get lonely, and don't get tired, triumphant, imperial Isabella for ever B.B.
Dear friend
Hotel du Jardin des Tuileries 206, rue de Rivoli Paris Aug. 17 [ 1906]
As nearly as I can say I shall go to Berlin Sept. 2-stop there two days; then go to Geneva to meet the Dwights; 1 go with them for 2 days chez eux, then to Milan, which will be about Sept. 9th. It would be perfect if you could be there, show me a few things and together we might go to Turin for a look at Rameses II. 2 Then I go to 路venice, I fancy the only road is through Milan again-but that would give me a dear little glimpse of you-can it be? I am trying to find some way of getting over instead of through the Simplon. Proctor's mother arrives in a day or two, and he takes her to England etc, and then they sail for home. The mysterious and mystic Prichard is here. His 2 months vacation is absorbed by picture study. By the way, he showed me a most wonderful photograph. What can you tell me about the picture-a St. Sebastien in Bruxelles-arm over his head, tied to a tree, whose leaves are very finely painted. It looks like a picture in the Louvre called St. Sebastien, the Resurrection, and Ascension, ascribed to Memling. Are they both Memling, or
- - - . And here are two pictures in the Louvre: Le Christ mart, Ecole flamande no. 2203. (legs Sevene, I think) and Sainte Famille, No. 2I97with a basket, cover off, in one corner. Is it by the Master of the Death of Mary or . What a bore I am. With love yours Isabella Theodore Dwight (1846-1917), chief librarian of the Boston Public Library, 1892-94, and »2 . The Museo Egizio, Turin, holds a large seated figure of Ramses II, ca. his wife, Sally. 1290 B.C., from Karnak. »I.
Dear friend
Hotel du Jardin des Tuileries 206, rue de Rivoli Paris August 25, I906
Fancy you being in Paris, and going back to Milan to see me! My plans are now definite to the point of tickets and trains and inns. I leave here at IO pm Monday September 3 for Berlin-get there, stop two days-get to Tour de Peilz September 8. Spend Sunday and Monday and get to Milan I am (this with the biggest kind of D. V) September IO. If you can brave trains and the Lord knows what, to meet me there, let me know that I may dream of it. Then I go to Venice. If you get to Paris September I, can I not see you here for one moment? They told me at Versailles 1 that you were coming, and I contradicted them flat! I now eat my words, with no appetite. Affy Isabella » l. Elsie de Wolfe and Bessie Marbury, at the Villa Trianon, Versailles.
Dearest Friend,
[St. Moritz] Aug. 26, I906
I am curious to know how at Versailles they had heard that I was coming. I wrote to no one-and am not coming. I am not as well as I should be, and so, much as I regret not seeing my friends near Paris, I am going to avoid fatigue and excitement, remain here till the 3d of Sept., and then go down to the Lakes for a day or two, and then perhaps to some dear friends by the sea (at Nervi) until I meet you. I want to be in fair form for that great event, and I should be little more than a rag, if I did all that I had planned to do about Paris. I hope you too won't be too done up with all your knocking about, so that we can have the time of our lives alone together. Please let me know your address at Berlin, and more important still the exact address of the Dwights, so that we can exchange telegrams if need be. I will let you know all mine before you leave Paris. At Milan I always stay at the Cavour. It is the only hotel, and I hope you will come there too. Yours with warmest affection B.B.
Dear Friend,
[Lake Como] Sept. 6, [190]6
I left St. Moritz yesterday with the Rudinis and joined the Laboucheres and other friends here. Tomorrow I go to Nervi, and shall remain there till the early morning of the I I th, getting to Milan at noon of the same day. If there is any change in your plans please wire to Casa Gropallo Nervi (Genova). If you have not already written to the Hotel Cavour for rooms on the 11th, please wire at once, as Milan is frightfully crowded at present. I hope your endless journeys are not exhausting you, and that I shall find you trim at Milan. With kind remembrances to your hosts With most delightful anticipations B.B.
[Milan] Sept. 18, 1906 I hope, dearest Friend, your journey was not more awful than it threatened to be, that your travelling companions were not too disgusting, and your train not too many hours late. At all events at this minute you must be waking in the cloistered peace and palatial luxury of the Barbaro-and that is something. May Venice be propitious unto you and kind as she always has been hitherto. Yesterday afternoon Placci went with me to Arona. 1 We enjoyed the colour of the place and the pictures, but returned just in time for Carlo to miss his train to Bologna. So to put in the hours before the next started we went to the Papafavas 2 and found her entouree as usual. Torlonia, Brazza, Claude Seyssel, 3 Oldofredi4 etc. Just as she was, in butterfly coiffure and cape, she came out with us in the Galleria where even by day a lady scarcely puts her foot. It is so Continental-or is it universally woman?-to enjoy in safety being taken for a cocotte. I enclose a note from Mary [now missing], the last paragraph of which may interest you. Please return it, addressing me to Mombello, Cernusco-Merate Linea Milano-Lecco. Now I must tub, dress, and rush for the train to Lodi. Yours-much more than ever B. B.
Arona is on Lake Maggiore. »2 . Countess Maria Papafava, wife of Count Francesco Papafava. »3. Claude Seyssel-Asnari (b . 1874) was the marquis of Aix. »4. Giulo-Luigi, Count Oldofredi (b . 1837). »I.
Dear friends
I Tatti San Martino A Mensola Settignano October 10 [1906]
I am back again from town, and must dress for the dinner with Mary Watson. But my very first act must be to say a word to you two. My heart was beating hard when I left you this morning at 1:30. I should have cried in another moment. You are such dear dear friends to me. My days here were wonderful-never to be forgotten. Joe Smith, thank the Lord, is the very best person to have here. He cares for me, is quiet and thoughtful and appreciates what it means to me your going away. It was so good of you to let him come here. I can speak of that; it is comparatively easy to thank you for that. But what can I say about all you have done for me? I send my love and kiss you both. May the operation be a great success. 1 Always a.ff yours Isabella » l. Karin Costelloe underwent numerous operations to try to correct her deafness. The oper-
ations were largely unsuccessful, and one of them resulted in the partial paralysis of one side of her face.
[Paris] Dear Friend,
Oct.
I
5, 1906
I am just leaving, and I wish to write you what I have learned regarding the Velasquez. The Brancaccios swear it could only be a misunderstanding that you had the impression they were willing to sell the Pope for I 50, ooo fr. She, poor woman, is clearly getting softening of the brain, and is pretty nearly incapable of saying what she means. She insisted still that she would take nothing for it under a million. But he who still has his wits about him is more amenable, and we agreed that he would sell for 500, ooo fr. ($100,000). At that price the picture would not be unreasonable. I looked at it at my leisure, and it profoundly impressed me. The Brancaccios thought perhaps you had wanted to buy their Philip which they would give for 150,000. They insisted on my addressing you a photo of it. 1 How sorry I was to leave you, I can not easily tell you. I hope you have had excellent weather. Here it has been bitter cold, but it seems brightening up again. Paris is ever so gay. Vanity Fair did its utmost last night at the Ritz, and everybody is here. I expect to find them all on my return.
If you have occasion to write address 20 Morpeth Mansions, Victoria Street, London S. W Have a good time, and keep a little affection for me B.B. Âť r. Prince Brancaccio's Philip portrait has not yet been identified .
Dear B.B.
Hotel Royal Rome October l 8 [ 1906]
I am more than glad to hear from you and have you drag a moment away from Vanity Fair to give to a letter to me. The Velasquez news is appalling. But I quite believe about the creeping paralysis, for there were moments when I saw her in Paris that the lady could remember nothing, and spoke in such a way that she seemed (as they say) to have a potato in her mouth. When you have seen the Velasquez in Spain, and have decided that this one is really truly, let me know and I will do all in my power to raise money, if you will do all in yours, to get the price down as low as possible. When I saw it in Paris, it seemed superb, but I don't even pretend to know! How did the Spanish journey go, and what turned up with you and your party. I am thinking today that the operation is over, and very soon I hope to hear that all went well. I could get no rooms at the Russie nor in V2 dozen other hotels, as none were in order for the winter. But here I am comfortable and we see sights. I have no news, but when we meet in Paris we can talk and you can tell me about the pretty ladies and the B[ rancaccio] Velasquez. Always yours Isabella
Hotel Royal Rome October 22 [1906]
It seems good news indeed, Mary dear, to hear that the operation was over and all going well. I rejoice with you all. Even B.B. and his ladies seem to be happy, so the goose hangs high even for him. I have had a day of great contrasts. I began by two heavenly hours in the forum with Boni. 1 His enthusiasm about Dante and the flowers he is planting, is as great, as that for the pagan monuments. He won my heart. And my day ended, after dark, with a visit to Merry del Val2 in the Borgia Rooms. 3 They looked their best, they were wonderfully lighted, and the whole thing was middle ages and mystery. Great dark walls, Swiss guards, black priests, and his Eminence, with many red splashes by way of cap, sash, etc. Indeed the very opposite of the morning with Boni. The motor drive here was very wonderful, and the end tragic, but we
are all alive and well, and I will tell the story when we meet. 4 Don't forget, that is to be in Paris in November. Great love now from Yours Isabella »I. Giacomo Boni (1859-1925), Italian architect and archaeologist, known for his restoration of the Doge's Palace and the San Marco campanile. »2. Cardinal Merry del Val (1865-1929), secretary of state under Pope Pius X. » 3. See BB to ISG, 17 November l90I. »4. There is no information on this incident.
[Madrid] Oct.
Dear Isabella,
25 [ 1906]
We got here a couple of hours ago, and I hasten to thank you for your nice letter of the 18th. I wonder whether you found Sargent in Rome. I heard from Mrs. Crawshay 1 that he was to go there. Mrs. C. spoke most affectionately of you, and could recall nothing of any person she had sent to whom you had refused your door. As the post goes in a few minutes I must be brief. It is about the Velasquez Pope. The lowest possible price is 500,000 fr. I had to use strong language and much plain speaking to get them down to that. They assure me that Roger Fry, who has recently seen it will move heaven and earth to get the Metropolitan Museum to buy it, and that he suggested 600,000 as a fair price. All that I can not guarantee. But what I can tell you as a fact is that Mrs. Potter Palmer only waits for my approval of the picture to purchase it. Please keep this a secret. But I am in no way bound to her. Still I wish you to let me know whether you want to make the desperate effort to raise so big a sum, or whether you prefer to step aside. I want to lose as little time as possible. Of course I may conclude the picture tho' wonderful is not Velasquez. Sorry to have no time for gossip. Please address me here till the rst. Ever affectionately B.B. »I. Mary Crawshay, sister of Sir John Leslie, lived in Rome with her husband, Robert. ISG had befriended her in London in I 89 5.
Dearest Isabella,
Tuesday afternoon [Follows
25
[Paris] October 1906]
I have seen the Brancaccios, and their Velasquez Pope is yours. They suppose it is Mrs. P. P.'s. I told them I would return Friday at 9, to tell them what to do with the picture. So please think out just what you want done with it, ·and let me know before Friday. Or I can always come for half an hour-no, not always, but I could tomorrow, before ro a. m. What a whacker that Pope is! Yours B.B. 386
Dear Bibi
Hotel du Jardin des Tuileries 206, rue de Rivoli Paris November 15 [1906]
Why should I write to you at all, if you don't believe what I say! So, henceforth the least said the better. I am glad to know the girl [Karin] is getting on well, and that you and Mary will appear for a day or two soon-how soon? Here I see collections, and try to buy underclothes. I lunch and dine, the latter not so much, and really await you. His Holiness [Innocent X] is getting bored, so I have given 'him a crucifix to look at. Quite hopeless about you. Yours, Isabella
Dear Isabella,
[Kensington] Nov. 26, 1906
I am delighted that we are to see you again so soon. We must have many hours together, and with that in view I am keeping myself as free as possible. We are in such a rush here, and it is because of that that I forgot (!!!) to write and tell you the money has come. Your ears must have tingled pleasantly yesterday afternoon. I was at Lady Charley Beresford's, 1 and before she had found out that I knew you at all, she said the most charming things of you. Of course I discreetly joined in. There are two or three things I long to have you buy. The most fascinating is a picture by the "Maitre de Flemalle." 2 It is a gem of colour, surpassing any Northern primitif in that respect. And it has the additional interest of being a picture proving that the "Maitre de Flemalle" was a Frenchman. But prices are alas!-well, I am old fashioned. Is it true that Hyde is marrying Mlle. Garrick of the Franc_;ais? 3 I hear she has been taking leave of her gentlemen friends in preparation for matrimony. Of course I have a horrid cold. Pray for me. Mary will write at once, and meanwhile sends her love. Yours B.B. » r. Lady Charles Beresford, wife of Admiral Lord Charles Beresford.
»2. The painting by
the "Master of Flemalle" (Robert Campin), has not been identified. »3. James Hazen Hyde (b. r 878), wealthy francophile and expatriate New Yorker who lived in Paris . He was fascinated by theater and was famous for his parties, paid for out of his controlling interest in the Equitable Life Assurance Society. He married Martha Leishman in r9r3.
[London] [ 1906]
Dear Isabella,
I wonder what tricks you are up to. I told you I was going to find out whether you had bought the Ilchester Rembrandt. 1 The scandal regarding it almost rivals the Marlborough affair. It seems Ilchester sold the picture on the assurance it would not go to America. And he has heard that you said to somebody in Italy that you were stony broke because you had just bought his Rembrandt. Well, what do you think? It looks as if you had bought it-and I heartily congratulate you, for it is one of the crack pictures of that over-admired Dutchman. But I do trust the other persistent rumour is not true, namely that you also have bought Titian's Madruzzo. 2 It is the worst picture Titian ever laid his hands to, and I should be very sorry to have it join Europa. It would be a bull. London is foggy, and cold, but not exactly dreary. I am continuing my festive existence, and see many things. This afternoon I visited J. P. Morgan's house. It looks like a pawnbroker's shop for Croesuses. I do however like his Van Dyck Mrs. Balbi, and I love his Fragonard room. 3 Mary is agreeably engaged with the dentist. It is a great joy to be with her again. The child is getting on famously. How do you like your Pope now that you are joined in "holy padlock." From Monday on our address will be 36 Kensington Square, London W But I hope to hear from you before that. Affectionately B.B. » r. The earl of Ilchester sold his Rembrandt Self Portrait to Henry Clay Frick, through the dealer Knoedler, in 1906; it is now in the Frick Collection. »2 . The portrait, Cristofaro Ma-
druzzo, is now in the Museum of Fine Arts, Sao Paulo. »3. Van Dyck's portrait Marchesa Balbi is now in the National Gallery of Art. The Fragonard room is in the Frick Collection.
Paris November 27 [1906]
Dear Bibi
At last! Well, are they Hebrews? If not, I can bear it! You leave on the 6th Mary told me, so I am keeping Tuesday 4th and Wednesday 5th mornings for you! But perhaps you can run in for a few early 10 A.M. moments on Monday. I am engaged later that day, and if you can come Monday A. M. we can say "how d'ye" and make plans. I shall be glad to see you both. I am torn now, into shreds with last things here. Yesterday the B[ rancacci]s came to see me, and sat calmly in the same room with what she calls "the king"! 1 He's snugly tucked away in a box! So, keep on never mentioning me as owner, please. There is no use trying to write, there is too much confusion and work. Au revoir-love to both. Alf Isabella » r. "The king" is
Pope Innocent X .
Dear Mary
Hotel du Jardin Paris November 28 [ 1906]
My London address is 103 Sloane Street. I wrote to Bibi Ramus yesterday, saying that as you were flying south on the 6th I was keeping the 4th and 5th as days to play with him in, and then fond and affectionate adieux to you both, my very dears. The Lord only knows when I arrive in London, so you shall not even think of meeting me. There will be someone to look after me and lodge me at Mrs. Higginson's. So I shall hope for glimpses Monday A. M. early to say how glad I am to see you both again. Au revoir Yours Isabella 6:30 P.M. I have just seen Salomon R[einach], and we naturally talked of you! He is really a darling. I hear Mary [Crawshay] is in London. Do make me see her.
Dear Isabella,
Dec.
l
[Paris] 4, l 906
We had the most horrible crossing I can remember and as if that was not bad enough, they kept us outside the port in a raging sea for half an hour before allowing us to enter. I am still upset with it. I hope my sufferings and merits will go towards tranquilizing your passage across the Atlantic. My best wishes go with you not only for this journey, but for your speedy return. We went to see Spiridon, 1 and he was full of you and showed us a Ribera which he reported your telling hi1n would just suit the Boston Museum. He, poor man, did not appreciate the subtle irony of your words. We saw the Levi room too. It is lovely. This afternoon we are going to see Baron Schlichting's things. 2 We dined with Reinach who talked of you, and wanted Mary to write a book on Perugino's nose. Saw Perry too who had heard from Reinach that we were here. I hope your last days have been delightful au crescendo. Now that you see how easy it is to be here and how welcome everybody makes you, I hope you will come often. Write directly you are over, and take my best greetings for a Merry Xmas. Yours as it was in the beginning, is now and ever shall be B.B. Âť l. Joseph Spiridon, French art collector whose collection was sold in 1929 at auction in Berlin. Âť2. Baron de Schlichting's collection was given to the Louvre in 1914.
Merry Xmas and Happy New Year Dear Berenson
103 Sloane Street, S. W London December l 5 [ l 906]
Just off, so a word of affectionate greeting and adieu . All has gone as usualonly one blow! Yesterday I lunched at Rosenheim's, 1 a dear man and delightful things. But he said to Fitzhenry, "Have you taken Mrs. Gardner to Dowdeswell?" "No, she hadn't time." "Tant mieux, she might have been tempted to buy that bust. 2 Dowdeswell calls it Verrocchio-Nonsense! and he asks an enormous price. It is not worth more than two thousand pounds!" I said nothing. Isn't it sad? I do always seem to be done! And for everything I have made the record prices, when I, of all others, can't afford it. I could cry. I keep speaking to Duveen about my picture, which he keeps knocking about and shows to everyone, and he has postponed sending it. 3 Do you think I shall ever get it? It is another bad day, and I go, sad and depressed, but with love to you both. Yours Isabella Maurice Rosenheim of Paris, a picture dealer. »2 . The marble bust of Raffaello Riario, Cardinal Sansoni, is a version of the terra-cotta by Benedetto da Maiano in the Staatliche Museum, East Berlin. It appears to be the work of a Roman sculptor from the early sixteenth century. »3. Bermejo's Santa Engracia was received in 1908 . Fernand Robert, ISG's agent in Paris, sent the painting to Duveen Brothers in December 1906, presumably for shipment to the United States. » r.
[Letter fragment]
[I Tatti] [December 1906]
pily I have had other objects in view. But it does seem hard to have Fitz Henry preferred to me by-you. Allons done . Be a good girl, and write a gracious word. When we meet before the great white throne you will know how I have deserved it. In my warm, comfortable bed this morning, I was thinking of you with so much affection and wishing you were safe at home. You will be when you read this, and have forgotten the beastliness of the journey. Italy is more delightful as sunshine and landscape than ever, and its people viler. Of friends I have only seen Placci as yet, and unexpectedly the Brancaccios. She was less muddle-headed than usual, and as Placci was there she could not confuse the Pope and King. I have got to work already on preparing my North Italians for the press. We mean to be as quiet as possible, working hard until the end of Febr. when we go to Naples. Then more work until the Spring inrush of friends and acquaintances. 390
With real love-it is rare and should not be questioned, -and best wishes for a Happy New Year Most affectionately B.B.
Dears,
Fenway Court Christmas Day 1906
I cannot let the day pass without a word of affection and Christmas greeting to you both. I am at home again. Things and people are everywhere and overpoweringly kind. Even the dogs are wild about me! So I try to forget what a blow it is that my possible days with you two are over for the present. But when will you come? It must be soon. The midnight service last night (the usual Christmas Eve Mass) in my little chapel here was beautiful and emotioning! It is a white Christmas; everything drifting in a white symphony. My love and best wishes for the New Year. Alfy Isabella Did I give you one of my book catalogues? 1 Âť r. A Choice of Books, written by ISG on her collection and published by Merrymount Press,
Boston, in 1906.
Dear Bibi
Fenway Court December 3 l, 1906
The last day of this good old year must take a word of affection and good wishes to you both, my very dear friends. I have a letter this minute from you. Thank you for all the loving words. Were you both only here! Ross came yesterday and told me in March he will be in Florence, painting! So, he and you will rejoice together. By the way, you 'Ramus, it was not Fitzhenry who said one word about the Verrocchio. He was utterly silent, and never even pretended to know about sculpture or painting! It was Rosenheim. I surely wrote his name, not Fitzhenry's. And I thought you thought well of Rosenheim's taste and judgement! Tell me. I have been at home a week, and all is still confusion. Most affy yours Isabella
[I Tatti] New Year's, 1907 As usual, dear Isabella, I am addressing you the very first words I pen at the beginning of the year. May it be full of interest and cheer, and happiness for you, and may it bring us together again. 391
I read of your swift crossing, and I hope the excitement of the race helped you. Here there is no news. The weather has been for the most part delightful, people few. I saw the little Rudini several times during her short stay, and now every three days or so we see the Serristori. I am sorry you did not meet her. She is worth a host of fair women. Otherwise I have but a chronicle of work and reading. My North Italians will go to press in a few days. Of all the books I have been reading there is one you must read too-if indeed you do not know it already-Fielding Hall's, The Soul of a People .1 With much love from us both B.B. Love, Greetings and Best Wishes from Mary. [In her writing in the margin.] ÂťI.
The Soul of a People (London, 1898) , about the Burmese, by Harold Fielding-Hall (1859-
1917).
Dear Isabella,
[I Tatti] Jan. 5, 1907
Your letter written on Christmas Day has just come, and I send the warm thanks of both of us for the welcome remembrance. You have the Art of Friendship as no one I know! Don't we realize how everybody, down to the dogs, rejoiced to have you home again! I wonder how the Museum got on in your absence? When will the first stone of the new building be laid? 1 In the meantime you and the Metropolitan Museum are narrowing the market, for the supply of Velasquezes and Verrocchios is not inexhaustible! The 'Ramus has relapsed into his usual hibernation. He sleeps fifteen hours out of the twenty four (he says he reads!), and very languidly and with many groans he comes and works with me three hours every morning, getting the Lists of Pictures ready for his new book. Sometimes the Countess Serristori comes up to talk, and then he nobly smothers his yawns , and sometimes the dear Hapgoods 2 come over to dine. Mrs. Ross is still raving about you-you have left something on the slopes of Settignano in the hearts of the dwellers thereon. How do you do it? I tried to study your secret, and made many fruitful observations, but of course IT was not to be fathomed. If we only could come back this Spring. I should love it. Perhaps if we get our work done, we shall. But it will be to see you more than for any other reason! We both send, together and separately, our buonissimi auguri per il Nuovo Anno, and our love to the Lady whose presence gave us so much delight in the year that has just gone out. Devotedly yours, Mary No, we haven't had the Book Catalogue, but we should like it awfully! 392
» l . The n ew building was to be a ca rriage house. See BB to IS G, 4 M ay 1907. »2. Hu tchins Hap good (1 869-1944) , American writer and poet, and his w ife, N eith Boyce (1872-1951), also a writer, w ere long time friend s of the Berensons. Hutchins's brother, N orman, had been BB 's classmate at Harvard .
Dears
Fenway Court January 14 [ 1907]
January has gone galloping on and is half over. We have had nasty w eather, warm and melting, which means all the microbes alive and kicking! Alas very unhealthy-and there have been many prominent deaths! So that balls for the debutantes are fizzles rather. This morning we all rallied and went to a concert where Melba1 sang. She was simply "the only." I have never heard such limpid notes-never. We all tore home, lunched and w ent to another funeral! It is better if one can smile, otherwise we should have to go into a corner and howl. It is really too sad. I wonder if I ever shall see the Serristori. She is like the Will-o '-theWisp' dancing before me-ever. I shall give thanks when the new birth is accomplished-of the book, I mean. Keep good if you can, but at any rate, keep happy and love me Your own Isabella »I. Dame Nellie Melba (1861-193 l) , the famous Australian soprano coloratura, sang in Boston several times . She met ISG during the building of Fenway Court.
Dearest Isabella,
[I Tatti] Jan. 19, 1907
I wish I could believe you were having such golden weather as we are enjoying almost continually. Balm of Gilead, purest air, immobile trees. Almost it is heaven-and indeed it would be, if one were an angel. I am sure it is the angels by the way who make heaven and not vice versa. Time flows thro' one's fingers with a delicious motion but leaving little trace of its passage except wrinkles. We are very quiet, and yet I would gladly be quieter. I do not want people here. I get so much of them elsewhere that here I want myself, Mary, and books. Basta! If there is another I could desire, it is you in moods I have seen you in, the intimate, tender, esoteric Isabella, not the Mrs. Jack everybody has heard of. She too is fine , a stunner but I do not long for her in my idyll. I wonder have you read Fielding Hall's The Soul of a People. It is not a very recent book, and you may know it long ago. If not, let not the sun set on your ignorance of it. You will love it. We have been much excited by the 393
Disassociation of a Personality by Morton Prince, 1 a Boston doctor. I wish you would find out from W James 2 and others what they think about it. "Important if true." Then if you care for something both learned and amusing read Coulton's From St. Francis to Dante. 3 It is more or less the diary of a jolly friar of the time, and throws light on things. We remain here till about Febr. 12, then a week in Rome, and a fortnight in Naples, in preparation for our spring gaieties. Dear Isabella-very much yours B.B. »I. Morton Prince (1854-1929), Boston neurologist and psychologist, was a friend of ISG's . The Dissociation of a Personality was published in 1906. »2 . William James (1842-1910), American psychologist and philosopher, Harvard professor and brother of author Henry James. »3. George Gordon Coulton (1858-1947), English historian, published From St . Francis to Dante: Translations from the Chronicle of the Franciscan Salimbene (1221-1288) (2d rev. ed .) in 1907.
Dear Isabella,
[I Tatti] Febr. 3, 1907
It is quite a time since we have heard from you. What's up? You are all right I hope, larking, and busy. Let us know. As for us we were to have gone IO days ago to Naples for a heavenly time in the museums and churches, motoring to Paestum and Monte Cassino, and yachting in the bay. The day before starting Mary was taken ill with the shingles, and all prospects of fun were reversed. She is much better now, but much weakened. I had to go to Rome on business. Having the evening free I dined with Rembelinski1 who spoke with real pleasure of having met you in Paris. Dreyfus has been here and lunched with us. So has Rosenheim of London. Both spoke of you in seemly style, but R. brought with him, nice tho' he is himself, the atmosphere of the London, dealer-collector-intriguing world that I loathe. Every day more and rriore people come, and presently it will be like a fair with no moment to one's self. But even that has its pleasant sides. Meanwhile I am trying to start a new book. I expect it to take me a long time, but yet I am impatient to get well started. Until then I have to grope and experiment and it is dreary, dispiriting work. It is to be on imaginative design. 2 Decidedly the most interesting book read in the last few weeks is Lafcadio Hearn's Life and Letters. 3 What an unhappy man, penniless, maimed, skinless, never wholly educated, and yet what an artist! The worst is he died when he was reaching maturity. The waste and pity of it. I have at last found a book on art that I can read. It is by a Dane named Julius Lange, 4 all about the representation of the human figure. Ever affectionately B.B. 394
» r. Count Rembelinski (d. 1909), Polish art collector. »2. This book was never published. »3. Elizabeth [Bisland] Wetmore, The Life and Letters ofLafcadio Hearn, 2 vols . (London, 1906). »4. Julius Hendrik Lange (1838-96), art critic and art historian. Die menschliche Gestalt in der Geschichte der Kunst . . . (Strasbourg, 1903) is a German translation of a Danish publication of 1869.
Dear Ladye,
[I Tatti] February 7, 1907
Not a day passes but we think of you, and you may congratulate yourself that we do not write to you every day! Not that there would be much to tell, for our winter life in Florence is of an uneventfulness p'assing imagination. Our only excitement is the post, and under the general decadence of Italy, that arrives with such irregularity that its mere coming is an event. Under the favouring quiet, the 'Ramus has begun another book, on Decorative Design, but he is still in travail over the first pages. The North Italians is all ready, but is waiting until a dispute with the publisher is settled. We are going to break the monotony by a fortnight visit to Naples, where we shall stay in that beautiful Villa, La Floridiana. B.B. is very devoted to our hostess, Mrs. Harrison, and I like her much better than I do certain elephantine Jewesses I could name! We shall try to get a glimpse of our radiant Gladys Deacon on our way down-but alas we hear little good of her. Your letter brought very good news about Mr. Ross. I am sure he will paint beautiful pictures here, and I hope we shall also have some Sante Conversazioni together. What does he think of your Pope [the painting]? Our friends the Hapgoods are getting ready to flit, alas. He is restless with a longing to "see life" in Paris, and she seems prepared to follow, a little vaguely, with her three babes, wherever he leads. We shall miss them. I heard Fenway Court was open again-how I wish we could see itbut much more you. Please give our regards to Mr. Proctor. I hope he is quite well. I should love to hear him play again. Yours always devotedly and affectionately, Mary
[I Tatti] March 7, I 907 But, dearest Ladye, we never have said a word to anybody about the Pope! We knew too well the iniquity that would happen if it got about. The secret 395
is safe: but I wonder when it will be revealed to an astonished world. Do let us know when the "right time" comes. I wonder if you know Dr. Morton Prince and "Miss Beauchamp," oh favored Being! I daresay you do, and have all sorts of an inside track. I wish he would bring out his promised second volume. And I daresay by this time you have talked with Hodgson's spirit, which seems still to concern itself with Psychical Society affairs. 1 How wonderful if it is true! The 'Ramus said he wrote to you the other day and gave you what he called our news-which is a tale of illness chiefly, and of difficulty in getting started on a new book. We are now expecting the Easter inroad of those large Jewish ladies, who want to take B.B. off on motor trips. If I am well enough, I shall take the occasion to go to England to see my daughters, who, for various reasons, cannot come out to me this vacation. We have been living so quietly that sometimes I feel as if we were reading our own biographies several centuries hence, through a mist of time and antiquity. I daresay centuries hence we shall still be admiring your achievements and activities in the astral body and the ethereal regions Hodgson tells of! Meantime, in the flesh, I am Yours devotedly and admiringly, Mary Âť r. Dr. Richard Hodgson (d. 1905), member of the Cambridge Society for Psychical Research,
was made a believer by the Boston medium Mrs . Piper and after his death held a conversation with a Professor Hyslop through Mrs. Piper. ISG was a member of the American Society for Psychical Research, which was founded by William James in I 884.
Dears
March r6 [ 1907]
I can't believe that I have not written often to you. Never have I had time for other letters, but you, I have snatched time to bore with pen and ink. rst I told you of Mrs. Hinton's success. 1 Later, her fist became too prominent for the critics. And then, I tried to tell you that it was Rosenheim and not Fitzhenry who was down on that Verrocchio Bust! But now every idea I have is swallowed up in the thought of Mary's illness. I am too, too sorry. She is such a cheerful patient soul. What has this dire malady done to her spirit? It is torture to the body (they tell me) and the very most depressing to the spirit. Do get well, dear, and revel in the blossoms and nightingales. I Tatti is good enough, if one is well. And I am glad to hear of the book you are thinking of, but no such hard work as before. I think you are both disobedient to me and therefore get ill! My winter has been one of very hard work, and great secrecy-(! have told the latter before) that must keep for a long time, so MUM is the word, about the Pope. Be sure. Do tell me Mary is well, and also the 'Ramus. Great love Isabella Âť r. Mrs. Hinton has not been identified.
Dear Isabella,
[I Tatti] Easter morning [ 1907]
All happiness to you on this day symbolizing the Resurrection of all our hopes and ideals! If only, without losing what one has gained since, one could take this day as one did as a child!!! Mary is in England where she went for a third operation on Karin. It has been successful, but it remains to be seen whether the child will recover her hearing. And I have had to entertain innumerable visitors, most of them people I am glad to see, but it is tiring, and so in a few days I am eloping in a motor with one of my lady-loves. 1 Indeed the spring promises to be taken up almost wholly with motoring in the Marches, Abruzzo, and Apulia. Which would be very nice, except that thereby my writing is stopped, and I have a conscience. It is as bad and useless as appendicitis. 1\1y mind is so free, I have no ambitions, no desire to far .figura, and no illusions about my work. I may be 5 minutes ahead of others, and what I do not do will be done soon enough by them. And yet I spoil all my fun, and ruin my health by grinding away at my desk. Really conscience is the most backward and irrational part of us. We have had ideal weather, hot days, and cool nights, and no rain at all. Of course it will pour when I go motoring. Devotedly and affectionately B.B. Âť l. Probably Aline, Lady Sassoon.
Dear 'Ramus B.B.
April 12 [1907] Friday
In 2 days I shall be another year older, so with all rapidity I write to thank you-for on Sunday I shall probably be old enough to know better than to write to you, when you are off motoring with the Hebrew. I am sure it must be she. Now, I am young enough not to mind, so I write to tell you what real pleasure it is to hear from you. But I am really grieved to know poor Karin has had to go through another operation, and that poor dear Mary has that trial to face. My love to them both, and real sympathy. The people that chatter and pass are diverting, and nearly always worthwhile for a short time. Mrs. Stuyv Fish has just left me. 1 She is electrifying Boston for a few days. Frankly, I delight in her, but then I seldom see her. Winter is clinging to us, and we are longing for spring. It will come bounding, and summer, soon enough. We never do things by halves. I hope to be in Brookline May l, and there I stay until November. Write to me often, and cheer and inebriate me. Love from Isabella Marion Graves Anthon Fish (1853-1915) was the wife of noted railroad, insurance, and bank executive Stuyvesant Fish and a prominent New York and Newport hostess. ÂťI.
397
Dear Isabella,
[I Tatti] April 26, 1907
I got back yesterday after a very sad and anxious month in London. Poor Karin had to have two operations, one of them very serious, and I fear a third is impending, which will probably put an end to her hearing, poor child. It may be even more serious still. She is coming here for it, with my sister and her doctor. I left her because I found my excellent nerves were threatening to play me false, and I felt I must be strong for what may come. She is so brave and cheerful, and never complains, and of course Youth is hopeful. But I have had to face the worst, and I find that in the Inevitable there is somehow a calm, that one's spirit finds a way of transforming a great sorrow into beauty. She has had l 8 very happy years, and much love has been given her. \Y/hat I am going to do before she comes is to explore Apulia in a motor with B.B. and Carlo Placci and the nice French nephew, Lucien Henraux. B.B. is making these art pilgrimages so fashionable that we are to be followed by two other motors, one with the Prince and Princess of Thurn and Taxis 1 and a German poet, the other with the Serristoris and a wild but fascinating Pole named Rembelinski. But I think some of our remote places will frighten them away! I missed the visit of the Hebrew, as you call her-and in fact, all the Easter visitors. I find the 'Ramus rather tired by them, and busy with the proofs of his book. Pierpont Morgan was here and bought all Prince Strozzi's 2 rags and tatters for 800,000 francs. He went to Brauer's and was struck by the Pollaiuolo shield. 3 When Brauer said you had admired it, he at once offered l 5, ooo pounds, and went up to 20,000-but Brauer would not sell it! The 'Ramus sends his best love (in which I join), and hopes you will enjoy your Spring as much as you have enjoyed your Winter. We haven't heard anything of Mr. Ross-I wonder where he is? Yours always devotedly, Mary Prince Alexander of Thurn and Taxis (1851-1939) and his wife, Princess Mary (18551934). »2. Prince Pietro Strozzi (b. 1855), owner of the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. »3. The leather shield portraying David was bought by P. A. B. Widener and is now in the National Gallery of Art, attributed to Castagno. »I.
[On the back of a postcard reproduced with the illustrations.] May 4, 1907 This is the real Altamura 1-delightful all the same. B.B. Mary Carlo Placci
L. Henraux
» l. This postcard is of the main gate in the town of Altamura, Italy. ISG copied its fa~ade on
her carriage house being built at this time. In an article written by BB and Logan Pearsall Smith for the Golden Urn) Altamura was the name of a fictitious monastery devoted to aesthetic
discussion. ISG's Altamura was a folly, a triple pun on the article, the town, and the high wall that surrounded her garden. (See R. Hadley, "Altamura: The Enigma," Fenway Court 1978 [1979]: 3 l-34.)
Dear Lady Isabella,
[Perugia] May 22, 1907
You have the real gift of sympathy-(besides lOO others!!)-and I thank you with all my heart for your letter about Karin. The child is with me now. The surgeon came out with her, and he says she is well at last, and we need have no more fear. Even her hearing may turn out to be fair. And she herself has returned to life so buoyant and radiant that it is a joy to watch her. My own health has rather suffered from this anxiety, and I shall have to take a "Cure" this summer while the 'Ramus is at St. Moritz. I have missed most of a wonderful trip he has had with Placci in Apulia and the Marches, but I met them here two days ago, and have been "doing" the Ex[hibition] for the Gazette des Beaux-Arts. It has been a wonderful Spring, and we hope to linger on another month, before going to London, where we shall be-at 2 Morpeth Terrace, S. W-till August. I have no news to tell you, as I've been too ill to see anyone, and B.B. has been motoring a month. So all I can do is to thank you again for your dear letter, and send my love. Affectionately yours , Mary Berenson
Dearest Isabella,
Monte Generoso June 26th [ 1907]
This is my 42nd birthday, and that seems to be a compelling reason for writing to you. I should be in London now, in the midst of high festivals, but after my motoring I was so ill, and enfeebled, that my doctor insisted on a week's complete rest in the mountains, and that is what we are here for, on a mountain side still in Italy altho' nominally Switzerland. We shall toddle about like middle-aged people in the birch and pine woods, see nobody, and bedull ourselves. That it seems is what I most need, for at I Tatti it was a constant procession of people. It made me haggard with fatigue, altho' many of them I enjoyed immensely. Most of all Denman Ross who simply exhaled goodness, and gentleness. I have by the way already read his book which is a most beautiful work of art. 1 The Joe Smiths came too, and them too I enjoyed. Mrs. J. S. I felt so grateful to for not talking art but plunging at once into Arabic and flatteringly telling me that she had got so much help from a suggestion of n1ine. J. S. I feel .is not quite himself with me. No fault of his I am sure, but I do not seem to be able to make him feel perfectly at ease with me. Chalfin appeared unexpectedly, had a swim in 399
the wonderful pool above the house and spent the evening, talking eloquently chiefly about Potter, whom he inspired me with an eagerness to know. But Potter too is, I fancy, shy of me. Of course in all these meetings you were in our midst, altho' not perfectly visible, and wished you would materialize. Fry burst in upon us one day looking dead tired. He had left Morgan for a day or two, Morgan and his Mrs. Douglas, and gave the most interesting account of them. It seems Morgan's desire now is to re-value the masterpieces of Italian art. The worst of it is he will succeed. The fact that he liked a picture will probably be remembered for years. Such are people. No critic, no connoisseur affects them. If Gladstone liked a book in the teeth of all people of taste the whole public read it. And the whole public will go to see a picture that Morgan's nose has coruscated over approvingly. These by the way are my reflexions, not Fry's. Fry really admires Morgan very much-as doubtless should all of us if we only could. I suspect Volpi will try to sell you the portrait group of Mr. Mrs. and Master Sacrato. 2 It is not a Cossa, and scarcely worth about 50,000 fr. ($10,000). "To give instruction without introduction is not polite in society." Still, you can scarcely resent this verbum sap. Let us hear soon, addressing as usual to Baring Bros. Mary sends best love. Ever affectionately B.B. Denman Ross's A Theory of Pure Design (Boston, 1907). Âť2. Uberto de' Sacrati, His Wife, and Son Tommaso, then with the dealer Elia Volpi in Florence, is now in the Alte Pinakothek, Munich, as a work by Antonio Leonello (da Crevalcore). ÂťI.
Dear B.B. 'Ramus
Green Hill Brookline July 9, 1907
Your letter, perfectly delightful, came when I was indigo blue! But I was cheered by it-ever so-only I wasn't up to writing. You see, I ought to have Mary for a steady! as you do. That's what I need. So the sooner she appears, the better. I am farming, gardening etc. etc., and rereading books, by one Berenson, hence my gloom probably! I am laughing now, not to cry! Yes, Ross is delightful, and Potter, and Prichard and Chalfin et tout le tremblement. But as Europe has swallowed up all but Potter, what good are they to me? Tell me about Karin. A delicious cool rain is pattering down and the irises looking up. So I too shall cheer, but my letter will keep on being deadly! The wedding is over. Catherine Gardner, the chauffeuress, and engineeress has married the church-i. e. Boyer a Curate of the Church of the 400
Advent (high church Episcopal) and she is raving happy. 1 Everything else given up! That is the beginning and end of my news and so good bye. Love to you both. Cheer me. Affy Isabella I shall post the catalogue. 2 It is my choice of books, choice for many reasons-some in sentiment-others for merit. » r. Catherine Gardner married the Reverend Francis Buckner Boyer on 29 June 1907. They
were divorced in June 1922 .
»2 . ISG 's A Choice of Books .
Iffley Oxford Dear Isabella,
July
21,
'07
I returned from a motor trip yesterday, and met Mary in the train down here to spend Sunday with her people who have a delightful house by the dear old church whose bells even now are singing. Mary handed me your letter which I read with pleasure. I am delighted to hear of Catherine Gardner's marriage. Please give her our heartiest congratulations . We remember her with pleasure and look forward to seeing her again. Poor Mary could scarcely sit up when I met her yesterday. She had just passed three quarters of an hour under chloroform while they were taking a weeping sinew out of her hand. Two days before Karin's ear was again operated, and we are now prepared if not resigned for her deafness. She has however such resource, such innate jolliness, that I am convinced she will be happy despite drawbacks. Meanwhile I was motoring in search of pictures in great houses. By way of Italians I found little, altho' that little includes a hitherto unheard of Masaccio, but English pictures galore, and superb Van Dycks. You have, by the way, already heard no doubt of the Cattaneo Van Dycks. 1 The Colnaghis and Knoedler bought them together. They have sold the bust of the man to the National Gallery for £13,500. That gives you some measure of the prices. They expect Frick to pay them £100,000 for the Woman with the Umbrella, and I dare say they have sold it [to] him already, for it is ten days since I have been in town to stay. What most impressed me in my trip was the houses and park. Other countries once upon a time may have had their rivals. But now they are unique. What Italy had neither the wealth nor the moisture to realize, what her architects and landscape gardeners dreamt, what Claude Lorrain painted, that houses like Wentworth Woodhouse and Castle Howard have realized. You may find in them the faults inherent in all marriages of the arts, and miss the exquisite proportions of Italy or the dainty finish of France, but they do, these great English houses, embody a noble dream of stately yet happy existence. 401
The ten previous days spent in London were almost quiet. I was determined to avoid fatigue, and we have a peaceful little flat where I gladly returned to chat with Mary, and eat our simple food. I saw little or nothing 2 of your Hebrew darlings, and not much of anybody else except Mrs. Leslie and Mrs. Crawshay. Them I saw a good deal, and liked more and more. I return tomorrow to town, shall see these two ladies again, and a few others like them, and on Aug. l, I leave for S. Moritz while Mary remains here at Iffiey for the rest of the summer. At S. Moritz the Serristori and Gladys Deacon await me-I do not mean wait for me. Mrs. Canfield 3 will be there too, your Hebrew darlings, and others besides. But I long to settle down for quiet summers and we are thinking seriously of looking for a summer residence somewhere near here. If we do, you must come for a long stay, and if I am rich I shall hire a motor and take you about to see houses. They say in London that you bought the Gentile Bellini miniature. 4 Do be a dear, and tell me if it's so; why should I only remain in ignorance? 'Taint fair. With much love from us both Affectionately B.B. Three portraits were bought by P. A. B. Widener and are now in the Widener Collection, the National Gallery of Art: portraits of Marchesa Elena Grimaldi, wife of Marchese Nicola Catteneo (Woman with the Umbrella), her son, Filippo, and her daughter, Clelia. In 1907 the National Gallery, London, bought portraits of Marchese Giovanni Battista Cattaneo and Marchesa Nicola Cattaneo, but the condition of the paintings makes the identification questionable. (Gregory Martin, The Flemish School [London, 1970], pp . 55-56.) »2 . Leonie Jerome, Lady Leslie (b . 1858), wife of Sir John Leslie, sister of Winston Churchill's mother, and mother of author Shane Leslie. »3. Mrs. Canfield may be the wife of Richard Canfield (1855-1914), art collector and owner of fashionable gambling houses in New York, Saratoga Springs, and Newport. Whistler painted his portrait. (A. M. Young, M. MacDonald, R. Spencer, and H. Miles, The Paintings of James McNeill Whistler [New Haven and London, 1980], no . 547.) »4. Through the Swedish artist Anders Zorn (1860-1920), ISG bought the little pen and gouache drawing of a Turkish scribe. Once attributed to Gentile Bellini, it is now thought to be the work of Costanza da Ferrara. »I.
[London]
July Dear Isabella,
August
14, 1907
Directly I came here some eight days ago I went to Duveen's to find out how it stood with the Kann things. I found that the collection had been purchased by them, but was to come into their possession and announced to the public only on Aug. l. Meanwhile matters stood thus:J. P. Morgan, who never wanted the whole collection but some thirty of the pictures, advanced Duveen £400 , 000, on condition that he]. P. M. was allowed the first choice. Among the pictures he selected was the Cas-
402
tagno. 1 Duveen's told him they were very sorry but that that one picture had been reserved for you, in case you wanted it. J. P. M. was gruff and cross, and declared he could not understand why you should want a picture he was so keen about; but finally consented that the Castagno should be offered to you, and at the same time declared the hope you would not take it. I fervently hope you \vill take it. I must preface my further remarks by telling you that I now know for a fact that the Panshanger Raphael is not to be had for money. 2 As there is no other Raphael Madonna in view, and as Leonardos and Michelangelos are not to be had, I beg, and urge, and entreat you to spend some of the reserve of which you have frequently spoken to me, in making the purchase of the three pictures I am proposing now. These three pictures will add to your collection in such a way that it will be henceforth one of the most remarkable from the point of view of Florentine Paintings. The prices are not the top but absolutely the bottom ones, and it has taken much negotiation on my part to get them so low. Nevertheless to you who got such great things ten years ago for the prices you paid, the figures now asked will sound enormous. But the market has become fabulous. One of the Kann pictures, a Fragonard which was bought some six years ago for £3, ooo, has just been engaged to Mme. de Bearn for £22, ooo.3 I will not say the rise in Primitifi has been quite as absurd, but it has been enormous. Thus the van der Weyden Annunciation which I urged upon you for eleven or twelve thousand pounds has just been engaged to Morgan for £25,000. And in the course of our conversations Duveen assured me he is ready to pay you £30,000 cash down for the Chigi Botticelli. In view of these facts, the price asked for the Castagno is not unreasonable-and is at all events the price Morgan will pay, al tho' he will be taking so many other pictures. The price is £r r, 500 (eleven thousand five hundred pounds) or, delivered to you in Boston, free of all charges for £12, 500 (twelve thousand five hundred pounds). Remember, this is the grandest surviving work of one of the greatest figures in Italian art, and that it is an overwhelming masterpiece. I am confident that there are few things calculated to supplement your collection in a more magnificent way. To refresh your memory of it, Duveen is sending you the catalogue of the Kann collection where you will find it reproduced in the volume on the Primitifi, after the Benozzo, following p. 26. This Benozzo is the second of the pictures I am anxious to have you get. 4 The reproduction in the catalogue will remind you of what the origin-al is like. It is a fresh, beautiful, characteristic work, in an ideal state of preservation. It originally formed part of one of Bcnozzo's most splendid works, his National Gallery altarpiece. There is not a chance that anything so characteristic of the master will turn up again in our lifetimes; or if it
403
should, that it would sell at anything like the price of this one, high though that is. The price of the Kann one is £6,ooo (six thousand pounds) or delivered to you free in Boston for £6, 500 (six thousand five hundred pounds). And . now for something much greater, something on a level with the Castagno, if not grander still. To my mind, ever since I have known the Hainauer Collection, its masterpiece has been the profile of a lady by Antonio Pollaiuolo. 5 Through all these years it has been my dream and hope that this grand work of art would enter your collection. But nothing seemed less likely. Now it is perfectly feasible, and it depends on you to achieve it. I can not tell you how highly I prize this marvellous profile, the most vigorous, the most plastic, the most character-full in .existence, and the grandest achievement of the greatest draughtsmen of the whole Florentine school. All this you will see in the twc photographs that the Duveens are sending you. But the colour is no less marvellous, being jewel-like in its glory. Believe me, dear Isabella, wonderful as your collection is already, this Pollaiuolo, along with the Castagno, will yet lift it into a much higher plane of perfection. My twenty years of study have been vain, if I can not assure you that these two works will rank among the few highest achievements of Italian art, and shed an everlasting luster upon the collection to which they will belong. Of the Pollaiuolo the price delivered free in Boston will be £12,000 (twelve thousand pounds). This, as I know is £3,000 less than anyone else could get it for. If you take these three pictures, you will be spending £29, 500, or including all charges, and duties, £3 r, 500. I know it is a great deal of money, but you are not the least likely ever again to be called upon to spend such a sum so worthily, and so advantageously. The Castagno at all events will go to America even if you don't take it, for Morgan is very anxious to have it. The Benozzo will doubtless follow the same road. But you are the only person chez nous at present, who has the culture and the depth of taste to appreciate the Pollaiuolo at its full value. So I implore you not to fail to purchase that, whatever you do with the others. 'As for the payment there is no hurry. They assure me, the Duveens, that they will be happy to wait one year, two years, or even longer if you requue lt. So, please dear Isabella, do not let anything stand in the way to your putting the key-stone to the arch of your collection. But directly the sale is made public the Duveens will be besieged by buyers, and besides August is their great month for millionaire purchase. So they beg for as early an answer as possible, and I in turn beg you to decide and cable your decision. Address Berenson, Baring Bros. London. If you will take all, cable YEALL.
If you will take the Castagno and the Pollaiuolo, cable
YAGNOLO.
If you will take the Castagno and Benozzo cable YAGNOZO. If you will take the Pollaiuolo and the Benozzo, cable YOLOZO. If you will take only the Castagno, or the Pollaiuolo, or the Benozzo, cable Y AGNO, or YOLO, .or YOZO, and please be careful to make no mistakes in cabling, as that might entail either loss of what you wanted, or my engaging to take what you do not want. And God speed. I am in a fearful rush but not with Jewesses. Mrs. Crawshay by the way adores the Pollaiuolo. I see her most. On Aug. r, I expect to be at S. Moritz. With love from us both B.B.
To avoid error, I think you had better cable in full!! Just a line added by Mary to say that the photographs will be sent you from the N. Y. house and should reach you soon after this. And much love. [MB's writing.] The Portrait of a Man by Andrea del Castagno went from the Rodolphe Kann Collection, Paris, to]. P. Morgan, from Morgan to Andrew Mellon in 193 5, and is now in the National Gallery of Art. »2. Lord Cowper had two Raphael Madonnas; both were sold by his heir, Lady Desborough, to Duveen. The small Cowper Madonna went to P. A. B. Widener and the large to A. W. Mellon. »3. Fragonard's painting, The Swing, exists in two versions: one is »I.
in the Wallace collection; the other, formerly owned by Count Jean de Bearn, is now owned by the children of the marquis of Ganay. »4. The predella panel A Miracle of Saint Zenobius, by Benozzo Gozzoli, was sold to the Kaiser-Friedrich Museum, Berlin. »5. The profile portrait, A Woman in Green and Crimson, now ascribed to Piero del Pollaiuolo, was bought by Duveen Brothers from the Hainauer Collection and was sold to ISG .
Dear Berenson
Green Hill Brookline, Mass. August 26 [1907]
Woe is me! Why am I not Morgan or Frick? I am this moment back from Dublin, N. H., I find your letter about the pictures, also one from poor Swift. It seems the market has slumped and I am at the bottom. His letter was one of admonition and sympathy, and was left also as a good-bye. He has just gone for his yearly holiday and does not get back until Sept. ro. Owing to the state of affairs he can't take his usual month's vacation, but he will not be here until Sept. r o. So I can do nothing before that. As soon as the Kann Catalogue and the photographs come I will have the joy of seeing the wonderful things reproduced at least. I know there is no hope for all, so I shall put all my efforts to try for the Pollaiuolo, but may not be able-at any rate I can't know until Swift gets back. So I shall wire Nogno Nozzo, which will mean not the Castagno, not the Benozzo. I am almost afraid though to say this, for it may make confusion. I only want to have a chance at the Pollaiuolo when Swift comes back. I do hope I can get him. As soon as the photos come I will wire-I am wretched about it. Yours Isabella
P. S. What does it mean your letter is dated Aug. 14th-and you say you get to St. Moritz Aug. rst ? ? ? A long time ago I wrote to say I would like to buy the Gentile Bellini, and I have never heard a word since! You say I have bought it-I hope I have. I.S.G.
Dear Berenson,
Green Hill Brookline, Mass. August 30 [1907]
Already I have written you one letter about the Duveen pictures and here goes No. 2. Your letter was most delightful but really confusing. It was rst dated July 14, then changed to August 14. In it you say on Aug. rst "I expect to be at St. Moritz," and in another place you say, "As soon as the sale to Duveen is known, they will be besieged etc., and that August is their month for millionaires, etc." Well, the whole thing was publicly known here long before your letter arrived! It came last Saturday only! And today is Friday the 30th Aug.! I wrote to you instantly the state of the case here, which is that Swift is away for his vacation and does not return until Sept. roth. Without him I can know nothing. And alas, the market is deplorable-so that all my dreams will be pricked, I fear. I said in my rst letter that I must give up the Castagna and Benozzo, and make a fight for the Pollaiuolo, when Swift gets back. Last night the book and photographs arrived from Duveen, so today I am wiring to you, Berenson Baring Bros. London"Perhaps Castagna and Pollo-Will wire September tenth." That is I can't say yes or no until Swift comes, but I should like to have those two. If I can only have one, I want the Pollaiuolo, and if none, I must weep and put on ashes! What was the matter with your letter? So confusing about dates. Great loveYours Isabella
Dear Isabella,
[St. Moritz] Aug. 3 r, 1907
I have just received your cable, and but for the word "perhaps" it would rejoice my heart. For that organ of mine is set toward the enrichment of your collection by two such marvels as the Castagna and Pollaiuolo in question. Please do not lose out of sight the fact that apart from all questions of personal preference, no scholarly judgment can ever question the supremacy of two such masterpieces. Florence has never produced anything more characteristic and more expressive of its genius. So please be resolute and let no difficulty stop you. As I wrote you the payment can be made at your convenience, and you can take one or even two years to complete it.
Meanwhile I am writing to Duveen to hold on tight to these pictures until Sept. IO, when I hope you will cable me to clench the bargain. It was a desperate business I tell you to get the refusal of these pictures for you, and so you must not make il gran rifiuto which you would be doing if you did not seize this opportunity. I leave day after tomorrow to pay some visits in France and shall probably spend the latter half of Sept. in Paris. A year ago I was wild with the expectation of seeing you. I wish I could look forward now to all the delightful glimpses I had of you then. Mary herself seems better, but Karin's hearing seems hopeless. Ever affectionately B.B .
Dear Berenson
Beverly Massachusetts September I [ I907]
Still IO days before I can know about the pictures. Wouldn't it be fine if I could have the Castagno and the Pollaiuolo? But I must not even make day dreams about them. What I write to you about now is that Van Dyck I saw with you in London. Do you remember? The three young boys standing on the steps? One of the Genoa ones. 1 Who does it belong to? And could it be bought? Let me know please, with the appropriate price. It may come to nothingbut, and there really seems to be a but-I may be able to land a purchaser. As soon as he is sure I will hand him over to you, as the only way, only I must be sure he is on the hook. 2 So do let me know as soon as you can. Hastily yours Isabella Love to you both. Secrecy is the word-burn this. I am in the house of Dr. Morton Prince, who wrote that book! Van Dyck's portrait known as The Balbi Children, purchased by the second Earl Grey in 1842, was sold to the National Gallery, London, in 1985 by Baroness Lucas, a descendant. »2 . ISG's potential buyer was Henry C. Frick. See ISG to BB, 27 November 1907. »I.
Dear Berenson
Green Hill Brookline, Mass. September 9 [ I907]
Swift has just got back. Poor Soul-what a homecoming! I have done my best-had to [give] him your letter. In it you say, I can take two years to pay. So that makes it possible in the eyes of Swift. So I am cabling "Both Castagno and Pollaiuolo, pay gradually two years," which means that all will be paid up in two years. Please have them sent to me all duties and charges free, as you say in your letter, the Castagno £I2, 500 pounds, the
Pollaiuolo £12,000. Are you glad? I hope so. Will you put some flowers on my pauper grave? I am so glad. If they only get here soon! And when are you two coming? Alfy Isabella To whom _does Swift pay from time to time-Duveen? Probably nothing will be paid before January!
Dear Isabella,
Paris Sept. 20, l 907
Since receiving your cable nine days ago, I have wired and written, and written and wired to Duveen, and at last this morning I receive this enclosed. In the letter I wrote recommending the Pollaiuolo and Castagna, I told you that Duveen had said that Morgan was eager for the Castagna. I had of course every reason to suppose that when they allowed me to write to you about it, they had come to an arrangement with Morgan. I have no doubt they will pull it thro' somehow-unless indeed their obligations to Morgan are overwhelming. At all events I am using, have used, and shall use all the skill and authority I have to land the Castagna in your collection. I am much keener about it than you, for it is a picture I have longed for you to possess ever since it first came into the market-12 years ago. Inshallah it shall be yours, but if not-Allah is great and Mohammed is his prophet. By the way the price of the Castagna delivered free of duties is, as you will see I told you in my first letter £12,500. The Pollaiuolo is going to you by the next shipment. In the delivery of the Castagna there is bound to be delay anyhow, for none of the objects of the Kann Collection are to be delivered until the whole show is thrown open to the public, and that of course will take place only when the autumn is much further advanced. I will write again in a day or two. This is a note to explain the situation, scribbled off hastily to catch tomorrow's boat. Yours B.B.
Dear Isabella,
[Paris] Sept. 25, 1907
Just a word to tell you the Balbi Children by Van Dyck is absolutely not for sale. If your friend wants the Van Dyck of Van Dycks, the most glorious most majestic, most fascinating portrait ever painted, a person with a bottomless purse could have it. It is the pearl of the Cattaneo Van Dycks that have been making such. a row. The price asked IS £98,ooo-ninety-eight thousand pounds. As a very special favour I could have it delivered free of duty in the United States for £90,000-ninety thousand pounds. How I envy its future owner! The grandeur of the style, the delicious juiciness of the painting, the 408
matchless gorgeousness of the colour, and the endless beauty of the youthful great lady, Elena Grimaldi with the supple negro page holding the red umbrella over her, really ravish my senses. 1 If your friend will seriously entertain the idea of purchasing the picture, please cable to me to Settignano, YEDYK. I have just come from Versailles where I spent four heavenly days with Elsie and Bessie. How they spoil one! Mary is already in Florence. I join her in a week. Affectionately B.B. Âť r. See BB to ISG, 21 July 1907.
Dear B.B.
Green Hill Brookline, Mass. October 3 [1907]
Where are you now? I got your letter of Sept. 20 two days ago. What a funny set they are-those men like Duveen. According to your lst letter a propos of Castagna, they were making good with me by protestations of saying to Morgan, Mrs. Gardner has the cry etc. etc.!!! So I turn heaven and earth and lo, they pipe up another tune! ls it not better to let the whole thing (both pictures) slide, if it means having to do with double dealing always? My love to Karin. I think so much of the poor child. Fortunately she has become deaf at an age when the lip language will be easy for her to learn and she can remember how to speak. Do see to it that she practices and studies both. Mrs. Wheelwright here, speaks and understands perfectly. She lost her hearing when she was 7 years old. So the chances are better for Karin, who was older. The last chapter of the Gentile Bellini miniature has just taken place. Out of the clear sky comes notification that a drawing has arrived for me, where shall it be sent? So I say where, and it arrives two days ago. Such an adorable and exquisite thing. Zorn did this for me. It is joy and rapture. My love to you both. When will you be settled for the winter? It is pouring hard and most of the rain has got into the ink. But autumn has come and yesterday was one of those golden days. Always yours Isabella
Dearest Isabella,
[I Tatti] Oct. 18, 1907
Many thanks for your last, and all your kind advice abut Karin. Poor dear she is making a brave struggle, and everybody at Newnham is most awfully
kind. 1 As a matter of fact it is harder on Mary whom the worry and anxiety has all but broken down. She needs great care but unfortunately she is in the excitable condition which craves for more and more excitement. Cossa vorla! I got back 12 days ago, after many gaieties. Paris was too tempting for words. It was filling up with more and more of my cronies, and I was running out to stay with people in the country, but like a man of resolution I left on fixed date, paid three brief visits in Northern Italy, and came to settle down. Here also I found temptations, friends wishing me to join them here and there, but a really tempting invitation from Gladys D. to stay in Rome and explore the Campagna during these enchanting Oct. days. I dare say I should have succumbed but the day after my arrival, Rothenstein came to stay and paint my portrait. 2 Do you remember him? He says you bought one of his first pictures, and he recalls you with gratitude. I find sitting or rather standing dreadfully fatiguing, but Rothenstein is an extraordinarily interesting, serious, yet entertaining person. As for the Castagna, I suppose it is Fry (my own pupil naturally) who is urging Morgan to stand out for it. But I have strong hopes it will be yours. I worship the picture, which I saw again in Paris-and the Van Dyck, would my tongue could utter. Ever affectionately B.B. Âť r. Karin followed her sister to Newnham College, Cambridge.
Âť2. William Rothenstein
(1872-1945), English painter. The portrait is at I Tatti. In his autobiography, Men and Memories (193 l), Rothenstein writes that he met MB while he was spending the summer of 1894 at her mother's house and painting her sister Alys's portrait.
[I Tatti] Dear Isabella,
Oct.
27, 1907
Of course there is nothing in Mme. Faldo's Leonardos, Raphaels, etc. I do not know whether you have seen photographs of Van Dyck's Lady with the Umbrella (Elena Grimaldi). On the chance that you have not, I have asked to have a photo sent you. I believe it to be the most decorative, the most gorgeous, the grandest, and most distinguished portrait I have ever seen. Would it was now as it was of yore and I should not let you rest until you had bought it. NowI follow the panic in New York with fear and trembling for my wee ewe lamb. 1 How like you the new director of the Art Museum? 2 Tell me what he is like. Rothenstein is still at my portrait. I shall come out so so. As it is nearly in profile I can not tell whether it is a good likeness. But it looks the way I feel. But standing takes all my strength and I am eager to have him finish so as to be at my work. 410
What an autumn we are having! One golden day following upon another, as if summer would never cease. With love from us both Yours B.B. »I. The financial panic of 1907 was staved off by J. P. Morgan. The ewe lamb must be an investment. »2. Arthur Fairbanks (1864-1944), director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1907-25, and former professor of Greek archaeology at the University of Michigan.
October 28 [1907] Dear Berenson I am seizing a moment at my business office (Mr. Swift's) to send a greeting. My friend apropos of the Umbrella Van Dyck, has already had it offered to him delivered in America for that price, and he finds it too much. This money market is deplorable. The Pollaiuolo Lady has just appeared and it is delightfulissima, but-how about the Castagno? I don't care for people who sing differently, different days. Did you get my last? Are you all well? Affy with love to both, Yours Isabella
Green Hill Brookline, Mass. October 3 l [ 1907] All Halloween!
Dear 'Ramus Hurrah for your wonderful character, that withstands! Oh such G-D temptations. I do indeed remember Rothenstein. I always cared for his things, and his talent! very clever. Do let me know about the portrait. It will be interesting-you two! I told the young Duveen1 that it must be either both or neither, Polla-and Casta-or none. That "other ways" I would not have from dealers. Dear Mary-my love to her. If she comes over for a little visit to me, a Christian, and left you to your Hebrews! But both of you would be better. Do. Much love Isabella » r. Joseph Duveen (1869-1939) was knighted in 1919 and later created Baron Duveen of Milbank for his contributions to the museums of London. He succeeded his father and uncles in the business and quickly became the leading picture dealer on both sides of the Atlantic.
Green Hill Brookline, Mass. November 6 [ l 907 J Many, many thanks, dear B.B., for having them send me the photograph of the Umbrella Lady. I would indeed like to see her hung on my walls. I like Fairbanks, the director of our Art Museum. He seems to mean 411
well, he is nervous and perhaps too archaeological. But he does want to go slow and do right. Is Mary better? Send me a photograph of the Rothenstein Berenson. One hears the noise of everything hitting bottom. They come down with a thud! The golden days are those of the garden. Such weather-like paradise. If you were both here! Great love from Isabella
Dear Isabella,
[I Tatti] Nov. 7, 1907
I am glad to hear that you have received the Pollaiuolo and like it. I still hope you will get the Castagno. Duveen was going over to America to have it out with Morgan. From all accounts the great man must be far too busy to be approached by a Duveen. Morgan should be represented as buttressing up the tottering fabric of finance the way Giotto painted St. Francis holding up the falling Church with his shoulder. There is no doubt that ÂŁ90,000 is a huge sum of money, but I have never seen a picture more worth it than the Van Dyck Lady with the Umbrella. Whoever your friend is I urge him with all my heart and all my head to take it. How I hope that friend is yourself. We have had a rather sudden change from summer to autumn. Rothenstein has just left, satisfied with the portrait of me which he considers the best he has ever done. I will send you a photo of it. He took all my available energies, but now I am going to work on the revision of my "works." Neither of us is very well. If you want an enchanting book read Manucci's Storia do Mogor recently published in English. 1 It is as fascinating as the Arabian Nights. Much real love B.B. Âť r. Niccolo Manucci's Storia do Magar was published as Mogul India in r906-08 in London.
Dear Isabella,
[I Tatti] Nov. 16, 1907
I am glad you told the young Duveen you would not keep the Pollaiuolo if they could not give you the Castagno. But of course you will do nothing of the kind, for the Pollaiuolo is treasure trove, and why diminish your own collection to spite a dealer! But I need not talk of this, 0 Queen of Sheba, wiser than Solomon, but I must have a _heart to heart with you about Van Dyck's Elena Grimaldi. You have before this received the photographs. I assure you again it is the most gorgeous, the most triumphant, the most radiant portrait I ever have seen-I who probably have seen more than any other man now alive. It is 412
monumental in grandeur, regal in stateliness, sublime in style, and yet the loveliest, freshest, dewiest. Such a cheek, and such an eye, and then the lusciousness of the colour and the delicate melancholy of the landscape! It is the pearl of great price. It is the picture to crown a great collection with. It is a purchase to make the welkin ring, and to show to the whole world who knows when to spend and who not. Above all-I am for once going to be brutal-it is a picture that I should hate to see go into an American collection not your own. So don't you be such a D. F. as to persuade any friend to buy it. If you can't get it yourself, lie low, but don't prepare any body else's triumph over you. For matchless triumph it will be. This Van Dyck combines all the qualities, all that we connoisseurs and buongustai care for, with all that appeals to mere human nature. You must not scream either against the price or against your poverty. The price, £90, ooo delivered free in Boston is a large sum of money. I am doing my best to get a re_d uction of five or ten thousand pounds. I doubt whether I shall get it and we must not count on it. Assume then that we pay £90,000. But years ago when pictures were not selling at a quarter that they do now, you were eager to pay £so,ooo for Gainsboro's Blue Boy, a picture not to compare surely with the Elena Grimaldi. Last Dec. in London we saw together Van Dyck's Balbi Children. You liked it, and so did I enormously. But it is not under the same sky with the Elena Grimaldi, and yet I was assured that the lowest figure that would tempt the owner would be £60,000. In fact it was offered and refused. Clap the duty on that and you get very near the £90, ooo asked for the infinitely greater masterpiece. You who are a rational being will see that the price is really not so exorbitant. But the money, how to get the money! I know that you can raise it if you want to. Last Dec. you told me you had a sum laid away for the purchase of Raphaels, Michelangelos, etc., etc. Now Isabella I beg you to believe that there are no pictures by these masters to be had. I tell you and I know. The only real Raphael in private possession that I built hopes on, the Panshanger one is absolutely not for sale. What have I not done to get it for you, but all to no purpose. You can therefore believe that I love the Panshanger Raphael, yet if it were in the market today, I would urge you with every breath in me to let it go, and take the Van Dyck, for the Van Dyck is so incommeasurably the greater work of art. But Raphael is not to be had, and there is an end of it, and the Van Dyck is to be had. So gather your forces, gird up your loins, wring poor Swift dry, and crown yourself lady of hosts by acquiring the Elena Grimaldi. The owners of it have been asked to exhibit it at the London Old Masters, and are thinking seriously of doing so, as it would be a tremendous feather in their cap, and a great joy to the public. They probably will have given their promise to exhibit it before you can cable to me. But assume by impossible that you do not take the picture, and that it is exhibited in Bur413
lington House as yours-would not that be fun! Wouldn't the big dogs bark to see such fine sport, and would not the lions roar, and the nations murmur! Rothenstein has left, having finished my portrait. I will send you a photo of it soon, and you must tell me how you like it. Neith Hapgood is staying with us, Norman's sister-in-law, a lovely little lady who has the good taste to care for me. We are seeing that strange freak Ellen Terry's son Gordon Craig, 1 and trying to understand his mad schemes about the renovation of the theatre, and the elimination of all actors from the stage. Mary is beginning to be a trifle less jumpy, thanks to massage and a quieter life. Do be a dear and cable YELENA. Devotedly and affectionately B.B. Ellen Terry (1847-1928), the English actress whose son Edward Gordon Craig (18721966), an actor, stage designer, and producer, founded The Mask, a journal devoted to the art of the theater, in l 908. »I.
Dear Berenson
Fenway Court November 26 [ 1907]
I have struggled into town and have begun wearisome "open days." Yesterday they began in a downpour, and the house now looks like a mud puddle!!! By the way in your new book why did you not mention my Correggio? 1 Have you gone back on her, and by whom is she? Also that little picture we (you and I) bought in Venice, that you said was "Cossa," is that not Cossa? 2 We have had a great musical sensation in the performance by our orchestra here of Loeffler's Pagan Poem. 3 It was really tremendous. I am sending you a Programme book that tells about it. Roger Fry has been here for a few days. I told him you said that you and Mary were neither tip top well. He and I are very sorry. I dined with him last night at a little Italian restaurant. We drank your healths. Fancy having that delicious egg and strong drink mixture4 you first made me know en route for Siena years ago! 4 Great love to you both. Alfy Isabella A Girl Taking a Thorn from Her Foot, now catalogued as derived from Raphael, never appeared in any of BB's published lists. See BB to ISG, 29 November l 897. »2. Now catalogued as A Prayer before a Tomb by Cicognara, it was bought as by Cossa and was later attributed by BB to Scaletti (Italian Pictures of the Renaissance [Oxford, 1932]) but was not carried in his posthumous lists. »3. Loeffier's Pagan Poem was performed by the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1907 after a premiere at Fenway Court. »4. Possibly a zabaglione, made of egg and marsala. »I.
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Dear B.B.
Fenway Court November 27, 1907
Yours has just come. If only Mary were more than a "trifle better." Do take care. I laugh and I laugh to think of all you say about my getting the Van Dyck. It is not even to be dreamed of for me-and I don't think any American will buy it now. The times are really monstrously bad. My "friend" is Frick, and he won't think of it for that price. And he has got some fine things, and he is learning in every way. This is only a note. I am tired, struggling with the masses all day. Alfy Isabella Great love to both.
Dear Isabella,
[I Tatti] Dec. 8, 1907
MaTy and I as we read your last, could not believe it that we had omitted yours from my list of Correggios. You are right, and there is no accounting for it. Of course I have not gone back on it, and it will go in to the next edition. It is almost as bad as our failing once to include the Sistine Madonna among Raphael's works. Such things, alas! will happen. Tell me what is the picture you and I bought together at Venice. I can not recall it for the life of me. I vaguely remember something close to Cossa, and of that not the subject. It is a little your fault, because you never gave us the opportunity to stodgily take notes on your picture. I have had to rely on memory, and that is no longer what it was. So do forgive oversights. How I wish I had been there to hear Loeffier's Pagan Poem! You are in luck to have all that music. Here we are senza. I enclose a note received a couple of days ago from Duveen. They are under the greatest obligation to Morgan who seems to have financed their purchase of the Kann Collection. But as he probably does not believe a word they say, your writing that the Castagno was promised you long ago will no doubt make him yield. I can't imagine otherwise, and the picture is worth this slight effort on your part. Mary is really getting better, and I am recovering from a painful attack of something or other-which however has not prevented my thinking of you with pleasure and affection. With best wishes for a Merry Xmas B.B.
Dearest friends
Fenway Court December 2 l [ l 907]
Your Xmas greeting has just arrived. Don't worry about the pictures not mentioned. I don't care if they are all right. I thought perhaps you had
changed your mind. The little one you spoke of as a possible Cossa, represents a tomb in a church, with a man and woman nearby. It was called in Venice Petrarch and Laura. May the New Year be a most happy one for you and Mary. Think of all your Hebrews being "out of it" at Christmas! As to writing to Morgan-Oh no! Not I. If he doesn't believe a word Duveen says probably, as you put it-neither do I. Yesterday Senda and your mother came to the Symphony rehearsal and gave me the pleasure of seeing them. We are having an amusing good opera troupe here for 3 weeks. Dear old Maurel with his remnant of voice is simply colossal .1 Great love to you both. Isabella » r. Victor Maurel ( l 848-1923), French baritone .
Dearest Isabella,
[I Tatti] Dec. 22, r 907
Your last notes touched me very much. I can't tell you how I should love to see your splendid edifice crowned with the Elena Grimaldi. The more I think of this marvellous portrait, the more I am enraptured over it. But your collection will stand without it. We may between us have made one or two mistakes, but we have brought together masterpieces of a beauty, of a splendour, and of a harmony that nothing done in the last 20 years can touch. This is pretty universally granted, as you will see from the enclosed. 1 Our whopping piece of news is that we are buying our house. 2 Our landlord has lost his all at Montecarlo, we are getting the place at a very reasonable price, and happily a New Year friend has been found to lend the money. The first consequence of this security of not being turned out will be our coming home for a long visit next autumn and winter. It will be five years since our last visit, and this time I expect to enjoy you more than ever; for I am sure that I have never felt more devoted or cared more for you than I do now. Do you know Helleu-at least his work? 3 Degas calls him "le Watteau a vapeur," which is quite perfect. Said Helleu, Boldini, and Zorn are all coming here presently. Let me know what you think of my portrait which I sent a few days ago. Affectionately B.B. Best wishes for a Happy New Year » l. Enclosed was a clipping from the Times (London) of a book review of Noteworthy Paintings
in American Private Collections . »2. Villa I Tatti cost six thousand pounds. A loan was arranged through Henry White Cannon. »3. ISG had met Paul-Cesar Helleu (1859-1927)
416
through John Singer Sargent in Paris in l 892 and had bought a picture from him. There is no record of her meeting Boldini, an Italian portrait painter with an international reputation.
Dearest Isabella,
[I Tatti] New Year's Day 1908
Our best wishes to you for the coming year, and all the others in saeculum saeculorum! May it be a year of unparalleled delights and the increase of all JOys. Meanwhile Karin and I have been visited with the affliction of the Patriarch Job, and our patience has proved scarcely inferior to his. We are both much better, and now Mary is down with an epic cold. Karin is leaving in a few days with some friends who are going to motor her all the way to England. We shall be left to work. I am doing as much as possible, and enjoying it, for it calls to mind so many enchanting places and such deli. . c1ous expenences. I hear Prichard is wintering in Milan. Is that possible? Mrs. Molly Osgood Childers and her husband came the other day, and told me among other things that John Marshall, Ned Warren's friend, had married Ned's cousin Miss Bliss. 1 Poor Ned! With lots of love B.B. » r. John Marshall (1864-1937), a friend of Ned Warren's from Oxford, joined Warren at Lewes
House, where as secretary he was active in the search for classical antiquities. After he married, Marshall was hired as an agent for The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Dear friends
Fenway Court January 9 [ 1908]
All hail! What good news that I Tatti is yours, and that next autumn you will be here! I wish you could have been one of us Wednesday night. Two days before Ermete Novelli, 1 the actor, came to call and fell in love with my Music Room and vowed he must give a play there. It ended in his giving 2 plays, short delightful ones with his whole troupe. Everything done (invitations and preparations) in a 2 day's scamper. It really was perfection. Everything went together so well. Even the guests! As Grafton Cushing 2 said, "It was amazing! The Head of the Church (O'Connell), 3 The Head of the State (the governor), 4 and The Head of the Army (Lieut. Gen. Miles)." 5 And Wm. James and ambassadors and other celebrities galore, only you two wanting. Now I am going on to hear Louise6 in New York, but only for 2 days. My love to you both. Alfy Isabella Ermete Novelli (1851-1953), Italian actor, was known for playing Shakespearean roles. »2. Grafton Cushing (d. 1939), original trustee of the Gardner Museum, 1925-39. »3. William Henry O'Connell (1859-1944), archbishop of Boston, 1907, and cardinal, 191 r. »I.
417
»4. Curtis Guild (1860-1915) was governor of Massachusetts, 1906-08. »5. Nelson Appleton Miles (1839-1925). »6. Louise, by Gustave Charpentier (1860-1956), was first performed in New York at the Metropolitan Opera House on 3 January 1908.
Dear Lady Isabel,
[I Tatti] Jan. 12, 1908
Your delicious letter of New Year's greetings re.ached us two days ago, and made us very happy. We are so glad to think we shall see you again before 1908 has run its course. For we have bought this little place, and now feel we may safely leave it. And I am going to take Karin to one of the splendid lip-reading Institutes, probably the one at Northampton, and Ray is going to Bryn Mawr, 1 so there is every practical reason for our coming home again. And we are very homesick too, that is the strongest reason of all! After all, friends who speak one's own language and have one's own standards are dearer and nearer than these "foreigners" ever can be! I expect to come over early in September with the girls, and the 'Ramus will come later, if he finds something to amuse him for the interval. We are just off to Siena today, to correct our lists. For, this year, we are hard at work putting all we know into elaborate lists, and then I think we shall have done our duty by Italian art, and can enjoy other things, without any responsibility, for a few years. But it will be nice to come back to Boston again, to see you, first of all, and the marvellous Palace, and to hear the good music and listen to the amusing talk. Next autumn a very dear young friend of ours, Albert Spalding, 2 a violinist of 19, is going to play with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I hope you will know him-he's a delightful boy, as well as a great musician. We see a great deal of him here. He cares a good deal about pictures too. What ·charming New Year's festivities you describe. Certainly you know how to get the best out of life! We were so dull, we read in silence in the evening, and went early to bed. I felt it was inadequate, but we weren't in a festive mood. Bernhard had been quite ill, and I was awfully anxious about Karin. He and she are quite well again now, and life seems gayer, particularly in this flood of gorgeous Spring sunshine. All love and good wishes from us both to our great Lady. A.if. Mary Berenson » r. Ray Costelloe attended Bryn Mawr for the 1908-09 college year. (1888-1919), American violinist and composer.
»2. Albert Spalding
Fenway Court January 26 1908 Well, dear, it does seem too good to be true that you will be here (all of you) next September. What larks! The microbes are crawling up and down me and I have a bad cold, so not in a condition to write a letter. Only to say, how glad I am you are coming. Alleluia! The Archbishop [is] receiving the Pallium this week and there is to be a very grand ceremony. 1 We go a la Vatican, black veils, etc.! Great love to all. Yours Isabella Âť r. William Henry O'Connell received the pallium on 29 January 1908.
Dear Lady Isabel,
[I Tatti] Feb. 23, 1908
We read in the N. Y Herald that you have gone over to Rome: and we are prepared to sympathize either way, whether it is true news, or one of the many inventions about you of which the world is full! Two of our best friends-" Michael Field"-have just been received, and I am making them up a little portfolio with pictures of "The Five Joyful Mysteries" from the old Italian painters, chiefly Simone Martini and Fra Angelico. In this way even a heathen may be helpful! Today Spring has come. The 'Ramus (excellent name, of your invention!) and I have been walking about our "estate" with the Fattore, Ragioniere, Ingegnere and Maestro di Casa (all different individuals , living on us, on the principle of "big fleas have little fleas and smaller fleas to bite 'emand these again have smaller fleas-and so ad infinitem"), and inspecting one's cows and oxen with knowing looks of ignorance. I'm planting fruittrees everywhere, with a view to Spring blossoms: but I fear our agriculture is not very useful. Doubtless the Contadini will go on in the tradition of centuries, no matter what we advise. 1 I am just on the point of going to England to see my mother, who is ill, and to decide places for Karin, who ought, I think, to go at once to a lipreading institute, in case her hearing entirely gives out. There is hope it may not, but I feel she must be prepared. She is certainly going next autumn, but I may send her at once, if the doctors think well. The 'Ramus is going to Rome while I'm away, to finish his notes. He says he is going to see no one, but I hope he will see fair, foolish , wicked Gladys , who is busy spoiling her life in a hundred ways. Then comes a motor trip in Sicily with Placci and his nephew, then a fortnight in Venice with the Serristoris, then summer and then-America!
It is delightful to be really and truly going again-most of all, as I'm sure the 'Ramus has told you-to see you again. Love and devotion from us both-always- Mary Berenson I Tatti had several farms, and the farmers were under the supervision of superintendents who looked after such things as buildings, roads, and crops. ÂťI.
Dearest Isabella,
[Agrigento, Sicily] May 16, 1908
I have not been to Sicily since I was here with you ten years ago. So every place we visited together recalls our journey and the delightful days of the past. This place in particular. I remember how in the early morning we enjoyed the Rupe d' Atane, 1 and then the perfectly enchanting hours we spent at the Temples where I read Theocritus to you. Yesterday we arrived in two automobiles with Placci and his two nephews, and after passing thro' stern, African country along the sea which looked like blue enamel, we came at once in full sight of the Temples. We spent 4 hours there watching the changing lights and the sunsets from those divinely reasonable colonnades. This is the season to see Sicily in. It is a perfect paradise of gorgeous foliage and flowers, and intoxicating scents. I never could have conceived anything so delicious as this fragrant incense laden air. And it will be hard to believe once we have left it. Going in motor cars we go almost everywhere, and see almost everything. One has abundant surprises pleasing and otherwise. Among the former is an almost unknown great work by Antonello. Among the latter the pothouses and their charges. At Gela yesterday for eggs and fish for 7 people we were asked 76 francs, and had to pay 63. But it is all in the day's work, and we thoroughly enjoy it. Only if you were with us in the body as well as in the spirit. I wonder whether you are a ware, dear Friend of the greater part of my life, how infallibly you are in my heart when I am enjoying and feeling the most. Let me hear from you soon. B.B. Âť r. Rupe Atenea (the rock of Athena) is the high point in the city and, by tradition, the site of
a temple to the goddess.
Green Hill Brookline May 28, 1908 Please, please, always have me there in your heart, dear 'Ramus. Your Girgenti letter has just come. The you, and Theocritus morning I shall never forget. Do you remember a goatherd actually came with his goats and sat 420
under an old olive tree nearby. I am getting crazy with excitement at the autumn idea of you and Mary here. If you could smell the lilacs and dogwood now and see the wisteria! Oh! And summer weather and not.yet June! I don't have time to read, because I trot about with the gardeners. And the little monk's garden at Fenway Court is very dear too. Old Angelo of the Barbaro, Venezia, has died, 77 years old. And Mrs. Julia Ward Howe celebrates her 89th year!1 Which shall it be? I should like to live forever, if I were well. Okakura has gone, which I mourn daily. Great love to both from Isabella Julia Ward (Mrs. Samuel G.) Howe (r819-r9ro) was a leader of woman suffrage and international peace movements and wrote the words to "The Battle Hymn of the Republic." »I.
Dear Isabella,
[London] July 8, 1908
Just a word to tell you that I saw today at Agnew's, a perfect jewel of a little picture by Giovanni di Paolo of Siena. He is all the rage now because the collectors not only of paintings, but of objets d'art are after him, and paying long prices for him. He is almost the most delightful of the Sienese quattrocentisti, and I have never seen a picture of his more charming in feeling and purer in colour. Agnew is sending you a photo,* but don't think it gives you anything like an idea of the picture. The price is very reasonable, £450 (four hundred and fifty pounds) delivered to you free of all charges in Boston. I strongly urge you to get it, and in that case to lose no time cabling YEPAOLO, addressing Berenson 36 Victoria Street, London. In a fortnight John G. Johnson of Philadelphia will be here, and sure to snap it up. 1 I am keeping as quiet as possible, as I am not yet recovered from the Calabrian fatigue. But I expect to be all right by Oct., and if not, seeing you will make me so. Yours B.B. *The subject is Christ Among the Doctors. » r. ISG purchased Giovanni di Paolo's The Child Jesus Disputing in the Temple from Thomas
Agnew and Sons, London.
Dearest Isabella,
Oxford Aug. 2, '08
I am here spending the Aug. bank holiday in the bosom of Mary's family before taking flight for S. Moritz. For once it is radiant weather, and the clerk thereof must really be praised for his improving humanity. The house is delightfully comfortable, and in exquisite taste in the midst of broad lawns stretching down to the Thames. Mary and most others dive in two or three times a day. It is a jolly, soothing life. If only the air were not so 421
relaxing I should greatly prefer it to S. Moritz and your pet Jewesses. Your particular friend Mme. Lambert is to be there but not her sister. On the other hand I expect a fair number of Americans-and there always are surprises. I suppose you may have received the Giovanni di Paolo by this time. Is it not a darling, and such a bargain. As it turns out Agnew did not mean to sell it for anything like so little. By the way, I beg you to pay Messrs. Agnew directly (without passing thro' me): addressing them to 43 Old Bond Street, London W I am dying to have you buy another picture-"such a little one"-that I have just seen at Dowdeswell's. Nobody had seen it before me, so I made them reserve it for a fortnight until I had time to bring it to your attention. It is a perfect darling, quaint, "cunning" gem-like, jewel-colour, exquisite feeling, lovely pattern, and simply adorable landscape. Besides having many of the most attractive qualities of a Van Eyck or Roger van der Weyden of whose school and kind it is, it has much of the dainty whimsicality of a Crivelli. In brief you could not possibly for the price, which is only ÂŁ1,300 (thirteen hundred pounds), get anything more quintessentially characteristic of the most delightful Flemish primitifi. It was painted by Albert Bouts, one of the well known names of the period. 1 Take this if you can possibly manage it, and in that case cable "Berenson, Badruttcas, S. Moritz, Switzerland, YEBOUTs." So be it. Yours affectionately B.B. Âť 1. The picture by Albert Bouts has not been identified.
Dear 'Ramus
Green Hill Brookline August 17 [1908]
I have just got home from a visit to Eastern Point Gloucester, which I delight in. So a word to you has been delayed. The Giovanni di Paolo has come and is really beautiful-the frame ghastly new! I shall have to daub it over! The other alas no! I can't think of any way to manage it. I am now arranging for Swift to pay Agnew for the Paolo. What a joy it will be to see you and have you here. When do you arrive? What are your plans? I crave for details. So there are only one of your Hebrews Idols. What is more dangerous! Very best loveYours Isabella Your letter naming the Paolo price delivered here, does not agree with Agnew. 422
Dearest Isabella,
[St. Moritz] Aug. 23, '08
I was hungering for news of you, and now I get it with a vengeance. I do hope the report that you have had to pay such a fine is untrue or exaggerated. The irony of it-that you should be persecuted and mercilessly mulcted because you are at the greatest self sacrifice storing up art treasures for more appreciative generations of our countrymen. Here I am seeing an unusual deal of our countrywomen, and two of them at least seldom see me without speaking of you in the most flattering terms. They are Mrs. Ripley and Mrs. Perry Belmont. 1 Gladys Deacon and Mme. Greffulhe are also within hail. It has been and still is very gay, and I am enjoying my social annual outing. Presently we shall all be scattering, I to wander about in Germany, France, and perhaps even to Spain, until I sail end of Oct. How delighted I shall be to see you again-I am sure you know. Mary is in England with her own young men and women. She has recently been rubbed with the waters of youth; and grown young again as it were 18. She will tell you all about it soon. Ever affectionately B.B. Alva Smith (1853-1933), prominent Newport hostess and suffragist, was married first to William K . Vanderbilt and then to Oliver Hazard Perry Belmont (1858-1908), lawyer and former congressman. ÂťI.
My dear Isabella,
Court Place Iffiey, Oxford Aug. 23, 1908
I wonder if there is any chance of our seeing you as we pass through Boston, en route for Bryn Mawr, where my daughters are going to College? I should love to bring them out one afternoon, if I might. We are sailing from Antwerp on September lOth in a slow steamer of the Red Star Line called the Marquette, and we shall go for two days to the Berensons at l 5 Stockton Street, Dorchester. These two days should be September 23 and 24, and if you will send me a line there to tell me whether I may bring Ray and Karin to see you, I shall be most awfully grateful. The 'Ramus isn't coming until the end of October. He is now at St. Moritz, very gay as usual. He seems to have gone off his Hebrew friends a good deal, and I gather he sees more of Mrs. Cooper Hewitt 1 and Mrs. Ripley and Mme. Greffuhle (and Montesquiou) than anyone else. But his gay doings and strange friends seem so remote when I am in this quiet country place, surrounded by innocent and studious young English boys and girls, that I find it hard to realize that St. Moritz actually exists! Do you remember the pretty French dressing-sacque you gave me? It has been my delight for years, and last month I gave it to the Greek archae-
ologist, Miss Jane Harrison, 2 who was going in for an operation, and she wrote me it was "the prettiest thing she ever had"-which I quite believe! I am looking forward immensely to seeing you. If it can't be next month, then surely later, when the 'Ramus comes. Devotedly yours, Mary Berenson »I. Lucy Work Cooper Hewitt was the wife of Peter Cooper Hewitt (1861-1921), electrical engineer and inventor. »2. Jane Ellen Harrison (1850-1928), English classical scholar, was a lecturer in classical archaeology at Newnham College, Cambridge.
Dearest Isabella,
[St. Moritz] Aug. 29, '08
Just a word to say I am relieved to hear from you at last. I really could not imagine why I was not hearing from you. The price of the Giovanni di Paolo is £450. Pay that and it will be all right. It is less than they meant to ask, but I can hold them to their word. Here the gay season is just ending and I am going to stay on another fortnight, to take it quietly and restfully with the Serristori, Placci and one or two other friends. I have enjoyed the 3 weeks already spent here. It has been very gay, and yet not too boisterous. I have flocked more with the American crowd. Mrs. Ripley, Mrs. Perry Belmont, and others have frequently mentioned you. You will see Mary about Sept. 21 in Boston. I sail Oct. 17 and on landing shall go to Boston for a short visit to you and another to my mother. We shall probably spend most of Nov. at Bryn Mawr, Dec. in Boston, and January in New York. Oh, the beauty of the day! Never was rarer. I am going to spend it with Gladys Deacon on the glaciers. Don't be so naughty again, not writing for ever so long. Most affectionately B.B.
Green Hill Brookline, Mass. September 4, 1908 Well, what do you think of this country, dear friend? Here am I, forced to pay instanter $70,000! Most of it for a penalty, for which there is absolutely no reason. And that is only the beginning. They are holding over my head, an extra penalty $150,000, confiscation and imprisonment!!!1 So when you arrive in October I may be in jail! Otherwise I shall be here, longing for you. I have just got a word from Mary, which, to my delight, promises a speedy glimpse of her.
So, the Americans are now holding your fort! Well, well-I like them better than the Hebrews! How is Gladys? I am tired and weary and broken down with the accumulation of woes. Do hurry up and cheer me. Mary must give me some of her elixir, I need 1t. Love from Isabella » r. ISG paid a total of $150,000 in fines and duties after a friend living in London with wh·o m
she had stored works of art brought the works into the United States with her household possessions (supposedly without ISG's knowledge). Within a year the duty on importing works of art was removed.
Green Hill Brookline, Mass. September 8, 1908 8 A.M. This very moment, dear 'Ramus, comes your letter of the 27th [29th] August. I am so glad there are to be Glaciers about during your day with G. D.! 1 Let them do manwork. My summer has been such a very sad one that the less said about it the better. Poor Mrs. Perry Belmont! Do they speak to her at St. Moritz? Here they are obdurate. How I am looking forward to seeing you. If the golden autumn sun will only hold out! The Giovanni is paid for. As your sailing time gets nearer, do tell me the ship, also the hour of your arrival here! I am hoping to see Mary and the girls in a few days. I move to Fenway Court sometime in November, and count on you both there in December. No pleasant news from me, so I write nothing more but that I am A.ff yours Isabella » r. Gladys Deacon.
Dearest Isabella,
[New York] Dec. 2, 08
How are you-careless of mankind? A thought for me or about me? I have plenty for ypu and so has Mary. Well after a hideous journey,-a squealing new-born in the car-we got to a perfect haven of rest, and the most restful person in the world, to Mrs. Hewitt's at Tuxedo. 1 The first night only the Tams dined, perfectly charming people. 2 The next morning the Griswolds 3 arrived and stayed as long as we did. They are awfully good company, each in their way, and we had good talks and drives. We hobnobbed with Mortimers and Stanleys and
Norfolks, and Howards, or at least their Tuxedo equivalents-not such bad seconds to the English originals. We saw their chocolate, pistaccio and nugat houses. After all Huyler is a very great artist. The country was a dream of loveliness, such rhythmic horizons, such delicately bared trees, and such an exquisite milkiness in sky and water. Then into the jaws of-The Blue Mouse Clyde Fitch's new play 4 led thither by Elsie and Bessie. It made me so sick that I had a horrible fit of the blues from which I recovered only last night seated between the exquisite shoulders of Mrs. Ronalds and the sunny charms of Miss del Monte. In the day I saw Robinson at the Metropolitan show. He seemed happy and contented. Saw Bryson Burroughs too. 5 Tomorrow we leave for the Deanery, Bryn Mawr, Pa., after spending the morning in his library with Mr. J. P. Morgan. With much love B.B. »I. Tuxedo Park, the creation of Pierre Lorilard in l 886, was originally a community of two hundred who lived in an enclosed six-hundred-acre preserve. »2 . Mr. and Mrs. J. Frederick Tams. »3. Josephine and Frank Griswold (1854-1937), merchant and author. »4. Clyde Fitch (1865-1909), popular playwright, had entertained the Berensons during their visit to New York in 1904 and introduced them to Elsie de Wolfe. »5. Bryson Burroughs (18691934), painter, was assistant curator of paintings, 1906-09, and curator, 1909-34, at The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Carissima and Gentilissima Donna
The Deanery Bryn Mawr Penns y 1vania Dec. 5, 1908
Your delicious letter came yesterday, and made us feel in exile. Why have we left such a charming place as Boston-above all, why go away from such an incomparable friend? Human actions, especially one's own, are too silly! We saw the famous Morgan Library on Thursday, and were duly impressed. Of course his illuminated books are marvellous, but. as we looked at them very slowly, we saw only two. His objets are mixed, some tremendously fine, and some what they call in Venice "Musica"-but so obviously "musical," particularly the bust of a girl that he calls "Pisanello," that one really wonders who had the impudence to sell it to him! He has another terracotta bust, however, by Verrocchio, very powerful, resembling yours, but, it seemed to me, a little coarser. (By the way, I hope Mrs. Chadbourne hasn't lost that to you?) A frightful frost settled upon us when he showed us his so-called "Benvenuto Cellini," in the entrance hall! One of the things we most loved was a tiny bronze putto standing on a tortoise, only about 5 inches high, a perfect marvel!1
Mr. Morgan said with a grin "I hear you're going to Philadelphia to bust up Widener's collection!" We didn't see anything else in New York, except people, but we are to see everything when we. go back in January. Which reminds me that I am to give 4 lectures at the Colony Club, on Wednesday mornings in that month. The last is to be about American Collections-but I want to make it less wordy and more to the point than the one I gave at the Perrys' and I want especially to illustrate it with slides. I should like to give about r 5 of your masterpieces, and perhaps ro from other collections. If I could find your Inghirami and the one in the Pitti side by side it would, me thinks, be interesting and edifying! Now I'm not going to put you in an embarrassing position by asking your permission-I'm just telling you, and you can be horrified at my audacity if you like when you come to the lecture, as I hope you will, for it is on the 27th, the day before Santayana's lecture, to which you are coming. - I must be off-the 'Ramus is waiting for me to go to Mr. Johnson's. Devoted love from us both! Mary The terra-cotta busts were by neither Pisanello nor Verrocchio, and information on their present location is not readily available. The bronze attributed to Cellini is probably the Ganymede, now in the Frick Collection as "after Cellini." The bronze Cupid on a Tortoise is in The Metropolitan Museum of Art as Venetian, sixteenth century. ÂťI.
Dear Isabella,
The Deanery Bryn Mawr, Pa. Dec. r6, 1908
We spent a most fantastic two days at the Wideners', inspecting their "treasures." I'm not surprised you did not care so much for the Van Dyck. 1 It is in perfectly beastly light, which ruins it. Before we left, we had made them summon the architect and seen his plans for a new room for that divine picture to be in alone, with a side light! I can't help being indiscreet and telling you various things that may amuse you (and delight if you are human!). They have really nothing of importance among their Italians, and their best other picture, outside of the Van Dyck, is a fine Frans Hals. But to stick to the Italians-we could not leave one single great name. When you forget how he had made his money, it was rather touching to have old Mr. Widener (he is very broken) trotting round and saying meekly "Mr. Berenson, is this a gallery picture, or a furniture picture, or must it go to the cellar?" (that is their formula and about 160 pictures are already in the cellar!) He was very much pleased whenever we would allow a picture to stay in the gallery, even if shorn of its great name. But we had to banish several. Then the prices!! Jo Widener told us all. They have paid on an average
for their Italians from $10,000 to $40,000 for pictures worth at the outside $soo! Their "Titian"-a late copy of the Madonna of the Cherries at Vienna cost them $40, ooo and so on. By that scale, you have scarcely a picture that isn't worth millions! You will be interested to hear that they have consented to have their "Botticelli" catalogued as atelier work. It is less bad than we feared. It has no grandeur, like the real one, but it is very pretty and attractive. One picture I remember, we refused for ten thousand francs (I think we were idiots for it's a fine early picture perhaps by Domenico Morone) they paid about ten thousand pounds for shortly afterwards! And so on . It is quite incredible. However, they're now determined to abide by the best expert opinion they can get, and to have no nonsense about it. Whether they will buy any more or not, I have no idea, but what they have is going to be correctly named if possible. We weren't there for the Velasquez nor the objets d'art, but we could not help feeling they had been done over them quite as badly as over the Italian pictures. But of that, so far, they have no suspicion. I am afraid the Colony Club people have changed my lecture days to Sunday afternoons, but I don't quite know yet. I believe the 10th and 17th are quite decided on, the others open. I will let you know. My head has given way to the assaults of grippe so I must close. We both send love-and also congratulations on your gallery! Devotedly Mary Excuse paper-I write from bed with the grippe! Âť r. The
Portrait of Elena Grimaldi, which BB wanted ISG to buy.
[Washington, D. C.] Dec. 24, 08
Dearest Isabella,
Our best wishes to you for a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year. I hope you will enjoy both these high festivals in your palace halls. Have you seen the last no. of the Gazette des Beaux-Arts? It contains an article on pictures in America. Needless to say I did not read the article, but my eye was caught by the phrase pierre pierre that you had transported Fenway Court from Venice. What can I tell you of our wild, purely subjective adventures in this Hague of America? We are as elsewhere quite out of it, only a little more so. Conservative anarchists of our type do not easily find playfellows. But Henry Adams is a great resource and his circle does or does not circumscribe us also.
a
I am much struck by the great simplicity of things. Society is in proportion to the rest as a jewelled navel to an otherwise unadorned, 路 stark na.k ed giant body of a savage. Hast ever heard of Fischer here? He is an art dealer with an awful German accent that finds its visual counterpart in a waistcoat of many colours. I dropped in the day after I arrived, and thereupon he telephoned to the White House to bring me around. I protested in vain that the President certainly had never heard of me and could have no interest in meeting me. It then occurred to me it was better to submit, as the President was not only the autocrat but the chief sight of his country. Meanwhile Mary whom I had told of all this was furious that her husband should be introduced to the President by a mere dealer. I laughed, and assured her it was of no consequence anyway; but finally Adams tranquilized her by telling her one could not have a better introduction, that no one here was more intimate with the President, and that the latter had even lent Fischer his copy of The Education
of Henry Adams .1 So yesterday morning we were taken, and it all passed off exactly as I expected. We were received in his cabinet, which is small. It was filled with senators, chiefs of staff coiffes en homme de genie, generals, etc. I knew the President could not spend 5 minutes upon us to save himself. Finally doors, folded back (pushed by the President himself for all I remember) and out stepped a smaller, younger, slighter looking man than I expected, and walked up to us. Fischer introduced me in the thickest of accents as the greatest critic of Italian Art in the world, and while I was smiling the deprecating fatuous smile that one always pins on, on such occasions, the President pleasantly remarked that he knew all about Mr. Berington and was happy to meet him and Mrs. Berington too. He then chatted truly delightfully, easily, cordially for exactly 5 minutes, and dismissed us. I scarcely listened to what he said: I was so absorbed watching him, but happily he produced none of the impression of over strain that most of his portraits do. These almost answer to the description of Vespasian given by Suetonius. 2 I will say no more but you can look up the passage. The President told two or three good stories in the 5 m. alloted to us, and asked us about his favorite painter a certain Simon?? 3 Washington was beautiful yesterday under the snow, and sunshine. We paid calls, and somehow all the men we met were Bostonians. Their exquisitely repellent manners announced it, their own confession confirmed it. We supped with the Hales, and the dear hoary man was reminiscent. 4 Of course we devote some attention to the work of that famous black and white draughtsman, St. Gaudens, now exhibited here. Senator Clark's pictures are on loan. 5 H. Adams says even a good picture loses its excellence when Senator C. buys it. With love from us both B.B. We remain here till the New Year.
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I asked the 'Ramus to tell you-but he forgot-that I sent to Bain for the Chinese Stories, as a Xmas gift for Our Lady of Boston, but he has some difficulty in getting them, and they may arrive late. I join with B.B. 1n greetings and love Mary »I. Henry Brooks Adams (1838-1918), historian and former Harvard professor, was the grandson ofJohn Quincy Adams. The famous autobiography first appeared in a private printing of 1906. »2. Suetonius, The Lives of the Caesars, trans . J. C . Rolfe, vol. 2 (Cambridge, Mass., 1914), p. 3 l 5: "He was well built, with stong, sturdy limbs, and the expression of one who was straining." »3. Possibly the artist Pinckney Marci us Simons (1867-1909), American genre painter and set designer at Bayreuth who enjoyed the patronage of President and Mrs. Roosevelt. »4. Probably Sen. Eugene Hale (1836-1918) and his wife. Hale was elected to Congress from Maine in l 867 and was in the Senate from l 88 l to 191 r. »5. Sen. William Clark (1839-1925), the Montana copper king, gave his collection and a bequest to the Corcoran Gallery, Washington, D.C., after being turned down by The Metropolitan Museum of Art because of restrictions that accompanied his bequest.
Fenway Court December 26 [1908] That was a wonderful letter 'Ramus dear. It gave me great joy. It came this morning. I read most of it aloud-it was so blissful. I have laughed an ache into my jaw over the Fischer man! Whether the Chinese Stories ever come or not, I shan't need a reminder of you two dears. I hung up my stocking Christmas Eve-had the midnight service in my chapel here. In the morning at 7! adored my presents. One of them was Venetian Curac;ao; another was from Mrs. Hope Kirk Wilson-a real Scotch cake. 1 I am eating and drinking like mad, for I love both! Poor Mrs. Wilson's mother has died this very last week. It is a great sadness to her. On Christmas Day I lunched with the Football Haughtons, 2 and went to a family dinner in the evening. Tonight symphony concert and the 5th symphony, so perhaps you would have liked it. But next Wednesday I really do wish you could be here. It is to be a little Christmas play-a French one, and I am trying to keep it a secret, so don't tell. I do want to surprise the guests. Best love dears-and all good things in the next year. Alfy ever Isabella » r. Helen Hopekirk (Mrs. William P.) Wilson (1860-1945) of Brookline, composer and pianist. »2. Percy Haughton (1876-1924), the famous Harvard football coach and player.
The New Willard Washington The last letter of 1908! All best wishes, beloved Lady, for 1909. Especially, we selfishly wish, may we see a great deal of you! We're coming back to Boston in February chiefly for that purpose. 430
Tomorrow we leave Washington with a good deal of joy and some regret. Henry Adams and Mr. Fischer (who calls himself Veeshare) have been our guardian angels, and so our experience has been-mixed! We saw the Lodges, and their very interesting sons 1 . . . in fact most of the nice people we have met were Bostonians! Today, having officially bid goodbye to everyone and announced our departure, we were free, and strolled into the Smithsonian. What do you think we found? We were petrified. In the Ethnological Department, next door to Papuan ceremonial drums, Parsee spoons and Indian medicine bags, under the heading of Ethnological Religions, we saw an altar with this inscription "Roman Catholic Altar, formerly belonging to a Roman Catholic Church at Hildesheim. It is constructed in a mixture of Gothic, Renaissance and Rococco styles, and probably dates from the XVII Century. The lower painting represents the Assumption of the Virgin Mary; the upper, St. John the Evangelist with the chalice of the Lord's Supper. No. 207743 ." Near it was a glass case with a partition in the middle, on one side of which hung various vestments of Dancing Dervishes, and on the other side the habits of Dominican, Franciscan and Carthusian Friars!! They are certainly thorough in our dear country! We go tomorrow to New York to The Webster, 40 West 45th Street. When shall we see you? We are to lunch with Elsie and Bessie on Saturday, and Elsie then flies off to Chicago, while Bessie and Miss Morgan2 come down here to see the President upon some important matter they have not divulged to us. Miss Alice Warder's wedding is safely over. 3 She entered on it with the beau geste of keeping her bridegroom waiting 3/4 of an hour at the foot of the stairs, though she was quite ready! Well! The Old Year is going out-long live 1909, and may we all be merry in it, especially with the merriness that comes from seeing each other. Devotedly your slave The B.B.'s [MB's writing.] Sen. Henry Cabot Lodge (1850-1924), his wife, Anna Cabot Mills Davis (1871-1913), and their sons George Cabot and John Ellington. »2 . Anne Morgan (b. 1873), youngest daughter of J. P. Morgan, was the friend of Elizabeth (Bessie) Marbury and Elsie de Wolfe and was their partner in the Villa Trianon, Versailles. »3. Alice Warder married John Work Garrett (see MB to ISG, 17 September 1916). »I.
Dear Isabella,
The Webster West 45th Street N. Y. Jan. 3, 09
One of our dearest friends-such a genius!-is going to play with the orchestra tomorrow-Albert Spalding. We've often spoken of him. He is an enchanting boy, and a great many people predict for him a future like Joa431
chim's. At any rate, he is a personality, and the "sante conversazioni" we have with him and Placci in Florence, are most delightful, for he is very gifted intellectually. We want you to enchant this lad, to weave your Cleopatra spell about him and make him your slave. It will be an education to him, for (between ourselves) his female relatives are ... well, not Cleopatras! His people are very nouveau riches (his father is Spalding of footballs and cricket-bats and other things for games), and not at all careful in their intimates, so that Alberts (as we call him) has probably scarcely formed any idea of what the human race can flower into. But he is a thoroughly nice boy, loyal and chivalrous, and jolly, and not a bit conceited-a truly nice young creature, whom we both hope you will like. I hope you're going to hear him playand then you must extend your sceptre towards him-and we shall be more than ever (if possible) your obliged and entirely devoted B.B.'s [MB's writing.]
Dear Isabella,
Webster Hotel Jan. 14, 09
I have just made up the photographs to send you. B.B. says to say the bust is $9,000 and the little Barna $1, 500. 1 And if you decide against them, he wants the photos back. Santayana wrote he was sending you two tickets to his lecture. Everyone is talking about your Miracle Play-they say it was unique and perfect. B.B. is slowly rising from his canvas-backed bed to go to see Mr. Huntington's Spanish Museum this morning. 2 Mr. Huntington and I fell in love with each other two nights ago, over a topic rather ethereal for two such bulky persons-the poetry of Milton! We are to see Mr. Altman's things next Tuesday. 3 If you will lunch with us on Saturday the 30th, I will try to get Albert Spalding. I know he will come, if he's not playing somewhere else, for (like all the rest of us) he adores you. I feel so happy when I remember you've decided to live at least 500 years more! Think how many people will have the joy of finding you as wonderful as we do! Mary ISG bought the bronze bust from E. Gimpel and Wildenstein, New York, in 1910 as an Italian fifteenth-century portrait. The sculptor has since been identified as Simone Bianco, the subject as an idealized Roman figure. The painting by Barna da Siena has not been identified. »2. Archer Huntington (1870-1955), American writer, scholar, and art collector, founded the Hispanic Society of America in 1904. See BB to ISG, 27 September 1909. »3. Benjamin Altman (1840-1913) made a fortune from the department store that bears his name. He was thus able to buy a collection of old masters, which he left to The Metropolitan Museum of Art » r.
m 1913.
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The Webster 40 West 45th Street Tuesday [26 January 1909] How angelic of you! Alberts will be in heaven this afternoon-unless heaven falls to earth in a sheet of rain, there, as it is doing here! The 'Ramus has been to the German ex[hibition] this morning, and would commit suicide if he didn't want to stay alive to see you on Monday. You can have a room and bathroom here for three dollars, and Ella?s room near by for a dollar and a half. Please let us know what train you are coming by, for we would be there to meet you. We long to see youDevotedly Mary
Dear Isabella,
The Webster 40 West 45th Street Sunday Jan. 3 I, 09
There was much lamenting at Mrs. Ripley's dinner party last night, where many of your adorers were gathered together, that you had not condescended to remain and cheer us with your presence. The 'Ramus is at this moment lying down with an ice-bag under his head, recovering from the emotional effect of Herr W ullner's singing of the "Erl Konig" and the "Zwei Grenadier." 1 We both wept, which was an awful thing to do in such a select and squillionairish audience as Mrs. Otto Kahn2 had assembled together! From his dark and quiet room the 'Ramus has just called out to tell me to do a thing that absolutely takes my breath away, namely to propose myself modestly as a lecturer in your divine music r_o om, either for some charity, or just for a few of the people you might want to invite. He says I should repeat the lectures I gave at the Colony Club, which, it appears, were quite a success, and which I have been asked to repeat in a great many places. I'm not going to though, but IF it were votre plaisir, to repeat them (with improvements) in your house, it would make me happier than anything else could. In that case, I should illustrate them as much as possible with slides from your pictures-for many of them would perfectly bring out my points. The lectures are about the 4 influences that started the "New Art Criticism"-Morelli for Connoisseurship, Milanesi for History, 3 William James for Psychology and Pater for Aestheticsand the end is a kind of peroration on the Enjoyment of Art which nearly made the 'Ramus faint, for he said I had stolen the central idea of his Great Work. Now this plan may be quite an impossible one to carry out, and there may be plenty of reasons against it, so you are not to give it a second thought if it does not chime in with your own plans. Io mi rimetto nelle Sue mani, gentilissima Signora. 433
In any case, we shall be in Boston the first fortnight of March, and the greatest pleasure we look forward to is seeing you again. I had an awful time on Friday, when people were offering you fifteen millions for your pictures! I lectured at a Woman's Club in East Orange, and there was a "Reception Feature" added, at which five hundred women came up and pressed my hand and gazed into my eyes and said I had "lifted East Orange to a Higher Sphere." Bernhard said I deserved it for going to such a place, but I think it was all due to that Idea I stole from him! Addio, our patron Lady Your devoted Mary »I. Ludwig Wullner (1858-1938), German concert singer and actor, who had a second tour of the United States in 1909-10. »2. Adelaide Kahn (1876-1949) was the wife of Otto Kahn, banker and opera patron. He was president and chairman of the board of the Metropolitan Opera Company, 1924-3 I. »3. Gaetano Milanesi (18 l 3-95), Italian art historian, was director of the Tuscan archives in Florence.
Dearest Lady,
The Webster Feb. 3, 1909
Your letter gives me great joy. So much of the best part of our lives is forever bound up with you and your achievements, that I shall feel an inward satisfaction nothing else could give, at performing my humble part on your stage. The 'Ramus, who is rapidly being converted to "Masdanianism" by his persuasive Masseur (I think half the intellectual movements in America are promoted by the dispensers of massage!), says he thinks that two Sunday afternoons would be the best time, because then men would (or might) come, and he suggests March 7 and 14 (the latter my birthday, by the way). I daresay you are quite right about invitations being best. My daughter could spare you the bother of these. She and her friend could come on the 16th with my list and yours, and send out all the invitations-for it's a great bore addressing so many envelopes. I think the Music Room would be the best, on account of the magic lantern. And it must be a divine room to speak in. What fun! I arranged about having the slides made yesterday. I'm so glad the Chinese books came. They are incredibly dull, in a way, but as close to natural human narrative as Leonardo's line is close to the boney structure of the body. Except there is always the possibility of anyone's turning out to be a Fox! This would be a great help to us in explaining these things, wouldn't it? The 'Ramus will write you when he finds time to draw breath. We are both Devotedly yours, The Berensons [MB's writing.] Of course you know-but you've been too discreet to tell us-that Dick Norton is to marry Ellen Nickerson. 1 We were sad for many hours after hearing it. » l. They did not marry.
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Dear Isabella,
The Webster Feb. 5, 1909
How happy I am! There's nothing could please me more, given my limitations. If I only had a divine voice, wouldn't it be lovely to sing in that room. No, let's have it without money, just on your gracious invitation. I shall write to Ray at once and find out what time they can come to you on the 16th to address the envelopes. It is sure to be in the morning, if that suits you. The 'Ramus is delighted about the bronze, and says to take your own time for paying. The people are not in a hurry, and of course it is an honour to place anything in your collection. They are sending to Paris for it at once, and it will be delivered to you, free of duty, as soon as it arrives. Guaranteed, of course. Various amusing things are happening, of which more anon. Your devoted and grateful Mary Berenson
Dear Isabella,
The Webster W 45th Street Sunday February the Seventh. 1909
You can imagine how gladly I have noted March roth on our calendar for hearing that delicious music. I am thinking of it already, as a heavenly contrast to Salome! Ray and Ellie Rendel will come to Fenway Court at ro. 30 on Tuesday the r 6th, if that time suits you, to address the invitations. The r 4th of March will be not only speech and birthday but (alas) farewell also, for we have just engaged our rooms on the Mauretania, sailing March 17th. But I feel as if we should not be such strangers any more, for we shall probably come over every other year, if not every year, at any rate for some time. This prospect makes it much less sad to go away now. But there is much to do that is pleasant in between-and chiefly coming back to the town where you reign, and falling again under your sway. Nothing very interesting has happened to us since you were here, except seeing the huge Ex[hibition] of Sorolla's paintings which Mr. Archer Huntington has imported. 1 Sorolla boasts that he paints purpler than any man who ever lived, and I quite believe it. Everyone in New York is wild about him, and jf we spoke it would be as one crying in the wilderness. Devotedly Mary ÂťI.
Over one hundred Sorolla pictures are in the Hispanic Society of America, New York.
435
Dear 'Ramus
Fenway Court February 12 [ 1909]
Some little time ago I saw at Ehrich's a splendid Spanish picture by Zurbaran. 1 And the other day I think with you I saw a photograph of it and said I liked it, but I don't remember if you did. I hope you do, and think it worth while. His son has just been here with an exhibition of "mixed" pictures. I went to see them and saw the photograph of the Zurbaran again. So I was confirmed in caring for it, and made an offer, just out of pure love! Now Swift is finding ways and means to turn a Chicago thing I own into cash. 2 It will take time but "perhaps" he says! So, do you think I am foolish to like it. Swift is going to tell me in a few days. Ehrich is amiable and lowers his price to $22,000 and gives me time. Perhaps I ought not to tell this, because he does it he says, just to have the picture in my house. Of course all this may be rot, but I do like the young Salamanca Student! I write to you because I should hate to like something you don't like, and I can't remember if you said anything about it. Please tell me I am not foolishly fond of it, and please do not tell anyone the price he gives me. I should hate to be disloyal. The old Mr. Ehrich was here today. He came to Boston and came here, saw my pictures, and has just told me these terms. And if Swift can manage it, I care for the picture! Am I a fool? At any rate I am with love to both Affy yours Isabella Please, a word. Âť r. Zurbaran's Portrait of a Doctor of Laws from the University of Salamanca was purchased from
Ehrich Galleries, New York. father.
Dearest Lady,
Âť2. ISG had been willed some real estate in Chicago by her
The Webster 40 West 45th Street Feb. 14, 09
The 'Ramus is suffering from either severe rheumatism in his arm, or neuritis, and he begs me to send you his sincere and hearty congratulations upon having got that fine Zurbaran. He loves it, as a work of art, and thinks it is really worthy of a place in Fenway Court. I may tell you that you have snapped it up just in time to prevent Mr. Archer Huntington getting it for his Spanish Museum, or Mr. Pbilip Lydig for his red room!1 Mr. Huntington is cursing himself for his delay, for he saw it months ago. Ray and Ellie Rendel are at Smith College today, and are going on to Boston tomorrow. They will come to you on Tuesday morning to address envelopes, unless you send them word to come some other time. They will be at the College Club, 40 Commonwealth Avenue.
If you want to give the subject of my conferences) it had better be a vague one like "Italian Art" or "Italian Renaissance Art," or, if you think (but it sounds much duller than I hope it is!) The New Art Criticism. We dined with the Lydigs last night and found them aflame with the desire to see 11 Palazzo, a flame we did nothing to quench. They are putting the[ir] whole hearts with furnishing their own house, but-! It would educate them enormously to see Fenway Court, but we didn't dare to hold out any hope (though they would be ready to come on our Sunday either the 7th or 14th of March), until we knew whether the Lady's heart would incline to this their petition. With all devotion) Yours) Mary »I. Philip Lydig (d. 1929) and his wife, Rita de Alba de Acosta ([ d. 1929] Cuban-American writer, art collector, and Newport belle), were friends of the Berensons.
Dear Isabella,
The Webster Forty West Forty-fifth St. New York Tuesday [March 1909]
The violets are still fresh and fragrant. We hated to come away, and we feel we couldn't bear the New York people we saw last night at Mrs. Astor's!1 I sat between Robert Chanler and Henry Clews, 2 who talked of nothing but the marvellous intellects of various demi-mondaines. Opposite sat Lady Cunard, 3 of whom an accident to an electric wire in her room at the Plaza brought out the fact that she was having as a bed-fellow a horrid little English snipe named Marsh, who came over in her train. Mrs. Guinness, 4 gorgeous in purple and vermilion, discoursed upon cocottes) Bessie Marbury raged against the whole lot, a Mr. Sheldon nearly bored my head off, and Mrs. Astor's pretty face was swollen from a motor-ride. The 'Ramus came back quite disgruntled and ready to leave, although homesick for Boston and the Wonderful Lady in the purple Botticelli draperies who made our stay so "life enhancing"-and not for the first time! Why do we live on different continents?? Yours devotedly- The B.B.'s [MB's writing.] Many thanks for Karin. Nothing could have filled her with more joy than your kind message! »I. John Jacob Astor (1864-1912) married Ava Lowle Willing (1869-1958) in 1891 and divorced her in l9IO. She then married Lord Ribblesdale. »2. Henry Clews (1834-1923), prominent Wall Street financier and Newporter, was the author of Fifty Years of Wall Street (New York, 1908). »3. Maude "Emerald" Burke (1872-1948) married Sir Bache Cunard in 1895 and became a prominent London hostess. »4. Mrs . Benjamin Guinness, New York socialite, was famous for her elaborate parties.
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[RMS Mauretania] [22? March 1909] Good-bye, beloved Isabella. I have never loved you more, never felt closer to you and more real. I carry away enchanting memories of our encounters, and shall look forward as scarcely ever before to our next meeting. A number of real friends came to say good-bye yesterday, and we leave feeling at peace with all the world. Good-bye again Devotedly B.B.
Dear Isabella,
[RMS Mauretania] March 22, 09
The end of our fantastic American Adventure has been finding ourselves, all undeserving, in what is known as the "Millionaires' Corner," at a table with Mrs. Potter Palmer. The voyage has passed quickly and pleasantly. As you can imagine, the 'Ramus has been flirting with the prettiest lady on board, Maxine Elliott, 1 and with the naughtiest, Lady Cunard! Ray and I see him at rare intervals. Mr. Von Glehn2 is also here, but no one else we know. We are still living in America in our imaginations, and especially at Fenway Court, but we get in tonight, and then I suppose we must begin to feel in Europe. But it is very sad. I am going to Settignano as soon as I have paid a little visit to my mother. The 'Ramus will go to Paris, and I think he will pay a visit to Ralph Curtis on the way down, arriving sometime in April, as our "improvements" punish the presence of a creature who hates confusion. 3 I shall stay at first with Mrs. Ross, on the neighbouring hill. You remember our talk about Lucy Perkins? 4 Well, we convinced her the only thing for her to do was to leave the Museum (the Burroughs's). She was very nice about it, once she really saw it, and I have offered her some work (as she is penniless) until things blow over. She is almost the only one I know capable of really helping us in our work this next year. I stipulated that she should never mention a young man to me, for I will not undertake the responsibility for her love-affairs. Otherwise I think we shall get on very well, for she really does care for our sort of work, and has had some training in it. I see you shake your head though! Devotedly yours, Mary B. » r. Maxine Elliott, nee Jessie Dermot (1871-1940), popular American actress who built her
own theater on Broadway. She joined the migration to the Riviera in 1930 and entertained at the Chateau de }'Horizon, near Cannes. »2. Wilfrid von (later de) Glehn (1870-1951) and Jane Emmet (his wife after 1904) were great friends of Sargent, whom he assisted with the Boston Public Library murals. He is best known as a landscape painter, and she for children's portraits. »3. Improvements to I Tatti, supposed to have been done while the Berensons
were in America, went on for two more years. They included a new library. Alcott Perkins was the wife of Frederick Mason Perkins.
Dears,
Âť4. Lucy May
Fenway Court Boston [March 1909]
I do miss you. Why come if you were going away? And it is such weather. All the blood recessing up into the trees, the crocuses and the blue birds alive and "God's in his heavens-" I have been training vines in the Monks Garden all the morning, and the sun uncurled the leaves whilst I looked. I think I see things brightly, because the ten "open days" of Fenway Court are over. Nothing stolen, nor real harm done, although they did try to blow up the new opera house last Sunday. 1 So they may turn their explosive attention to me any day. I have offered to let Brookline, and if the right rich person would only come, I might get over the water for a few monthsperhaps. I should like to go in the late summer-but how? No bronze bust yet-and the Tariff bill not yet settled. I feel so calm about that last, now! I can't even think where you both are, but selon vos destinees and far away alas! Let me hear and say all the interesting things that have and do come to you. Love to you both from always yours IsabellaÂťI. On the evening of 27 March, the Boston opera house, which was still under construction,
was dynamited. There was no serious structural damage. Perpetrators were never discovered.
Dearest Isabella,
London March 30, 09
How altered I am from the lively, jolly creature you saw about r 5 days ago. A horrible cold seized me directly I reached these amphibian shores, and never was man more miserable. Nobody is in town except Mrs. Crawshay, and she poor dear is far from gay just now. When I am not in bed I am at dealers, or at Mrs. Potter Palmer's. Day after tomorrow . we leave, Mary for Florence and I for Portugal. Meanwhile I want to tell you that I have the hope of getting you something that I have been looking for for years, something that will connect the Degas with the Pollaiuolo, something that is perhaps more overwhelming, more colossal than either. May the gods grant that you see with my eyes, and seeing with my eyes, may they grant you the wherewithal to pay for it. But stay your hand if you are thinking of making other purchases. B-r-r-r-how I shiver! It makes me loathe this place, and regret fearfully that I left you. Is there sunshine, is there warmth anywhere? Is there balm in Gilead? Devotedly B.B. 439
I shall be in Paris from Apr. 23 to May r Hotel St. James, Rue St. Honore, but in writing address Baring London.
Dear Isabella,
[Paris] Apr. r, 09
Here is a poor, in fact miserable print, after the thing I told you of in my last. I don't dare to ask for a photo., because that would raise the price a good deal. You must therefore trust me when I tell you that I have found at last what I have been looking for for years, what you yourself, when you were here last, urged me to find for you, a great Manet, if possible a portrait, and one worthy of hanging beside your Degas. I have found it, and what is more, it is amply worthy of hanging beside your Pollaiuolo. In spirit, they are extraordinarily alike. This portrait of his mother by Manet is a colossal thing. 1 It partakes of the directness of the "Schoolmaster of Boulak" 2 or the "Scribe of the Louvre," 3 and other grand things of early Egyptian dynasties. It is dark grey in dress, the eyes blue, the chair red, the background lighter grey. The drawing is of the surest, the touch most vigorous. Of course it is life size and on canvas. The price is not decided yet. I a1n so anxious to have you own this masterpiece that I am moving heaven and earth to get you a price you can afford. I shall write from Sintra directly I know the lowest figure. I leave for Portugal tomorrow, with my cold still bad. Mary has left already for Florence. God knows in what condition she will find the house. One thing is certain that it is not habitable. With love B.B. » r. The painting Madame Auguste Manet was bought from Wallis and Son, London, in 1910. »2. The "Schoolmaster of Boulak" is a standing figure ofKaaper, Egypt, Fifth Dynasty, Cairo Museum. »3. The "Scribe of the Louvre" is the Seated Scribe from Saqqura, Egypt, Fifth
Dynasty.
Dear 'Ramus,
Fenway Court Boston April 9, 1909 Good Friday
Please keep on missing us-me in particular! I got your letter last night. I am pretty miserable, trying to get over the grippe, a really bad fever for a week or so-and no end of worries and anxieties. Dear Mr. Lang dead, leaving a gap, that no one can fill. 1 There was much to do about the funeral-_a nd now Loeffier's brother has killed himself, and that means sympathy and worry for Loeffler. I am glad you are off for Portugal. Back again, by this time I suppose.
440
Gimpel came with the bust yesterday. 2 The stand has not yet turned up. It really is very good. He says Dreyfus calls the bronze Florentine. Your hint about that unknown thing, I don't even dare to think of yet. Keep me informed. I am not able to write more. Love from Isabella Âť r. Benjamin Lang (1837-1909), Boston composer, pianist, and conductor.
Âť2. Rene Gim-
pel (188 l-1945), Parisian art dealer, succeeded his father and was a brother-in-law of Joseph Duveen.
Dearest Isabella,
Sintra, Portugal Apr. ro, 09
Of all the places I have ever been to, this is the one you would love best. For not only is it high over the sea in scenery of unrivall~d beauty and romance, but it has by far the finest garden I have seen or ever could have conceived of. Beside palms and tree-ferns and bamboos of every description there are .pines and cedars of every species, and I never imagined they grew so glorious. As for the flowers, I am dumb, and lawns, and cascades. In brief it is a paradise such as Harun al Rashid might have arranged were Bagdad by the sea, and full of fell and crag. It is a vast domain here, and except for the Neo-Moorish modern house we live in there is not a touch in sight of too recent or disfiguring date. It belongs to the Cooks of Richmond, and I have been here since Monday. We spend the days walking and driving with all my senses on the alert, and ecstatic in every way butaltho' I am fond of Herbert and devoted to his wife, and there is quite a house party, there is not one woman I could be in love with [in] it. And when I am not hard at work, I must have women I might, and I would, be in love with. However next week I shall be very hard at work, exploring Thomar, and Alcobac;a and Batalha, and I shall have no time to dwell upon things so frivolous. Funny world where that is called frivolous which is more than half of life, and alone makes it worth living. I always supposed it, and now I know it. In an ideal world there would be only deep loving and clear thinking. From Mary who is already in Florence I hear that no part of I Tatti can possibly be habitable before May I. I fear that means I shall be a wanderer on the face of the earth till next autumn. Now as for the Manet, I am delighted to tell you that I hope to be able to get it for you for twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000) in London. Five years ago you paid $30,000 for the Degas, and since then pictures of that quality have at least doubled in value. Furthermore Manets have always and still do fetch much more money than Degas, and are much harder¡ to get hold of, and as for Manet portraits they are practically introuvable. And the one I am urging you to have is the one I would wish you to have if I were free to select from Manet's entire work. I so hope therefore you can see your way to getting it. The ideal thing in this transaction would be to pay cash 441
down. But if you can not do that I have arranged that you shall pay down $5,000 in cash, and the remaining $20,000 in two years, provided you pay interest of five per cent (5 掳/o). That is I think a pretty equable arrangement under the circumstances. Of course there will be the question of the duty, but it is probable that that will be taken off shortly. If not I dare say Duveen will help us take it over. As soon as you have made up your mind please cable Berenson, Barings, London, YEMANET. And do incline your heart to my urgent counsels. Would you were here in this fragrance and dazzling sunshine. Ever devotedly B.B.
Dear B.B.
Fenway Court April 12, 1909
The photograph and your letter have come! It is wonderful. Do make it possible for me. A happy Eastertide to you. Isabella
[Picture postcard of I Tatti.]
April
20, 09
Greetings from Tuscany, and from a very sad and disgruntled householder. The 'Ramus has run off to Portugal, but I am swamped with our beastly "improvements." Everything has gone wrong! I often think, though, of how you worked with your own hands on the Palace, and this inspires me to patience and energy-but I feel as if nothing would ever be really done! Dust will forever prevailBut I am Yours devotedly -Mary
Dearest Isabella,
[I Tatti] April 25, 09
I am very much touched by your word of remonstrance and warning about our new Secretary. It gives me that wonderful feeling that you really care about our welfare and happiness. I tried to weigh everything before asking Lucy Perkins, whom I have known for many years, since before her marriage. Having her was such a solution to the impossible state of things at the Metropolitan, that of course I was tempted to play providence to my unhappy friends. But I tried to think of ourselves, and it was really my suggestion in the end, for although I knew B.B. thought she would be a great help, he has never said so, and he urged me, when I suggested it, to think it over very carefully. And I did. She is well trained in our subject, her work at the 路M useum and in Mr. Croswell's school has been fairly business-like, and has given satisfaction, and she cares for this sort of thing, and thinks it important. A secretary I
442
must have, or I can't cope with the material B.B. wants me to prepare for him, and on the whole I want a woman. There is no other than Lucy in the field. She has come on the understanding that unless we are satisfied, she won't stay. And as I have always been perfectly frank with her-even to telling her what a fool she made of herself about Mr. Prichard, who cared nothing for her-I feel we are on terms to get on. She is not to live with us, but in Florence, and is only to come up for a few hours every day (not Sundays!). I know she is very man-hunting, but otherwise she is fairdealing, honourable and not lazy. In that game, of course, tradition sanctions a reversal of all the rules! But I have told her that I will hear absolutely nothing of any love-affairs, if she has any. At any rate, there it is. I will bear all your words in mind, with gratitude. The danger to the 'Ramus's susceptible heart is slight, for she works really with me, not with him. He only appears now and then in majesty and wrath, when we've made some muddle, or failed to give him the photographs and notes he wants. I am expecting him down from Paris this week, to supply the "master's authority." He says it is purely anthropological, as he can be no real use, but I really feel there are some rather important things I cannot decide without him. He reports Portugal as having been a revelation of beauty. The snake in the Paradise was the Cook family with whom he stayed, alias Marquis of Monserrate. 1 They played the pianola and spoke of their titled acquaintances in the evenings. I have been hard at work on the Villa, with my brother to help me. Today I shall take my first diversion, a luncheon at the Serristori's-oh no, there was another luncheon with Placci, who was just going to Rome to see Wilbur Wright fly and Joan of Arc beatified. But I must run away now, as the "fumista" (lovely name) is waiting for me at I Tatti. I'm living pro tern. in a little villa close by. Again thanks for your letter-is there really a chance of your coming over?! How I wish it. Devotedly always, Mary ÂťI.
See BB to ISG,
Dear B.B.
22 January
1905 .
Fenway Court April 26, 1909
I have just come from an afternoon spent with Mr. Swift. He is quite in despair about $25,000 for Manet. And he doesn't at all like the 5°/o idea. In fact he is dead against it all. Who owns it? The $30,000 for Degas was delivered here, no duty and not paid by nearly 2 years and no interest! And he says "a pretty picture." But I don't give up so easily. So in a few days I will try again, and if stocks go up perhaps I can raise part of the money. I will cable as soon as I can do anything favorable. Brookline is to let, and if 443
someone would only take it I could get some money. I do know Sintra. Indeed beautiful. How about I Tatti? Are you there? I don't know if I move at all from here-and I still have the grippe. With love to both ones Isabella
[Paris] Dearest Isabella,
Apr. 29, 09
I have been whirled madly the last few days between great business and unavoidable pleasures. But I made a point of seeing Prichard for two hours, what he had to get out of me I know not but I found him stimulating and perfectly charming. You will hear soon of swagger purchases made by our squillionaires. I am in honour bound to say nothing but I am dying to tell you. However you will hear soon enough, for apparently I am the only person in the world who can keep a secret. Mary's accounts of the house are daily worse, and I go there tomorrow to join and if possible to relieve her. So I was not mistaken when I thought the Manet would hit you hard. It is a perfect marvel. I do hope you will see your way to getting it. It would be lo,ooo pities if you did not. You don't need to splurge but each thing you get now must be an aesthetically priceless coping stone. With much love B.B.
Dear B.B.
May 5, 1909
This is laying my heart bare. Mr. Swift is so averse to paying the 5°/o for the due money if I buy the Manet, that I am obliged to put it to you this way. If you really and truly think I ought to have it-I will. It will mean sacrificing securities, but Swift says if I insist upon having it I must pay for it-hence the sacrificing. So please make another effort to get the price down-and then, if you think I must have it, cable just the last price (I do pray it may be less than $2 5, ooo). And do you mean £ 5, ooo English or 125,000 francs French? Cable francs or pounds and I will put entire faith in you-and take it and pay. Swift says it will be drawing his teeth-poor soul. My love to you both. Alf Isabella
Dear Isabella,
[I Tatti] May 6, 09
I am extremely sorry to hear that you think the Manet is dear, and the five per cent interest disagreeable.
444
This is my reward. I have worked like a nigger to make the purchase of the picture possible. The price happens to be ridiculously cheap because I am getting the picture thro' a small dealer who is very anxious for my patronage. 1 If he charged as the big dealers do, he could easily afford not to bother about the interest on twenty thousand dollars for two years. Dear Isabella, I wish I were rich enough and I would not hesitate a moment to make you a present of the Manet. I am so desperately anxious you should have it. Happily it is within your means. Some day not so very far hence it will be worth hundreds of thousands. If I were thinking of its sale as a "business proposition" I should not have offered it to you at all. Please try to believe that whatever I offer you I offer because it is the sort of thing your collection needs. I an1 nearly dead with disgust, rage, and despair over what has been done to our place. God knows whether it will ever again be beautiful, and whether I shall survive to see it. Of course you will have heard that Frick has bought the Norfolk Holbein. 2 I suppose it will cost him about £75,000. With so much love B.B. The dealer was Wallis and Son (the French Gallery), London. »2. Christina of Denmark, duchess of Milan, sold by the fifteenth duke of Norfolk to Colnaghi in 1909, was presented to The National Gallery by the National Art-Collections Fund (with the aid of a treasury grant and a large anonymous gift). » r.
Dear Isabella,
[I Tatti] Address, Baring's, London May 16, 09
After your last, expressing your reluctance to pay interest on the $2 5, ooo for the Manet, I wrote to the person who is negotiating the matter, and I now have his answer. He suggests the possibility of obtaining that no interest be charged if you pay within one year, and I venture to tell you that I believe that would be so. He adds:"Could you get Mrs. Gardner to make a definite proposition, a serious one that would be formally adhered to as to date of settlement, and I will do everything possible to put the matter thro' ." You see I am doing all I can for you. I am so earnestly keen about your having the Manet. Trouble upon trouble in the house, but the weather is divine, Italy beautiful, and I do manage to enjoy a minute or two of the day. In less than three weeks I must be in Paris again. Yours B.B.
445
Dear Isabella,
[I Tatti] May 17, 09
I wrote you yesterday that I hoped, in fact that I could promise to procure you such delay in payment for the Manet that if you paid within the year no interest would be charged. I now receive your note of the 5th telling me you are willing to take the Manet, and pay for it now if need be. I wish too that I could get the picture cheaper. But it really is impossible. You are getting it with as little outlay for middlemen as possible, and at nothing like the price a great dealer could afford to let it go for. So I am cabling "five thousand pounds payment within year." This means that you are to pay in pounds sterling, and not later than twelve months from let us say June r. In other words you must pay no later thanJune l, 1910. But I urge you for many reasons to pay now. For one thing, securities are pretty high and it is not a bad moment to sell out. Then I do not like you to be too miscellaneously indebted to art dealers. Furthermore the delay in payment has been secured by me at too great a cost. I mean it puts me under too strong an obligation to the person I am dealing with, and I would not have dreamt of putting myself there, but for my eagerness to have you own the Manet. Forgive the style and the smudges. We are _in the midst of moving over to our house which however is as yet perfectly uninhabitable. I wish to goodness we had attempted nothing but left the house and grounds as they were. Devotedly and affectionately B.B. I am telegraphing at the same time to secure the picture.
Dear B.B.,
Fenway Court May 18, 1909
Your cable has this moment come. Swift is afraid of misunderstanding, hence this letter. The presumption from the cable is that you think I ought to have the Manet, and that the price is 5, ooo pounds sterling to be paid before next May (within the year) and that there will be no per cent interest in that case. If this understanding is the right one I will take the Manet and rejoice thereat. We will pay (as we have agreed to do) Duveen next October for the Pollaiuolo, although he did not carry out his part of the bargain a propos of the Castagno, and the $9, ooo for the bronze bust will have to wait, as you said Wildenstein had agreed that it should. This is purely a business note. In fact, the grippe still has me and I am really too ill to write. My love to you bothA.ffy Isabella
Fenway Court May 24, 1909
Dear Berenson
You are my despair. Why ever do you say such unkind things to me? Your letter from I Tatti May 6 is desperate. Of course, you do know I believe in you and everything you do for me. Only, the mere squalid money question is terrific for me. By this time you will have my last letter which summed up your cable from Swift's saying that the Manet should be paid for within the year. From your cable he fancied that was what you meant, and that there would be no interest if the £5,000 were paid before next May. So, say if all is well. As to I Tatti, I could weep with you both. But, (and in your climate, the "But" is tremendously big) everything will grow so wonderfully that before you can turn it will all be ravishing again. My love to you both. Alfy yours Isabella [I Tatti] May 29, 09
Dear Isabella,
You have understood my cable perfectly. The Manet is to cost you £5,000 (five thousand sterling) and has to be paid for before May 1910. Since cabling I have found out that it was expected you would pay £2, ooo cash down. But you need not trouble about that. If they really insist on itwhich I hope they won't-I shall raise the money somehow, and pay interest on it out of my own commission. My purchases for you have never been in the nature of mere business, and are less and less so. I am only too happy to be still able to help you complete and fill in your matchless collection. As I wrote you from Sintra the price to be paid for the Manet is in London, and duty extra. But I hear from John G. Johnson that the duty on works of art will probably be taken off by Sept. You will naturally wait until then on the strong chance of the duty being taken off. If it is not taken off Duveen will take charge of it I have no doubt. I am sorry to hear you are still in the clutches of the grippe. Mary and I so often feel a longing for you. You were so endearing beside everything else this last time. But I must return in a day or two to Paris to spend the next two months there and in London making purchases for our billionaires, nothing under half a million dollars even to be spat at-col rispette parlando. I wonder how long I shall be able to stand it! With love B.B.
l
Dear 'Ramus,
52 Beacon Street Boston June l, 1909
Two letters from you this morning. But too late to alter arrangements made on receipt of your cable. Mr. Swift has made all arrangements to pay for 447
the Manet according to the cable, and this will be done before May 1st, 1910. It would only have been possible to pay now by borrowing. He thought of that in preference to paying 5 °/o interest. You see the Pollaiuolo must be paid for in the early autumn. As I agree with you entirely about owing money to art dealers, and think the best thing is to send back the bronze bust to Gimpel and the terra cotta to Duveen. They said, that I could pay when I choose, but as that cannot possibly be for a long time, it is best to tell them so directly. If you had said before, what you said in your last letter, of course I should not have taken them. I am wild with work and worry just now. J am trying to let Green Hill, and to move into the little Warren house. 1 I shall get off in a day or two. Great love to both of you. Aff Isabella I.
A house on Warren Street, part of Green Hill.
Dear 'Ramus
Warren House Brookline, Mass. June I I, 1909
Many many thanks for your joyful note. I am sure you are having high old jinks in Paris-les-bains. Who is your Squillionaire? Is it Frick? It is really too bad he didn't get the Holbein. It rains every day, so that grass grows apace and weeds, and trees. But flowers get pelted. I am like a cat in a strange garret here. I do cling to old places, but I have the garden all the same and revel in it with the birds. Oh, for a glimpse of I Tatti with you two. My love to both. Your letter touched me deep down. Yours Isabella
[Paris] Dearest Isabella,
June
12, 09
You are a spoiled child, and one must never say a word to you. I had no arriere pensee in saying that I did not like your getting too much into debt. The dealers ask nothing better than that you should be in debt to them, and you need not fear they will dun you for their money. I dislike indebtness as you yourself dislike it, as all decent living people dislike it-and yet remain in debt. Of course I had much rather you had the things I want you to get than to pay cash for them, and keep out of debt. My first and foremost and almost sole interest is that certain things shall join your collection. And one of the reasons for that is-what your modesty and humility will not allow you to admit-that I am somewhat devoted to you and your interests. I have arrived this minute after a beastly journey from Milan. I left Florence two days ago, more dead than alive, and how I am to stand all the
racket of the next 7 weeks I know not. Mary is going for a cure near Florence and joins me here at the end of the month to cross to London. I wish you were here-"what is so rare as a day of June"-in Paris. With love B.B.
Dear Isabella,
[Paris] June 16, 09
Just a word with the enclosed invoice. Directly the duties are off, the Manet will be forwarded you. I am horribly busy here. The dealers and collectors would be quite enough to eat up all my time [and] energies, but on top there are the museums which I love to frequent, there are my French friends, and besides there are hosts of Americans, the Curtises, Mrs. Lydig, Monsieur Robinson, etc. etc. etc. Yesterday Paris was simply Paradise, such fresh, delicious warmth, and such radiance. I dined Monday with Hyde, and he spoke with .genuine affection of you, and begged to be remembered. I met his "lady" on the same occasion and found her charming and good company. Yesterday Prichard crossed my path, and beamed on me. I am going to see him soon. Yours B.B.
Warren House June 29, 1909 Thanks dear B. B., for your little note and the enclosure apropos de Manet. I gave that to the aggrieved and badly treated Swift. You haven't told me who is your Squillionaire. Please do. And I heard yesterday that Mary was taking a rest cure. Please tell me how she is. Ross and Miss Nathurst1 spent both[?] evenings here. The garden and the moon did their very best. And I dine with them next week to see his new portraits, Eliot and Santayana. 2 The latter Miss Nathurst says, is his best. Commencement tomorrow. Really Harvard is a great interest these days. Love to both. Yours Isabella Âť r. Louise Nathurst was Denman Ross's first cousin and companion and was brought up by his parents. Âť2. Denman Ross's portrait of Santayana (1909) hangs in the lounge at Emerson
Hall, Harvard. The portrait of Charles William Eliot (I 909), president of Harvard, I 869- I 909, hangs in the Faculty Room, University Hall, Harvard.
Dearest Isabella,
[Oxford] July l I, 09
I can not make out where you are, whether quite near Boston, or far away. Your speaking of having had Ross to dinner lets me suppose you can not
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have wandered far. But just where? I want to be able to place you exactly, dear. I am spending the week-end with my in-laws close to Oxford, in a charming house, still redolent of the dear Old England we Americans are so devoted to. Mary is here, and her girls, and her cousin of Bryn Mawr Miss Thomas. We came to London July r, and have settled down for the month in a charming little house centrally but noisily situated. Thence I wander forth hourly or daily to see dealers, collectors, and museums. Of the natives I have thus far seen next to nothing. I have seen Mr. and Mrs. Ralph Curtis twice, and once we went out to see Bridgewater House, etc. Of course they are very much in it. But if you wish at present to see all your undesirable acquaintances, and a fair number of the others all you have to do is to lunch or dine at the Ritz. Ritzonia carries its inmates like a wishing carpet from place to place, the same people, the same meals, the same music. Within its walls you might be at Peking or Prague or Paris or London and you would never know where. I went to see Morgan the other day and he was as usual affable, simple, as proud and eager as a nice schoolboy, and a thoroughly life-enhancing person. The world-that is to say some hundred people at the utmost-has been in a fit of excitement the last 7 or 8 weeks about a Raphael Morgan bought of Volpi on Bode's recommendation for ÂŁ40,000. 1 It would take a book to write down all the gossip regarding it. Well, I have seen it at last, and it turns out to be a Pintoricchio, larger but of inferior quality to yours, worth four or let us to be openhanded, five or six but not forty thousand pounds. Morgan has however just bought on Fry's advjce the King of Belgium's Fra Angelico. 2 It is a most beautiful picture. It was offered to me for eight, and I am confident I could have had it for six; but the next day it was sold to Morgan thro' Fry for twelve thousand pounds! What a world the dealers' is, what a goose Fry, and what a lamb am I! Sometimes it amuses me to see all these fabulous great art merchants tear their hair with envy and spite at each other. But on the whole it disgusts me. We shall presently have enough to live on, and I am sorely tempted to retire and live the life of a Bhikshu for the rest of my days. I wonder whether I should get bored, whether I should sigh for the chapeau bas of the Bond Street or Place Vendome dealer. Can I know myself so little. It seems to me that what I really care about is my intellectual and aesthetic occupations, beauty, the sound of the wind in the trees, and my real friends. All the rest is hors-cl' oeuvre or dessert, and I think I could get on so very well without. But I must try soon for time is a-flying. I am already bald, and presto I shall be old. I have just re-read Tolstoy's War and Peace. What a work of genius, how humiliatingly great! Goodbye, dear, and let me hear from you soon. Affectionately B. B. For an account of Morgan's purchase of The Madonna and Child attributed to Raphael see D. A. Brown, Raphael and America (Washington, D.C., 1983), pp. 69 and 70. BB's early attriÂťI.
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bution to Pintoricchio he later changed to "fake." The painting was sold from the Morgan estate in 1944; its present location is unknown. Âť2 . Now in the Baron Thyssen Collection as by a follower of Fra Angelico.
Dear 'Ramus
July
12, 1909
I have never seen anything better than Ross's portrait of you, as a likeness. It is astounding. I dined there two nights ago. Everything delightful and charming guests. Santayana and the John Grays-you will probably see [him] as he goes to England. Don't get too tired; let me hear that you are well-and Mary. I am driven about with work of all kinds and no play. But I don't complain, only occasionally I am too lonely and at times that makes me envious of those who can do as they like. That does seem a thing too good to be true. No interesting letters from me you see, alas for my friends! With love Yours Isabella Potter has a bouncing girl!
Dearest Isabella,
[Hertfordshire] Aug. 4, 09
I received this morning your letter from Dublin N. H., and right glad was I to hear from you. We talked so much about you last night, Ralph and I, and with so much affection and appreciation. I got here yesterday and am spending three quiet days with the Curtises. I am nearly at the end of my rope, having done double what I should have, for many months passed. I can not tell you how my time went in London, but it whirled by madly. I saw little of my English friends, except those of Londres-les-Eaux as you see them at the Ritz. Of such, and of our own compatriots I saw many, and I wasted much time with dealers, and some time in penitential reflexions on life in general, and mine in particular. I am so afraid it has really happened, that I have become a society-lounger, and money-grubber, and God knows what. I do not like it at all, at all, and I mean to wrench myself away as soon as possible. But I can not quite forego the hope of helping one or two people collect well. It is heart-breakingly difficult, and it brings one in constant contact with the most distressingly odious people in the whole world, the dealers. For money alone I should not do it, so the devil tempts me by appealing to what little I have left of a sense of civic duty. So I am rather down in the mouth, and Mary has been feeling very low, and been in bed most of the time. Then I have lost two great friends. You did not like Lady Sassoon, but poor dear, she was one of my familiars, and life will be much poorer for her loss. Then she was only my age, was improving in character, and had such chances with her wealth and position. It 451
will be awful passing by 25 Park Lane. It will stare at me like an empty socket where there had once been a loving eye. But I feel far more the death of Rembrelinski which took place a few days earlier. Him I shall never replace, for he was a wonderful combination of so many qualities I love and enjoy in a man, and he was really devoted to me. Nearly half the year, in Paris, in Rome, or Florence, I saw him as good as every day. And men friends are so very rare. It is so hard making them when youth is over. Men are so busy, so self-absorbed, or so envious that it is next to impossible to get hold of them. The Curtises have a charming little place quite near London, but the weather has been so odious that I don't think they have enjoyed it a bit. Mrs. Tams has just been here, but I missed her-I am not going to S. Moritz, but shall spend all Aug. visiting here and in France, and the first half of Sept. in London once more. But 0, how I wish it were the end of Oct., and I at work again in Settignano, and my house really in order-a horrid letter. Do forgive it. Ever so lovingly B. B.
Dear Berenson,
Silvers hells Marion, Massachusetts August II [I909]
I wish I could talk with you, that is always one of my best sprees. I am on the Cape, for a few days with Mrs. Wirt Dexter and her daughter, 1 but soon will be back again at Brookline. We are rather amused by a newspaper account of the Great Collections of America. It eliminates Morgan's because so much of it is in Europe and goes on to say the 3 great ones are Frick's, Wid~ner's and Charles Taft's. 2 No hope for me. Apropos, how and where is the Duveen I know? the nephew. I want to write to him. Our news here is all political and changes with the day. My love to you both. Alfy Isabella Oh, tell me about some Steins, of whom I hear fierce tales connected with you. Mrs. Josephine (Moore) Dexter of Boston and her daughter, Catherine. »2 . Charles Phelps Taft (1843-1929), Cincinnati newspaper publisher, left his house and collection as a · museum. » l.
Dear 'Ramus
Silvers hells Marion, Massachusetts Aug. I3 [I909]
Your sad little letter has just come. I am ever so glad you wrote it. When our friends die, we close in all the closer to those left. I do feel the deepest 452
sympathy for your two losses-even for that of the beautiful Hebrew;: because she meant much to you-and I care for you and therefore care when you are sad and grieved. I have heard you so often talk ofRembrelinski that I know well what an ache his death means to you-and I too feel an ache in my heart for you because of it. Also it is very sad to have you cheerless and blue about your health and Mary's. Dear old man, I will not have it that you should ever be that odious thing "a social lounger and money grubber." Take a brace, for love of me. I wish you were to be at St. Moritz-for your good. I am having a few days vacation here . Silvershells is a pretty name, and the silver shells are on the beach, and the windows look out on them. I am with Mrs. Wirt Dexter and her daughter. But my summer has been a lonely one, and full of hard work. I fancy I can't look forward to much else now. Oh for a good vacation, and no worries. Do I mean, death? Give my love to dear Mary. I want you both-when? Yours Isabella-
P. S. The Tariff has passed. Will the Manet be sent soon? It can come straight to me, Fenway Court, any day. Please tell him so. What do you think is a good place for it?
I.
Dearest Isabella,
[Scotland] Aug. 27, 09
How nice of you to be so sympathetic about my losses. They have hit me hard, I dare say because they are the first. It is an epoch in one's life when one's dearest friends begin to go. Did I write you from Versailles? I must have. I went there for a quiet ten days with Elsie and Bessie, and the death of Elsie's mother turned it into a charming solitude. I strolled about a great deal under the elms in the park, read, dozed and really rested. We talked of you often and often Elsie and I. She is such a perfect reincarnation of the early r 8th century that to one, who like me, revels in completeness of character, she is a constant joy. From Versailles I plunged for a few days into the bosom of the family at Oxford, that being my only chance of seeing Senda who was there on her way home. By the way she probably will be at r 5 Stockton Str. Dorchester when this reaches you. If you care to see her, write or 'phone and she will come. She had a wonderful time in Greece, and Crete. Then I had a few days at Lady Cunard's which I enjoyed thoroughly. She knows how to gather very agreeable people about her and make them talk. And now I am here very quietly again with dear friends in the Western Highlands, resting and gathering strength for Sept., which I shall have to spend "moneygrubbing" in London and Paris. Hitherto n1oney has come in the course of my doing my ordinary work. I literally have never gone out of the way for it, or given it the first place in my mind . Now I do, and I hate it, and I 453
implore Mary to let me cut the whole business and run. But we can't. There's the house I have just paid for, and then the alterations will take a mint of money, etc. etc. I simply must make money-at least for a year or two. But Oh, how glad I shall be when I don't have to anymore. Happily we are expecting a considerable increase to our income. Joseph Duveen's best address at present is 20 Place Vend6me, Paris. Directly I return to London the Manet shall be sent you. I am very anxious to have it hang beside the Pollaiuolo, and Degas, so as to form with them a trinity of great paintings that are tremendous character studies as well. 1 Only the largeness of the technique demands that the Manet be seen much further from the eye than the two others. The Steins 2 are a tribe of queer, conceited, un-worldly, bookish, rude, touchy, brutal, hyper-sensitive people, consisting of Leo, who before he went totally deaf, and set up as painter and prophet in Montparnasse was a friend, disciple, and admirer of mine. Under the success of his mission, and the influence of a sister-a sort of Semitic primeval female straight from the desert-his friendship has turned to friendliness, and not unmixed with contempt. There is also a brother, and a sister-in-law, a quivering, fat creature, but magnetic, bold, and genuine. She and Leo are, or have been great adorers of Matisse, and it was they who made me aware of his existence. Leo and his sister come to Florence in the summer, and before we leave in June they come often to forage in the library, and to sit in our midst disapprovingly saying nothing. They all have power and brains, and I have always stood up for them, but I am too getting so frivolous that I begin to be bored by them. Now, what have you heard? You might play fair and tell me. Ever thine B.B. Âť r. ISG followed BB's advice. They were placed in the Long Gallery until 1915, when the ground-floor rooms became the nineteenth-century galleries. Âť2. The "Steins" were Gertrude (1874-1946), American expatriate author, her oldest brother, Michael (1865-1938), his wife, Sarah, an aspiring artist, and her brother Leo (1872-1947), a painter, writer, and psychologist.
Dear friend,
Knollwood Dublin New Hampshire Sept. 4 [1909]
Here comes your letter and I love it all. If only I could hear your voice. The Steins seem odd enough, and interesting, as you describe them. Someone said such nasty and horrible things about them, and their holding you in their hand! that I instantly wrote to ask feeling untruth in it-and now I can't remember who the traitor was, nor exactly what he said. You see it was a vivid but passing cloud. I remember Matisse was in it-that the Steins had
454
cornered the Matisse market-and such like!1 But really everything is reduced to a vague pulp in my brain-only a nasty vagueness is left-and nothing matters except that you have to make money! That is really desperate and horrid. You are not that kind; and should always be under the shower of gold. I think I'm that kind too. I am stopping for a week here with the Franklin MacVeaghs. 2 He is our new Secretary of the Treasury(Oh, if he could only have been in power when I was so up against it!) Here the life is one of luxury and delight, and very interesting. The great questions being discussed daily. Joe Smith's father and mother are having a grand celebration-all the week-in honour of the 5oth anniversary of their wedding. Land plays, water plays, dances, supper, music-all al fresco, with the sun and moon turned on full-rather glorious, the whole of it. I shall be glad to think of you at home again. What a joy it will be. Perhaps I shall be able to see Senda, and talk about you both. Give my love to Elsie and Bessie-I move to Fenway Court about the middle or end of November. Do let me have the Manet soon. Affy and lovingly IsabellaDear Mary! Thomas Whittemore (1871-1950), American Byzantinist professor at Harvard and Columbia and a friend of Matisse, gave ISG several drawings and a painting by Matisse. In 1932 he uncovered the mosaics in St. Sophia, Istanbul. Âť2. Franklin MacVeagh (1837-1934) was secretary of the Treasury, I 909-13. ÂťI.
My dear Isabella,
I Tatti Settignano Florence September I 8, r909
It is long since I have written to you, but the 'Ramus has from time to time showed me adorable letters from you, that made me feel very much in touch with you and your doings. My tale has been so tedious and woeful that I have hesitated to inflict it upon any friend. The improvements (so-called!) of this house have been giving me endless bother, and my health has not been good. But of all this "Enough, or Too Much." We hope to be in order by November, and I am looking forward to a pleasant month first with B.B. in Venice. Karin and some other young people are here with me now, roosting (I cannot say living) in our ruins. Their high spirits and gay laughter make me very happy. Today I want to tell you about my friend May Morris, William Morris's daughter, who is coming to America hoping to make some money for her mother, sister and herself by lecturing. 1 The enclosed prospectus will save 455
my boring you with details, but I am told her lectures are very interesting and her slides splendid. Now All-Powerful, cans't thou not do something for this dear creature? I am very fond of her, and think her a fine and interesting personality, and I should love to hear she had had a cordial welcome and appreciation in my native land. I am going to venture (I think for the first time) to give her a letter to you, and perhaps you will exert your irresistible influence in her favour. She asks very little for her lectures ($50.00), and I think there should be in Boston at least fifty elect souls who would like to hear her and to meet her. She is a great lover of beautiful things. Now the duty is off, where is the V[ elasque ]z head going to hang, I wonder? I have never spoken of it to a soul, but have often thought of it. And where is the great Manet portrait going? I love to imagine where you will put them. And which of all your great portraits are you going to like best yourself? And when is Denman Ross going to make a masterpiece painting you? Devotedly I am Yours, Mary Berenson May Morris (1862-1938) was the daughter of writer and artist William Morris . In 1885 she took over Morris & Co.'s embroidery section and created her own designs. ÂťI.
Dear Isabella,
[Versailles] Sept. 27, 09
When I last wrote I was in Scotland, and I told you about the Steins. Since then I have heard a story of how they and I have combined to push Matisse for our own profit. That is a noble tale and I congratulate the inventors thereof. As a matter of fact I have seen Matisse only for the second time a few days ago, and thus far I have got nobody to buy any pictures of his. By the way, he Matisse is much frequented, he tells me, by Prichard, who also frequents the Michael Steins quite a little. So he Prichard will give you ample information about them all. As for me I have on the whole had an odious time. My heart and mind and conscience revolt at what I have to do; not that it is dishonorable, or wholly without civic merit, but that I am not made for it. I am not a business-man, and I am not a diplomat. My word is "Yea, yea" and "Nay, nay," and when I suspect, as I constantly have to, that people are lying and hoaxing me, it makes me sick. Besides, I am compelled to be where I do not want to be. Thus I had a miserable time in London, the first fortnight of the month. My only alleviation was Lady Cunard to whom I feel truly grateful. Here it is very much better of course, but I long for Italy and I do not know yet when I shall get away. I am dying to get to work on n1y studies. It is r 8 months since I have sat down in my study. The Curtises, Mrs. Phil Lydig, Mrs. Hewitt are doing all that is in them
to make Paris agreeable, and so docs Henry Adams in his way, and here I come when I can. Of course I see Reinach a great deal. Other French people are scarcely to be seen in Paris, but last week I had four days in the country near Chartres with the Comtesse de Cosse, a dear friend. 1 In the art world Leviathanic, Gargantuan things are going on. Altman bought the pictures you have heard of thro' the papers, and besides he has bought a Cellinesque dish for about $200,000. 2 Mrs. C. P. Huntington3 has just bought for about $soo,ooo one picture of which I am not at liberty to tell you. But it makes me wonder at that rate what some of yours are worth. The Duveens have stepped in like gold-bugs. The Wideners have bought the two finest Grecos and two superb Sir Joshuas. Mary has been in Florence for a fortnight or more, and is trying to hasten the moment when we can get the workmen out of the house-there's a budget of news for you. With much love B.B. Comtesse Charlotte de Cosse-Brissac, one of BB's French friends . »2. The Altman dish is with the rest of the Altman Collection in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. It is now considered a nineteenth-century Viennese work. »3. Arabella Duval Yarrington (18501924) married railroad magnate Collis P. Huntington (1821-1900) in 1884. In 1907 she married his nephew, Henry E. Huntington (1850-1927), who built The Huntington Library in San Marino, Calif. Archer Huntington was actually Arabella's son by her first husband. » r.
Dear 'Ramus
Fenway Court Boston November 8 [1909]
Do you remember one day Duveen sent here the terra cotta bust of Maria Strozzi glazed by Luca della Robbia. 1 I said, "Alas, impossible to buy it." He said, "Let it stay, perhaps some day you can." Well, he placed it here, and now comes a bill from him for £4,000, equivalent to $19,480.00. I have lately paid him for the Pollaiuolo and am now trying to pay for the bronze bust. So, of course, this is impossible. Shall I send it to New York to Duveen, or do you think it so wonderfully good that it is worthwhile to keep it and try to pay later? I do not want to send it back until I hear from you. But later, would really mean, much later; as there is the Manet, and the Zurbaran to be paid for, and Swift says the year 1910 will only see them through. Of course, I should have not let Duveen leave the bust here at all, and I will send it back directly if you say so. Are you both well and happy, and where? I am distraught. Hard work saves my mind, as I am struggling to get Fenway Court ready for an "open week" beginning November 22. The Boston Art Museum opens next week and is really unfortunately bad. My best love to you bothAffy Isabelh 457
Âť r. Bust of a Young Girl, bought from Duveen as a portrait of Marietta Strozzi by Desiderio da
Settignano and Luca della Robbia, is now considered a nineteenth-century version of an Antonio Rossellino portrait bust in the Staatliche Museum, West Berlin.
My dear Isabella,
Donoratico Nov. 16, 09
I ought to have written to you long ago even on business, but the last days in Paris I was too busy and distracted, and since returning home too miserable and preoccupied. I hated staying on so long, leading a life of gaiety for which I had no more heart, or a life of business repugnant to my body and soul. You can imagine how I longed for my regular orderly scholar's life! I returned home with glowing eagerness, and I was so happy to get away from Ritzonia and Mammonia, that the first few days the horror of the present state of I Tatti could not touch me. But when it did, as it did in a few days, I was simply crushed to earth. No doors nor windows, idle workmen everywhere. What little they did having to be done over again, both of us catching violent colds, and no secure promise of a rapid termination, of a settled order, of being able to get to work. At last we could stand it no longer. Last week we tried to get to Rome but the motor refused to go halfway there and we turned back. So we came here yesterday to spend a few days with our dear friend the Countess Serristori, in the Maremma by the sea. I can not tell you how beautiful it is here, so wild, with pine forests by the malachite green, or deep blue sea, with arbutus and wild ilex inland. This afternoon we motored to the site of an Etruscan town named Populonia. Even in Greece there are few spots of more classic perfection of mass and colour. And now for business. For all I know you are stony broke and can not think of buying. But in case you can Gimpel on the one hand and Sperling on the other will bring you each a work of art that I am extremely anxious should enter the collection of Fenway Court. Just here I want to make a parenthesis. I want to tell you that I am making a great deal of money. As long as I do, and I trust it will go on for some time, I mean to allow myself two luxuries, one physical and one moral one. The physical one is a motorcar, and the moral one that I shall charge you no commission for what henceforth you buy on my advice. God knows that hitherto I have been careful to the utmost of my knowledge and conscience that I caused nothing to enter your collection that I did not heartily believe in, and that I did not regard as fair priced. Henceforth, I can afford to help you without any remuneration, and I trust it will not be to your disadvantage. To return to the two dealers. Seeing that the duties are now off, and seeing that a photograph could give no idea of the picture I want you to buy, I persuaded Sperling of the firm of Kleinberger of Paris to submit it to
you in Boston. This he will do, he said, before the end of this month. I only pray this letter reaches you before his visit. Well the picture in question is a Goya, the very finest Goya, to my taste, that I have ever seen. It is the portrait of a great Spanish lady with her infant in her arms. 1 The pink tone is a real marvel, the dress being one of the finest bits of execution in the whole range of painting. I dare say you have been hearing a great deal about Renoir. Well this Goya is what Renoir may have been aiming at without a chance of getting there. And as character, as race it has that same extraordinary distinction, that total absence of coquetry or appeal to the gallery which makes Velasquez so wonderful. This Goya belonged to Leo Goldschmidt. The price at which Sperling will give it to you is seven thousand pounds (£7,000), payment entirely at your convenience. The price-as prices now go-is perfectly reasonable, even very cheap. If you can possibly see your way to paying for it in the dim future, take my advice and buy it. Gimpel will bring you a marble of which I showed you the photograph last winter. It is a Madonna by Rossellino. 2 You will see for yourself how lovely, how refined, how exquisitely preserved it is, what a wonderful patina it has. And I need not tell you how very rare such things are anyhow, and how few there are in the market. I should love that too to enter your collection. Gimpel will let you have it for £8,ooo, eight thousand pounds, payable at your convenience. I have studied this marble a great deal, and regarding its merits I have no doubts whatever. But you know I am not like Bode a universal expert. Forgeries in marble have been made for a century and more. They have attained to a perfection that for all but questions of price make them in every way worthy of all but few originals. Now, I naturally would not urge you to buy this Madonna if I did not firmly believe in it. That it is as beautiful as any Rossellino I can affirm, but that it is by him I can not swear for the simple reason that I have not perfect confidence in myself as expert in sculpture. But as the difference in money-value between an authentic quattrocento marble and an imitation even tho' superior, is enormous, I wish you on the one chance in a thousand that Gimpel's marble is not Quattrocento, to buy it with the written reservation that should competent experts ever come to the agreement that it was a forgery that he would take it back and refund your money. You remember we got the bronze bust on the same terms from Gimpel. In fact I never let my friends buy any sculpture now without such a reservation. It is not because I have more fear of this marble than of any other that could come into the market. So buy it if you possibly can. Tell me about the new museum, and what you are doing and wanting to do. With much love from us both B.B. E. M. Sperling, vice president of F. Kleinberger Galleries, Paris and New York, owned The Countess of Altamira and Her Daughter by Francisco Goya. Then at Kleinberger, Paris (pur-
» r.
459
chased from the Goldschmidt Collection), it was bought by Robert Lehman and is now in the Lehman Collection, The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Âť2 . Gimpel's Madonna and Child by Antonio Rossellino was sold to T. F. Ryan in r9ro and by his executors at auction in 1933 . It is now in the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Lugano , Switzerland, and identified as a forgery.
My dear Isabella,
[I Tatti] Nov. 20, '09
Returning just now from the Maremma, I find your good letter of the 8th. Of course you must keep the della Robbia bust for she is a beauty. As for paying, please give it no other thought until you find it perfectly convenient. I am convinced that the bill was sent you entirely by way of routine. In all big firms the clerks without consulting the principals send out every six months bills to customers. I have already written all the same to the Duveens to ask them to write you a re-assuring note. So please do not worry. The roads in the Maremma were too dreadful for motoring so when it did not rain we walked, following streams into the hills and losing ourselves in a glory of arbutus, or treading the beaches between the pines and the sea. It was soothing, and beautiful, and I enjoyed seeing the dear Serristori again. She is dearer than ever now that Rembrelinski has gone and I give her some of the affection that used to go out to him. The house is worse than ever, but let us hope it is the darkest hour before dawn. With much love from us both B.B.
Dear B.B.
Fenway Court December 5, 1909
I got your letter yesterday about Maria Strozzi, her bust-and my mind is greatly relieved for I love her, and I thought I saw her snatched from my financially trembling hands! Of course, now, having got my letter about her, you know that the Goya and the Rossellino are impossible. So, some of those squillionaires must rush in! I weep over your house, dear beautiful "I Tatti," but however can you expect it to go well if you leave it a minute. I sat by and held Fenway Court's head night and day! In this country you would have to! Our new opera house goes well, and the weather is fine, and Senator Aldrich has just spent a day with me, and I did enjoy it because he is so clever and means to know all!1 My very best love to you both. The public have just had ten days here. Velasquez Innocent X and Manet great favorites. Remember both arrived after the change of tariff. Don't forget that-tell Mary. Ajfy Isabella
Nelson W. Aldrich (1841-1915), senator from Rhode Island, 1881-1910, chairman, National Monetary Commission, 1908, was instrumental in removing the import tax on works of art. »I.
[Postcard of I Tatti.]
Dec. 14, 09
I hope this will reach you in time to give you Xmas greetings. We have asked Bain the bookseller to send you my brother's little volume of verse (of which we like especially the Epilogue), and please accept with it our love and best wishes. 1 We are two desolate and homeless creatures, still submerged in building and planting and raging at inefficient workmen. It will never end. Devotedly Mary Berenson » l. Songs and Sonnets (1909).
Dear Isabella,
[I Tatti] Dec. I 7, 09
I got your delightful letter of the 5th today. I am so glad that the Manet and the Velasquez are great successes. I was however distressed to hear that you were feeling too poor to get the Goya I was urging upon you. It is a picture I admire immensely, and regard as in every way worthy of your Velasquez, your Manet, and your Degas, and I still beg you to reconsider it, and to see whether you can not manage it. I have no doubt Kleinberger will wait for payment as long as you like. Later. I have just had a note from Kleinberger which fills me with amazement. He writes curtly to say that he can not understand what you mean by not receiving the Goya that I bought for you. Of course I did no such thing. All I did was to ask them to submit the picture in the original to you. Please take the trouble to write and tell me what really has happened. Did they bring the picture to you, as they promised they would, or did they simply write summoning you to take it over? If you have not seen the picture I urge you to write and tell Sperling to let you see it, without its engaging you to buy it. I really can not understand how, if you had seen it, you could have let it go without you and Swift making every effort to secure it. The price I agreed upon too is really so very reasonable-£7, ooo. We are still in the depths, and are both knocked up with worry, and rage, and despair. I wish to goodness I had left things as they were. But life seems to be a series of experiences none of which really helps you and many of which only hinder you in the future.
I can not tell you how I sigh for a year ago when I was having such a delightful time at home, and getting glimpses all too brief, yet very dear, of you. With best wishes for a Merry Xmas and a Happy New Year. Affectionately Yours B.B.
My dear friends
Fenway Court Boston December r 8, r 909
Can this get to you in time to bear of greetings for the Merry Christmastide? For the New Year, at least, and may the best the Gods can give be yours. I pray that I Tatti is at last its beautiful self again-and that you two are happily there. I am rather too tired and overworked to write a "Champagne" letter, but I can always send one full of affection. B.B.'s book came this morning, A Sienese Painter of the Franciscan Legend.1 The very rst opening shows me that delicious Chantilly Sassetta. How I shall enjoy the book! I long for the quiet moment. Oh, if I could only see you both. Do you remember a young woman called Belle Greene who is Mr. J. P. Morgan's secretary and is in charge of his library? 2 A nasty thing has happened connected with her. But rst you must both swear secrecy. If not, please do not read anymore of this. It is really my wish not to have what I write go any further. I have seen her at Mr. Morgan's library, and again this winter there. About a fortnight ago I got a letter from her asking me if, during a visit she was going to make in Boston, she could see Fenway Court. I wrote, and of course "yes." She came, stayed not quite an hour, was very exuberant. A friend of mine was in New York one night last week at supper. There was Belle Greene, not knowing he was a Bostonian or a friend of mine, and she began to talk about me in such an offensive manner, saying among other things that I had invited her to come, and had charged her $1 for coming, that she had spent the night here at Fenway Court and hoped to the Lord never to do such a disgusting thing again. He took fire and said, "Did you spend a night at Fenway Court? I know Mrs. Gardner very well and etc." She was visibly disturbed, he said, but went on with "Oh her friends know her-." The Berensons for instance-" Mr. Berenson says he can't trust her-." Then she went on that she couldn't trust Mrs. Berenson-and then followed a lot of lies, like the preceding. What do you think of it, and incidentally of her, as all her account of her visit here was a lie. She probably does not know either of you at all. Tell me if she does. Among other things she spoke of the forgeries my house was full of. Among other things, the Maria Strozzi bust, which was a laughing stock
in New York she said! It turns out she is a half-breed, and I suppose can't help lying. But let me know what you think. Very great love dear friends from Isabella ÂťI. BB's book on Sassetta, originally two articles in the Burlington Maga z ine 3 (1903) : 3-35 , 171-184, was published in London in 1909. Âť2 . Belle da Costa Greene (1877-1950) was librarian at the Pierpont Morgan Library, 1905-23, and was director, 1924-48. BB fell madly in love with her when they met in New York in 1908 .
Dear friends
Fenway Court December 27 [1909]
It does seem impossibly cruel that I Tatti so beautiful as it is in reality and on that fascinating postcard should in any way cause worry, toil or trouble. Do let me have better news soon. Thanks dears, for the wishes and card. Here it is the day after the blizzard, and really from my windows the most beautiful sight in the world. I hope to see Senda in a day or two and then we s,h all have a feast of B.B. talk. My very best love to you both. Isabella
Dearest Isabella,
[I Tatti] Jan. 1, 1910
As usual my first letter of the New Year is addressed to you, and may it be a right happy one for all of us. And if it bring us together again, I shall feel heartily grateful to it. The last year began with a Friday, and no wonder that with some pleasure it brought us much pain. We have seldom been so unhappy as we have been for the last seven months over this house. We are still far, far from settled. It will take weeks before order reigns once more within the house. As for what is not within it will drag on for months if not years. There seems no end to the time it takes, to the money it drains, and what is worse the horrors it gives me of Florentine bipeds-men, human beings I will not call them. Of course under these fussed conditions we none of us can do a stroke of literary work, and that I have deplored most. At the best I no longer have an endless series of working seasons, and to lose one of them makes me sadder than words can say. I have no other news, so let me turn to the incredible tale you tell me regarding the reported utterances of Miss Greene. I met her at Morgan's Library last winter, and saw her several times afterwards. She was kind, hospitable, and helpful. She produced on me the impression of a very competent young woman, absorbed by her job, and devoted to her employer. I carried away that impression, and the few letters
she has had occasion to write to me, and what I have heard about her since have given me no reason to change my mind. I remember asking you about her soon after I first met her, and I remember your telling me you thought she was a good sort, and that you rather liked her. The post that brought me your last letter with your report of her outrageous utterances against you, brought me a letter from her with greetings for the New Year, etc. She tells me of a visit to Boston, of how she hated my portrait by Denman Ross, and this is what she says about Fenway Court:"I saw Mrs. Gardner's palazzo which I think is one of the finest ensembles I have ever seen. I am desperately enamoured of several of her things, especially a stunning Raphael portrait of the Tommaso (Inghirami?), an enchanting Velasquez, an equally enchanting Madonna and Child in terra cotta which is quite wonderfully placed against a deep rich blue wall. The interior of the house charmed me infinitely. I could have stayed there forever." That is the way she writes to me of her visit to you, and that is all I know about it. I can not account for the way your friend reports her as speaking unless indeed that as it happened at a supper, she may have been a little tipsy. Chi lo sa? Mary is going to England in about a fortnight, and I may go with her so as to see the Grafton, 1 and the other exhibitions before they close. But I hate the journey, and dread the cold and damp of England in winter. With real love from us both B.B. Âť r. The exhibition "Manet and Post-Impressionism," at the Grafton Gallery, London, closed
on I 5 January
1910.
Fenway Court Boston January I, 1910 The very first day of the New Year, dear friends, a word to you both. First my love to you. It is even bigger than my thanks for the Songs and Sonnets of Logan Pearsall Smith. And they are enchanting, and I am enchanted to have them. If I could have a glimpse of you two, my New Year would seem gay indeed. Cheer up, even at its worst I Tatti beats the world. I fear I must finish this later-I am now beset.
January 3 Yesterday, Sunday, dear Senda came and lunched and it was a joy to see her. She told me Mary might go to England. B.B. behave well if she does, and see that everything is finished at I Tatti, that she may come back to happiness. Oh, dear friend, how I envy the perfect spring you will have
there. You must have, by this time, my letter explaining all about the payments due before I can think of anything else. As I said before if I expect to keep the Maria Strozzi I can't have the Goya. Mr. Swift is at the accounts, and says, "Impossible to think of until everything is paid for." The Sperling did not send it (the Goya) for me to see, and did say you had bought it for me. But don't worry about dealers and their ways. They are not to be taken seriously if one would wish to live a few years longer. My dear ones, keep well and happy. I shall expect soon answers to 2 or 3 letters from me: Once more my love to you both, and a happy 1910. Lovingly Isabella
[London] Dearest Isabella,
Jan. 29, 1910
I had quite a shock last night. I was dining with Rosenheim, and looking over an album of photos taken by his nephew, I came across one of you that was a perfect marvel. It was really a great work of a1:"t, and I was for carrying it away at once. But he would not hear of it until he had sent you a specimen and got your permission to give me one. Please do as soon as you hear from him, and I will repay with a very good photo he has done of me. Mary is at Iffley with her mother, and I am here seeing the numerous exhibits of Old Masters, and the Museums, and the people connected with them. I am not greatly in the mood for the smart world, and thus far I have seen nobody but Mrs. Crawshay and Lady Horner. 1 I spend the week-ends being personally conducted by Cook to see collections in the country. The weather is singularly bright and crisp for England. I was going to leave the 8th and stop off at Paris for a few days, but that divine city is in such agony now that I fear it may not be abated so soon. 2 I am so strongly reminded of you here, now. The last time I was here in cold weather you were here too. With much love B.B. Francis Jane (Graham) Horner (1858-1940) was the wife of Sir John Francis Fortescue Horner. Âť2. The Paris flood of l9ro. ÂťI.
'Ramus dear,
Fenway Court February 5 [1910]
Whatever do you mean? How could anyone have taken a photograph of me, and I not know. I do hope he will let me have one. After I have seen it, I will knovv whether I would like to have you have one. So he must hurry to let me see it. Dear friend, be fainthearted about it all over there, and come here! I do long for you. I have been away for 2 days in Washington and 4 in New York, and I really had a glorious time, seeing and hearing. Some of it, the best, was Bohemian, musiciany and such like. But I saw no pictures, and came home for that. My love to you both. Alf Isabella
Dearest Isabella,
[Ludlow] Febr. 6, 1910
You who have been everywhere may know even this quaint, infinitely remote place. I am spending the night here so as to be able to get back the sooner to London tomorrow. I have been exploring country houses, personally conducted as usual by Cook. I have been in England over a fortnight, and a week hence I hope to be in Settignano again. I am glad I came for I have been having a delightful time socially and artistically. Mrs. Astor, Mrs. Crawshay, Lady Johnston, 1 Lady Horner, Lady Cunard and others have more or less befriended me, and I have been very assiduous at the exhibitions. There were three rather remarkable ones going on together. At none was there much that was new to me, but I was glad to see things again, and all brought together. I did not share London's unanimous enthusiasm over some of them, over the Temple Newsham portrait for instance, which struck me now as it did when I saw it years ago at Temple Newsham as an attractive but quite inferior thing. 2 Colvin3 has been trying to raise money to get by subscription a series of Chinese paintings dating from the 7th to the l 8th century, among them some very remarkable portraits. I got various people to help him including Lady Ripon. 4 She by the way is taking to Kulture in her decline. Her kind used to take to religion. In the British Museum too I was shown a few of the treasures of Chinese Art brought back by Aurel Stein5 from Turkestan, completely upsetting things. Also some Peruvian mugs, masterpieces of sculpture. Mary has been at Oxford most of the time enjoying her children and her mother, but unless I have to stop over in Paris she will return with me. How jogs the world with you? Write and tell us. Ever affectionately B. B. Nettie Johnston, wife of Sir Alan Johnston. »2. The Temple Newsam portrait of a young man by Titian is now in the earl of Halifax's estate, Garrowby Hall, Yorkshire. »3. Sidney Colvin (1845-1927), art critic, writer, and Keeper of Prints and Drawings, British Museum. »4. Lady Ripon is Constance Gladys, marchioness of Ripon. »5. Sir Aurel Stein (1862-1943), Hungarian-born English explorer and archaeologist. »I.
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
Febr.
18, 1910
I am writing to Dr. Rosenheim to send you that wonderful photograph of your dear self-if he has not done so already. He took it the evening you dined there with his uncle when you were last abroad. I hope you will receive it soon, and give him permission to let us have a copy. We got back six days ago to the usual confusion, and quickly took to our beds with awful colds. It has however been beautiful weather, and lying
abed with the sun streaming in is not the most dreadful thing in the world, particularly when one has Anna Karenina to read. I hear that "Dick" Norton has settled down in London. What for? And we all expected him to marry Mrs. Nickerson and she has married one of the English Hoods. Give me some gossip, if you know any. Our house is still to be, still a rubbish heap, still confusion, and almost one is getting to like it-such being the power of habit. My brother-in-law Pearsall Smith has been here during our absence and is still here, a truly charming, marvellously cultivated, extremely witty man, and Ray Costelloe, who also is a great joy to me as I like the detached yet active and exciting quality of her mind. She is going over at the end of next month to study the origins of the suffrage woman in America. Of course that is a mere pretext for much work and fun. I wish I were going in her place just for the fun of seeing you and having some larks with you. With love B.B.
Dear Berenson
Fenway Court February 23, 1910
I am going to Sam Warren's funeral. He is such a loss, that it is appalling. He was the only one who cared and worked for the Art Museum. The consequence is that the staff are heartbroken, and the trustees etc. know and realize not. He has not been well, but his death from apoplexy was very sudden. I don't know the dear little inn you were at in Ludlow. I wish I did. What I wish most is to see you both. Will that ever be? The last Kneisel Quartette of the year takes place here in the Music Room in 2 days. 1 The opera still 3 goes on, Boito's Mefistofele wonderfully presented. 2 Okakura's brother gives another of his three talks here today in the Dutch Room, but I am sad and blue because of Sam Warren's death. I love you both and am Affy yours Isabella Where are you now? A string ensemble founded by Franz Kneisel in 1885. »2. Arrigo Boito (1842-1918), Italian composer and poet. Mcfistofele was first performed at La Scala in 1868 . »3. Yoshisaburo Okakura, younger brother of Okakura-Kakuzo, became a professor of English literature and compiled an English-Japanese dictionary. »I.
Dear 'Ramus
Fenway Court March 4, 1910
I was glad enough to get your letter and hear from I Tatti. I hope I shall see the breezy Ray when she is here. Why not go back to the garden of Eden for the origin of female suffrage?
I do long to get that photograph and see what you see in it! As to D. Norton I have no words. Mrs. Nick[erson] is well out with him and in with the Hood. A cloak would be better. Bullard has just given to the Art Museum a collection of Ruskin engravings in memory of Prof. Norton. Poor man, his (Norton's) bad deeds live after him-I mean his son! The news here is sad. Sam Warren's death is unrealizable as yet. It is a terrible loss. His brother Ned's law proceedings killed him. 1 Ned is crazy. That is his only excuse. Some quite modest and innocent marriages will take place this spring. I am to have "open house" March 28, and then move to Brookline. Work, friends (a few) and opera [and] concerts and dinners, but alas! no you nor Mary. Alf Isabella Âť r. In December 1909 Edward Perry Warren filed suit against members of his family over the
return on his interests in the family business. He received a favorable settlement and ultimately was forgiven by most of the family.
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
March
19, 1910
I am truly sorry about Sam Warren's death, and regret immensely that Ned should in any way seem connected with it. Poor, dear Ned, you know not, none of you, what a heart of gold, how generous, how large minded he can be. I know it from experience. Pray do not think I am defending him out of gratitude. He may be a trifle mad I grant, but I do think him incapable of conscious wrong-doing or deliberate mischief. Our chronicles are not even of small beer. Ray Costelloe has just gone en route for America. She won't be in Boston till later, and will let you know. I immensely enjoyed her visit. She has such a good, fresh, and yet truly reasonable mind, and what I value greatly, real detachment. The "season" is approaching and I know not what it may bring forth. I expect visits from Monsieur Ro bins on, and from Elsie and Bessie. I expect Mrs. Phil. Lydig and I suppose many of my crowd from New York, London and Paris will be over. The house is advancing at snail pace. The new library in which we already sit a great deal is an immense success. It is just the kind of thing, in the way of a spacious yet cosy room that I have always been wanting. The servant problem seems also to be solving itself. We have four new ones, and they seem a fair lot, including a really good chauffeur this time. N)empeche that we had no use of the machine for a fortnight, because it took all that time for the Itala at Turin to send a bolt to replace one that had smashed. And the cost of the thing! You have no idea. Directly you have a soul, above a hovelt bread, and onions, life is more expensive than anywhere else in my known world. We are both of us "enjoying" feeble health, I real feebleness. Forty min-
utes' work seems to be at the utmost what I can do in the way of work at a time. How is the new Museum wearing? Did I tell you ever that Wendell 1 wrote at Xmas that your Innocent X was "damned ultimate." With much very real love from us both B.B.
Please send me one of Rosenheim's photographs of yourself. » r. Barrett Wendell ( r 8 55-192 r), author and professor of English literature at Harvard.
Dear,
Fenway Court April l , l 9 lo
Your letter March 19 just came. The photographs Rosenheim kindly sent me were so much broken in transit that I told him [that] one of them would be useless to you. I said he might send you one if he would. I fancy they did not have proper cardboard protection. The "Ned Warren talk" is now added to by his having given an inferior head to the Art Museum in memory of Sam! 1 It seems, the Art Museum, to whom he tried to sell it, would not take it; then he offered it to the Worcester Museum, they also refused-and now giving it as a memorial to Sam does seem the last straw! People say, why not give the great beautiful head in memory of Sam? Instead he makes them in the person of Nat Thayer pay an enormous sum for that-and gives this oft refused head!! !2 Mad, I should call that a kind word! He absolutely seems blinded. I am so glad I Tatti is getting well and beautiful. I long to see it. Do .get well and strong, you two dear ones. I am now in a 2 weeks agony of "open house"-and then move to Brookline, and perhaps peace. My love to you both. Isabella » r. Ned Warren's gift to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in honor of his brother, Sam, was
an Ideal Female Head from a Funerary Monument, Greek, fourth century B. c., now considered a very good piece. »2. The Youthful Maiden, a female head from Kios, ca. 300 B.C., was given to the museum by Nathaniel Thayer.
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
Apr.
17, 1910
We are in the midst of our "season" and as I am as weak as a feather I feel very tired. In a few days we hope to get away to Rome, and to be quite unsocial there, just sight-seeing and motoring. Would you were going to be with us. What fun it would be to explore the Campagna togetherMorgan has been here, but I did not see him. I hear that since I told him that his last Raphael was no Raphael he positively hates me. Davis has appeared on the scene. I had not seen him for nearly seven years, and was
afraid of the ravages of time on his aging face. But he looked scarcely a day older, and was full of his usual jokes, and quips . Of other countrymen we have seen only Mrs. Ripley. Our latest toy and joy is a Welte-Mignon piano. If you don't know it it is no use trying to tell you, for you will not believe it . It is really having the exact touch of the pianist. The only drawback is that as yet they have very few rolls of music that we like-Mary is jolly, and seems in better spirits than she has been for a long time. She is motor-mad and young-peoplemad (males preferred) and as she has the one and the other she seems happy. As for me I fear I am past curing. I love sociability, it excites and stimulates me, and while I am [in] it, I seem to feel no fatigue. The more dearly do I have to pay for it afterwards. I am then all nerves and like the ephemeridae [ephemeron] without a tummy. Only they don't need one-thrice blessed insects! I am plunged deep in Egyptian and Babylonian history and art, and primitive, and Oriental things in general. I now wish I remembered my Sanscrit and Arabic. With ever so much love B.B.
Dears
Fenway Court May 2, 1910
I envy you both-I Tatti, or other parts of dear Italy, and your weather. Here, struggle, struggle to get to Green Hill, which I hope to do in two or three days-and may the weather at last be fair to deck the garden for me. It is now cold and raw. I am writing only to thank the 'Ramus for his letter, and to say I love you both. I am too driven to write. Father Hugh Benson's lectures here were delightful, and he, a charming personality. 1 Keep well and happy, both of you. If there were only a hope of seeing you both soon again. My great big loveIsabella Father (later monsignor) Robert Hugh Benson (1871-1914) , Roman Catholic priest, was an author of semimystical fiction. ÂťI.
Dearest Isabella,
[Rome] May11,1910
Mary left Rome day before yesterday, and I am going day after tomorrow. I am staying on so as to start Elsie and Bessie on their sight-seeing. They both are extraordinarily appreciative, particularly Elsie. She really feels beauty. We spent most of our time motoring about exploring the more inaccessible parts of the Campagna. Such fascinating places as we saw and such marvellous landscape. Placci was with us. 470
Here we have been seeing very few people except such friends as the Princess Trabia who happen to be staying in the hotel. Dora di Rudini I always see, and she is very lovely in her new apartment in the Barberini. There I saw Jane S. Faustino, poor dear. She is just recovering from an operation but not yet from her husband's neglect. The Ronalds have been here, and Bertha has shot off some of her swiftest darts. 1 When you meet people they talk of nothing but the engagement of Dorothy Deacon to Aba Radziwill. You ought to see Florence Baldwin installed at Caprarola. 2 It is Affectionately B.B. a sight to make the gods envious. P. Lorillard and Bertha (Perry) Ronalds lived in Paris. Âť2 . The Villa Farnese at Caprarola, outside of Rome, where Prince Doria established Florence Baldwin in 1908. She remained there for the rest of her life. ÂťI.
Dear 'Ramus
Green Hill Brookline, Mass. May 25, 1910
So the Deacon-Radziwill is off. Tell me details about the mother's State! With a capital S of course. Aren't they dears, Elsie and Bessie? I do envy them and wonder if I am ever to see things with you. Perhaps if I give all my attention to it this year I may scrape enough together to buy a ticket for next year!!! My love to you both. I am so busy-Indoors and out of doors-and such an arbour of wisteria! Goodbye. My love to you both. A.ff Isabella
[I Tatti] Dear Isabella,
June 5,
1910
No-the Deacon-Radziwill marriage is very much on, it is to take place in London in ten days. 1 All Europe, I may say, has been in a blaze over it. Even the Czar has been appealed to to allow the family to take away the young man's majorat. But he evidently did not consent, for I do not think the marriage would have taken place if the young couple had had nothing but Dorothy's $4,000 a year (mythical at that!) to live upon. Radziwill said he didn't care, they could go and live in South Africa-but this would not have suited his fair mother-in-law's books. The story is this-that his mother, the fat but frail Princess, not content with her own amours, which are notorious, likes to surround herself with pretty girls who flirt with young men, so that there is always an atmosphere of that in her house. She took up Gladys once, so as to have Roffredo Caetani and Prince Torlonia always at the house. Gladys proving too much of a handful, she took up Dorothy, who is very pretty et tres-correcte, but of 471
course a flirt. She introduced her to Roman Society and chaperoned her everywhere, throwing her constantly into the company of her son, who was of so inflammable a nature that he had already tried to marry various housemaids and governesses. Everyone expected some such denouement, except apparently Princesse Bichette, 2 to whom the engagement came as a shock. She put all the blame on Florence Baldwin, and from the first declared her absolute opposition. She says she will never receive Dorothy and never speak to her son again, and she has stirred up all the family, to the third and fourth generation, to unite with her. Foolishly enough, she raked up Mrs. Baldwin's past (and present), and then her own ditto somehow came to light, including a child at Naples that none of her own family had known about before! On the whole, she did not score in this conflict. We found opinion at Rome inclined to be with Dorothy. And soon the pretty little thing, just eighteen, will be a Serene Highness, in spite of the1n all. Triumph of Mama. The young Prince is said to be half-no, three quarters-witted, of a depressed and melancholy temperament. The Countess Serristori was asked to talk to him, and she found his point of view to be-''Je suis toujours malheureux, j 'eta is ne malheureux-Je serai malheureux sans Dorothy, malheureux avec Dorothy, en taus les cas malheureux." However, opposition seems to have made Dorothy more desirable to him than any other form of malheur! We lunched with them both at Caprarola on our way to Rome. You cannot imagine the splendors of that vast villa, with its incredibly romantic garden, nor the regal, and I must say perfectly beautiful way in which Florence has furnished it! One characteristic note-she said she had imported hundreds of cocoons of brilliant butterflies, which were to come out this summer and flutter over the garden. I must say I admired her at that moment, and felt I had never done justice to her talent. Nor had I, even then, for when I spoke admiringly of it to Dorothy, she laughed like anything, and said "I have never seen these famous cocoons-indeed, I never heard of them before!" On further investigation it turns out that the idea is due to Montesquiou-the executioa, up to now, to no one. She complains that Prince Doria is terribly stingy, I suppose he won't run to butterflies. But what he has run to is very splendid. Only Florence is bored to death living there, in glorious isolation, far from the Roman shops and tea-rooms. She rushes off to Paris at the slightest excuse. Gladys is in Paris, "on her own": but it is mysterious how extravagant she can afford to be. She says she makes money betting at the races. She has kept two horses and a groom in Rome doing nothing for two years. At last she has given Doria permission to sell the horses for her and dismiss the groom. When she comes to Florence, she wears only one old dress, no gloves, torn slippers, no underclothes but stockings, and is incredibly dirty, scarcely combing her hair, and living without a maid in a little room with
472
a dozen dogs, and laughing and happy all the time. She is the despair of her friends. What of Edith? You can tell us that. Her mother speaks of her with great bitterness. We are just preparing for our summer move, leaving the house still in the hands of our young English architects. The 'Ramus has been much upset by all this building and reorganization, and now he is really ill in bed, and I fear he will not be able to get to Paris on the l 5th, as he had planned. I am going to take him to a quiet cure in August, for I don't believe much in St. Moritz, and I hope next year will go better than this one has done. I haven't been particularly well, but it is nothing out of the way, and I don't mind, except that I haven't had quite enough energy to grapple successfully with our difficulties. Mrs. Perkins wants a whole chapter to herself. She has been a great comfort to me in practical, house-keeping ways, but she isn't much use as a secretary. As you know, her head is full of men, and there isn't room there for much else, except general good spirits and a little practical helpfulness. The rest is muddle and shifting sand, and she has no habits of work. She drives the 'Ramus nearly crazy, and I can but be thankful I had no hand in engaging her. 3 Yet to me she has been a distinct help and comfort. We have found one or two splendid pictures, of which I will send you photographs as soon as they are taken. Of course the Government has come down on them, and their exportation is forbidden. We want more news of you, please send it to us. And please save up your money to come, and we'll take you motoring wherever you want to go. Always devotedly and adoringly Yours, Mary A most delightful visit from Elsie, but Bessie stayed only one night. On the way back to Paris she lost her dressing-bag with all her jewels-$15,000 worth of things. »I. Prince Antoni "Aba" Radziwill (1885-1935), at first a suitor of Gladys Deacon, married her sister Dorothy (1891-1960) in London on 5 July 1910. »2. Aba's mother, Marie (Branicki), married the fifteenth Prince in 1883. »3. It was 1\1B who took on Lucy Perkins despite warnings. See MB to ISG, 22 March 1909 and 25 April 1909.
My dear,.
Green Hill Brookline June l 5, 1910
Quite the most wonderful letter I ever got! They print all sorts of stuffs, written by the Lord knows Who and people jabber about them in literary clubs-but that letter of yours is "to laugh and to cry and to be happy ever after." It casts a glow over this life of mine, and I realize that every day is
473
thrown away when I am not in the company of you two delightful ones. I am seriously worried about 'Ramus though. Will he go to a quiet cure and rest? I am feverishly beginning this minute to think how I can get away next year and go over to see you both. Oh, if I could. What part of the year would it be possible to find you? To motor with you! Why that is just to dream about. I am here for r..i.onths now, everyone leaving. Day by day they cram the ships to get drowned at Oberammergau, if the ocean spares them. And that noisy Teddy [Roosevelt] and I are to be alone on the American Continent. I shall squeeze into my corner, but it sounds sad! 1 What a funny world, when Cavalieri and Diane de Pougy marry! Distinguished not to marry-but then, there are even many that do that! There was a vague report that the Edith Deacon girl would marry George Peabody-but probably not. 2 Today is race day at the Country Club, but my racing friends' horses are not fit, and it rather bores me to see the women, restless and ignorant, all fussy, and alike. The interesting people I have seen lately were the Birds. Real birds! One of them was married yesterday to one of old dead Quincy Shaw's grandsons. The mother, her two sisters, the bride and her sister were all wonderful looking. They are mills of some kind and very rich. They live at East Walpole, over beyond Dedham, and the wedding was more or less out of doors under fine trees. The bride wore her veil like an Egyptian, and for frock a white satin one, with nothing underneath. And her name is Joanne. I love you both and long for more letters. It is an odd blessing that Mrs. Perkins gives comfort to Mary! Yours Isabella Diane de Pougy was an actress and courtesan. See Samuels, vol. II, p. engaged to George Lee Peabody, but in early 191 I he died. ÂťI.
IO.
Âť2.
Edith was
Court Place Iffiey, Oxford Dear Isabella,
July 14, 1910
One of your enchanting letters made us very happy-especially with the hope it held out of your coming over to us next year! You must come by the Southern route and give us, at the renovated "Tatti," just as much time as you think you can spare. We can take you motoring wherever you like. What fun it will be! Well, the Radziwill wedding did come off, after many delays, and little Dorothy is a Serene Highness. It now remains to be seen whether she can make the family accept her. I have heard nothing so far. Edith Deacon seems to be making a much better marriage. I should hate to belong to the Radziwills; they are a degenerate and very vicious lot, with wild unbridled tempers, and fearfully extravagant. 474
The 'Ramus, after a fortnight in Paris, came to London, where he is having a fairly amusing time. A very beautiful woman, who sings like an angel, Mme. Goloubew, who has just been supplanted by Mrs. Romaine Brooks in D' Annunzio's affections, 1 is now asking the 'Ramus for spiritual aid "a un moment de sa vie ou elle a bien besoin d'une main sure pour la guider." Will he be equal to the delicate task? Her husband is a great friend of ours, and he and the 'Ramus are writing a book on Persian art together. He gave the lady a million francs when she went to live with D' Annunzio, two years ago. Soon these things will be over, for we are going to a "Cure" for August, and then to Constantinople with Carlo Placci for September. Here it is paradise, and no snake! The weather is elysian and the house is full of the laughter of youth. Always devotedly yours, Mary Berenson » l. Nathalie de Goloubew was the wife of the rich Russian-born archaeologist and collector
Victor Goloubew, who sold ISG the Chinese stele (for which see BB· to ISG, ro April 1914). Nathalie met D'Annunzio in 1908, and they became lovers. When D'Annunzio ran off with American expatriate artist Romaine Brooks (1874-1970), Nathalie pursued them, and for a while D' Annunzio managed to see both women until Romaine retreated to Paris.
Dearest Isabella,
[Surrey] July l 8, 1910
I have been fearfully rushed ever since leaving Florence just a month ago. In Paris I had an enchanting time, altho' if you asked me what, I now could scarcely tell you, except that I adored the Russian ballet and went as often as possible. Of course I saw Ralph a good bit, and something of Elsie, but more of French friends. Among them and quite accidentally I met Gladys Deacon a couple of times, and found her in great form. D' Annunzio was about-and I hear he is coming to England presently under the high protection of Lady Cunard. In London I'm very .busy improving my mind, trying to persuade trillionaires to buy pictures, and seeing my friends, and making new acquaintances. But of course I am neither great, nor rich, nor important enough to be of any consequence in London. There is one small picture in the market I dearly and disinterestedly should love you to own. It has not yet been offered to anybody. But I fear it is no use talking for its price is £ l 3, ooo. at lease. But could you by miracle raise that rnoney, it were indeed a picture for you. It's not Italian. It's a portrait bust of Leonello d'Este father of Isabella or grandfather rather, by Rogier van der Weyden. 1 0 my cracky what a picture! If you could raise the money, cable YEROGER, and I will see what can be done. I am spending the weekend with the ever lovely Lady Helen Vincent, 2 a grey-beard in the midst of a party of young things. They play games every 475
waking moment and are pleasant to contemplate. In London Mrs. Leslie and still more Mrs. Crawshay are my most frequent play-fellows. One ends by seeing pretty much the same people every-where sticking as I do to the same set. But nobody here draws me out as they do in Paris. There they enjoy talk; here only what they can carry away from your talk. But friends are friends everywhere. Mary and I leave in a fortnight, first for Munich to see the show of Muslim art-Ralph may join us there-and then to Gastein for a cure. Then the whole of Sept. we plus Ray Costelloe and Carlo Placci are going to spend in Constantinople where none of us have ever been before. It will be a great adventure, and I anticipate it with some trepidation. Don't I wish you were going to be with us! I just really do, you dear, dear Isabella. Affectionately, B. B. » r. Van der Weyden's Portrait of Francesco d'Este, then at Colnaghi, London, passed through
many hands before being purchased in 1918 by Michael Friedsam of New York, who bequeathed it to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in 1931. »2. Lady Helen Duncombe (18661954) was the wife of Edgar, the viscount D'Abernon (1857-1941).
Dear 'Ramus
Green Hill Brookline July 30, 1910
Alas alas, impossible for me to think of anything in the £13,000 category! So I don't cable-I only weep. But in Constantinople the best you can find for me-please of course not in the £13,000 category. I am crazy about oriental art and Gentile Bellini! Particularly the lst. I am not over well, so write only a little, but send great love. Aff Isabella Your letter was a very dear. What are the trillionaires buying?
Dearest Isabella,
Court Place Iffiey, Oxford Aug. 12, 1910
Your notes frighten us both. It is the first time I hear you complain of your health-and of course I don't like it. Ralph C. too (who seems to have heard before us) is very anxious. Instead of going to Gastein, I decided to come here and to lie abed most of the time. I don't know how it will turn out-it is a bore. I am afraid I am getting scared about my own health too. I suspect I'm not good for much, and yet I don't want to kick the bucket just yet. I have invested too much in life and want to see some returns. Besides I feel as if I could still do something in the way of paying back.
Don't I wish you were here now, and I'd take you to see the exhibit of wonderful Chinese paintings at the British Museum. I am "just crazy" about the Orient, and if I were free and in health I'd go at once, begin in India explore that thoroughly, then Java and Cambodia, and finally China and-if strength remained, then Japan. As it is I must be satisfied with what I can see and buy here-from buying much I am prevented first by poverty, then by Mary's dislike for Oriental things, and finally by the fact that I have little room for it. But l am in contact with all the amateurs and dealers who go backward and forward. I can get the pick of their best, and at the lowest figures. Just now it is Persian miniatures one should go in for, because the market will soon be exhausted. The very finest are still to be had for say fron1 two to five thousand francs apiece. In a year or two that will be impossible .. Along with Persian miniatures I go in for early Chinese terracottas. Now I should be delighted to get things for you but you would have to rely on my taste and judgment for of these things there be no photographs. You would have to let me know how much you were ready to let me spend in the year on Orient. I would of course do it all as a labour of love, letting you have things for the exact figure charged me. If you are serious let me know. One of my friends, Claude Anet, 1 has just returned from Persia with a collection of specimens of the very finest illuminations (miniatures) of the whole range of Persian Art. Our plans are very vague about Sept. Oct. I shall have to spend in Paris. Let me have news of your health by return. With much love B. B. Âť I.
Claude Anet (1868-1931), French art dealer.
My dear B.B.,
Green Hill Brookline Aug 22-[r9ro]
Your affectionate letter touches me to the heart. I am disgusted with myself-and mum's the word henceforth about my health. The stupid fact is that I have a bad head and have had one always more or less. No worries is the main thing; and as I have worries and cares, quite incessantly, it goes back on me now and then. This summer all sorts of stupidities and complications, dreary and harassing, have been coming up. The doctor says it (bad head) comes from a heart not over strong. That I must have no worries etc. etc. You know how easy that is, particularly as there isn't a living being to take anything off my shoulders. But I mean to take all possible care and never worry if I can help it-so that's all. I am sorry I ever spoke-I suppose there was a particularly bad time. Take care of yourself too-and we'll outlive them all, accomplish great things, and dance on their graves. My love to you both. It is quite true about the Oriental things. Persian 477
above all, and Old Chinese. You should see some of the latter terra cottas Okakura has sent. I shall send you to Earing's by Swift $1,000. Do the best you can for me-not many things, but very good. And I will try later to send another thousand if you say so. One good thing is better always. Alfy with love always Isabella! am just back from a few days with Marion Mason Wilson at Saratoga, and I did love it. 1 Marion Mason Wilson was the wife of Richard T. Wilson, who may have been related to John L. Gardner. She referred to him in her letters as " Uncle Jack." Âťr.
Dear Isabella,
Court Place, Iffiey, Oxford August 28, 1910
I am sure the 'Ramus has written you how dismayed we -w ere to hear from you that you were not entirely and absolutely well. It is impossible to think of you-You!-as having anything wrong, and I hope the weak heart has by now returned to its duty and that you feel as fit and immortal and omnipotent as we always imagine your being. We, who haven't your constitution or your Will, suffer many indignities at the hands of "brother body," but that seems the order of things: whereas to have you ill upsets the fixed foundations of life! Please be quite well again. We have spent all summer taking care of our crazy and irrational bodies. Bernhard tried staying in bed for a fortnight,-! tried the Starvation fad, each of us with moderate success. He is now en route to Munich for the Mussulman Exh[ibition], and I am to join him there next week. We had to give up Constantinople this year on account of my health. The Radziwill marriage came off, finally, and they are at Versailles, where the never at all in love young bride complains of being bored nearly to death. Elsie and Bessie say they like the Prince quite a good deal. Mrs. Baldwin is going to America this autumn, I think to try to get money from her brother, for the large cheque which she sent in payment for Dorothy's trousseau was returned from the Bank, and the fournisseur threatens her with the law. She went to the Cure at Brides, where Elizabeth Marbury and Anne Morgan were, with Prince Doria and asked Bessie if they might sit at their table, but she was told "Certainly not." What tact she had (it never was much) seems to have forsaken her. She is (they say) more beautiful than ever. I daresay you have heard that the Curtises took a "Cure" at Carlsbad. We hope to see them in Venice at the end of September. I am ashamed to say anything about our miserable rebuilding to you
who are competence incarnate. The 'Ramus and I ought never to have undertaken it! It's not finished yet: but I still hope we may have a peaceful winter after Bernhard comes back on November lst. He means to spend October in Paris, while I wrestle with the workmen and hurry them along. I do not know whether we ever spoke to you of a very talented musician, Mary Cracraft, who spent some years near us, and used to enchant us for hours every week playing Bach? She is a wonderful player, and Carlo Placci says there is nobody plays Debussy as well as she does. But she has never got on, for she is a difficult, tactless sort of person, who puts most people against her. She now wants to go to America with a friend who plays the violin very beautifully, and give concerts, especially chamber concerts, or concerts to schools, women's clubs etc. In the weakness of my heart (for I am really fond of her) I promised I would write to you about her, and send you her prospectus. If compassion or interest touched you for her and you could do something, I should be more glad than I can say. But I am sure she will write you some awful tactless "English" letter, which will quite put you off. I do hope we shall hear two things soon-that you are well again, and that you have definite plans for coming over to us. Devotedly yours, Mary Berenson
[Munich] Dearest Isabella,
Aug.
29, 1910
Your letter of the 22d reaches me this minute just as I'm leaving. I have been here some days studying the marvellous Muslims, chiefly Persian things here. There never was such a thing, and there scarcely will be again in my lifetime. How I wish, you could have seen it with me. I am sure it would have doubled my pleasure. I want to tell you tho' how anxious I remain about your health. In the name of everything do take care of yourself. If you but knew how much I cared!!! I shall not be back to Paris before Oct. l, so you have plenty of time to tell what are your exact preferences, severe l 5th century miniatures, early Chinese terracottas, and bronzes, or Mesopotamian and Persian pottery. And fear not I'll load you up with truck. I am more likely to get you one thing for your money than many. On account of Oberammergau Munich is crowded with people. But except to one or two dealers I have not spoken to a soul. I spend every available moment looking and the rest of the time I lie down. In haste but so lovingly B.B. 479
Dear Isabella,
[Paris] Nov. 6, I9IO
I am just returning to Florence having spent five weeks here of very mixed moments. I have been feeling very low, bored, and out of sorts. My friends have stood by me like trumps, and rve been lucky in having so many of them here, for instance Ralph C., the Serristori, Mrs. Crawshay, Henry Adams, Mrs. Wharton, etc. But when one carries ennui in one's bosom no friends are of use. That is why I have not written to you. Why come to you with feeble piping complaints? Had you been here?--1 have looked around a good deal and seen nearly all the market contains of Persian miniatures, and after really careful consideration have concluded that about the best 5,000 fr. worth I could get for you would be the three I 5th and I 6th century ones that I am asking Claude Anet to send you on approval. If you keep them all it is 5,000 fr. for the three. Separately each is a little dearer. But while I advise you to keep all three-for they are of a kind now getting very rare and expensive, -you need not feel bound to keep any one, or any at all. But please return very carefully packed those you do, and let me know the price of those if any that you do keep so that I may [pay] Claude Anet. By the way Ralph also has seen them and likes them as much as I do. Furthermore you must not be influenced by what you may be told or know regarding prices paid formerly for such things. Those days are of the past. Let me hear from you soon, and give me good if truthful news of Affectionately B. B. yourself.
Dear friend
Fenway Court December 3, I9IO
I got your letter about the Persian miniatures-you and Mr. Claude Anet, both wrote they were coming immediately, but I wait and nothing comes! Perhaps Mr. Anet did not send proper papers with them for Customs. There must be consular certificates and bills, etc.-otherwise nothing will ever be heard of them, and they will stay in the Custom House. For me everything should be sent direct to Boston, not N. Y. I am sending him a line to say this. I am driven to death just now, and can only send love and wishes for a "Merrie Xmas" to you bothAff Isabella
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
Dec.
II, I9IO
I should be very anxious about you, seeing how long it is since I have heard from you, if it were not that I learn from others last of all from Senda that you are out and about. I wonder tho' how your moments pass, what colour
they have, what haste, what zest. And what news is there in your world and all its coasts? Do send me some gossip-please. I came home just a month ago, and found the house at last habitable, and prettier than ever-inside. Outside it is too horrible. We have wasted a small fortune on the garden with the result of turning what was a dear Tuscan podere into a miserable potter's field, and destined to look like that for many years to come. The beautiful library too is appalling with the frescoes our friend Piot has painted. 1 They will have to go-and what they have cost in money, time, and trouble, -don't let's mention it. We are both thoroughly done up. Mary occasionally has a good day, and bustles about, but I have stayed in bed ever since my return. The truth is our possessions and responsibilities are too much for us. And Mary has no gift for housekeeping, and I none for being well served. My attempt at a secretary was a disaster, and now I am without one and a great relief it is in many ways. And yet my library, my photographs, my notes have really got beyond me. A man is coming from London to help me out this winter, and I have engaged another for next year. He is meanwhile in training, perfecting himself in German and Italian. I have naturally not seen a soul, nor is there any to see. Placci is here very little, and Labouchere is too old to come here. His daughter Dora has been here once and she is charming but not exactly company. So I read for ever, and happily I enjoy books. In the long run it is what I care most about. No startling news in the art world, except the appearance of a new Velasquez, they say a wonderful portrait of Philip from the collection of the Duke of Parma, bought by Agnew's. 2 With much love from us both Affectionately B.B. ÂťI. Rene Piot (1869-1934), French painter whose murals in the library at I Tatti were covered up by BB. Âť2. This painting of Philip IV, bought by Agnew in l9IO, was sold to Frick by Knoedler, New York in 191 r.
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
Jan. r, r9rr
My best wishes for the coming year go to you with this very first note that I am dating r9r r. I hope it will be a year full of interest, entertainn1ent, and delightful activity for you, in which case you will be happy as well. As for me, I have never before been so completely immobilized, and segregated. Until about three days ago I scarcely got out of bed, and practically saw nobody. But for work requiring to be done, and business attended to, I should not have minded. I was not too uncomfortable. I felt no desire to see any one, and I greatly enjoyed reading. One of the books I read, you really must look at. It is called China under the Empress Dowager by Bland and Backhouse. 1 But I daresay I have already told you.
At last I dare to believe that I am beginning to recover strength, and that I shall presently be able to take up life again. I have .got a perfectly splendid fellow to come from London to help me out with my work. 2 Hitherto my "secretaries" have been more a hindrance than a help. With love from us both Yours affectionately B. Berenson of that ilk--
J.
0. P. Bland and E. Backhouse, China under the Empress Dowager: Being the Life and Times of Tzu Hsi Compiled from State Papers and the Private Diary of the Controller of the Household (London, 1910). Backhouse's remarkable career of deception is the subject of H. Trevor Roper's A Hidden Life: The Enigma of Sir Edmund Backhouse (London, 1976). »2. Lance Cherry, who was killed on the western front in 1915. » l.
Fenway Court January l 3, 191 l
Dear, What is her name, and is she worthy? You have lovers and friends by the dozens (don't forget the devoted me!). You see, I am supposing you have simply lost your mind, this being so ill and in bed! Senda worried me about you, so I write this, and say Rally at once-and tell me so! I shall send Mary a stick to beat you with. My love goes to you both. If I could only see you two! Affy Isabella Still no sign of Persian miniatures.
Fenway Court Jan 2 3 [ l 9 l l]
My dear, You might have told me her name just the same! Who is she? Poor, poor 'Ramus-I would give-well, anything to see him straightened out. If I am very good and can beg or borrow or steal perhaps I may manage to get over to Europe for a little-but I don't dare to breathe it-for I have been working at the idea in my brain over a year-and even yet can't be sure. But if I come dear 'Ramus will have to take care of me and there will be no time for anything else. You dear Mary, the wonder, will manage it all. That I know. I am so busy putting up Chinese doors and asphalting them-at this moment, my hands are black with the asphalt. Also I am busy writing notes for George 1 Proctor. He is engaged to marry one of his pupils a Miss Burtt - a good girl without living parents, but alas no money. The engagement was not to come out for 2 or 3 weeks, when suddenly a low down new·spaper got hold of it; he had no time to let friends know, so I am writing to the most important. Tell B.B.-. I do wish you were both here and could see the white snow with the sun on it.
Also tell B.B. if he will listen to such things, that nothing has ever been heard of those Persian miniatures by me. Will you run over and take me back, or will you bring me back if I go over? Great love to both Affy IsabellaÂť l. Margaret L. Burtt, librarian at the New England Conservatory of Music, separated from
George Proctor in
Dear Isabella,
1912
and divorced him in
1916.
[I Tatti] Feb. 6, 191 l
I'm grateful for your offer of a stick wherewith to beat the silliness out of the poor old 'Ramus-but I fear it will take more than that! Only Time will do it, and we must have patience. I had really hoped that a little happiness would be good for him, and make him forget his worries, and tranquillize and restore him to at l~ast the condition of his pre-housebuilding character. But one never knows how these things will turn out-on ne badine pas-and he seems to worship the Lord of the Sorrowful Countenance rather than the gay young urchin suitable to his circumstances. I feel indeed very sorry for him, nor do I see any hope save in Time and the gradual healing over of those most painful but least serious of wounds. I honestly don't think in these cases the Object matters much. 1 She is Divine by definition, more gifted than any of her kind, and of course miraculously sympathetic. As a matter of fact, she is a nice creature, full of energy and goodwill, a thoroughly "good sort," and I like her very much, and wish to protect her from inconvenient scandal by being her friend. She is young and flirtatious and surrounded by admirers, and I do not think she is unhappy about it. But the poor 'Ran1us is old and ill and romantic, and pleases himself with imagining he is like the Azra-"welche sterben wenn sie lieben"-which isn't at all the case! He is going in a few days to stay with the Curtises for a fortnight, and I hope the sensible and worldly wise Ralph will help him on towards a cure. There isn't any thing except a cure to look forward to, I fear. His friends beg me to live, for she would make his life quite as wretched as the adorable Gladys Deacon would have, although she is a much decenter sort of character. But she loves an exciting semirowdy life, with endless cocktails and cigarettes, and champagne suppers and practical jokes. She n ever reads, and they haven't a single taste in common. This as we all know, doesn't matter to love, but it is a serious drawback to life. None of his friends could put up with her for a moment, so that I feel I am a barrier to what would certainly be the ruin of his whole existence. 'Tis a strange madness. Owing to this "psychological shock," as his doctor calls it, he is really
quite ill, but only with nerves. He came back three months ago, and hasn't been willing to see a soul, -life itself has been a kind of nightmare. You know how people are-the greatest pleasures seem mere emptiness in the absence of the One round whom the universe revolves. However, his reading he has enjoyed immensely, and he likes having his depressed, ailing little sister Bessie here, and he is very nice to her, and since a few days, he has been at work-all these are good signs. I feel the situation is a delicate one, and if I make a seriously wrong move, it may be a very tragic one. But I am really so fond of him, and so anxious for him to be happy that I think I shall be, as the Quakers say, "guided aright." You are such a kind and intimate friend that I have felt as if I could write to you freely. The thing has got about pretty generally, owing to some silly imprudences, and I think you are sure to hear who it is. It is better it should not come from me, however. I have just had a note from Princess (Dorothy Deacon) Radziwill, who, on the strength of an heir-to-be-born was received by all the family. As usual with the Deacons, she has gdche'd the affair, for she tells me she has had une fausse couche! I cannot think of any other news to tell you, for we have seen no one. I am going to England when Bernhard goes to the Riviera, and I shall really be glad of the change of moral atmosphere. Depressed people are depressing! And you? I picture you as always triumphant and pleased. Yet perhaps everyone has some spiaceri. May yours be very light. Devotedly, Maryl beg you to stand by the 'Ramus in this and deny all reports that may come to your ears! He is sure to be himself again soon. All human beings are subject to these pleasing insanities! ÂťI.
Belle Greene, for whom see ISG to BB,
Dearest Isabella,
I
8 December 1909.
[Saint-Jean-sur-Mer] Febr. 26, 191 l
Behold me for the first time in my life in the Riviera and in the most enchanting house in the Riviera. You know it well, and no doubt occupied the self same room when you were here. The garden is a dream of loveliness. Between's Ralph's taste and attention and the incredible willingness of the soil and climate floral miracles are performed here daily. Life here is very, very quiet, and I'm only too happy to see nobody and do nothing, except to look at the headlands and the sea, to smell the flowers, and to read novels.
I've actually read The House of Mirth at last, and a mighty fine thing it is by the way. 1 Mary is in England enjoying her manly daughters, and will I dare say stop here to pick me up on the way back to our troubles and tortures in Florence. I have taken Italy in horror as a country to live in, now that we have wasted at least $100,000 in an estate. Italy should be visited but not lived in by people of my kind. You need a rhinoceros hide, and a power of bluff neither of which have been given me. I dare say for that reason I should find life difficult everywhere. Ma parliamo delle case allegre, and the most joyous is the definite information that has reached me that I have actually been discussed as a possible assistant to Potter in the curatorship of painting at our Museum. Isabella don't you think that would be grand! I'm sure you'.11 back me up, won't you? Tell me, dear, have you got $s,ooo to spend? If you have I'll let you know of somefin az may pleeze ye. I fear my poor enemy-friends the Duveens are clobustered as a firm. 2 Uncle Sam, Uncle Sam, what an ass you are! Ralph would sartinly send love. We talks of ye hofn. G'by, dear Isabella Yor affekstionate B. B. Âť r. Edith Wharton's The House of Mirth (London, 1905).
The famous Duveen smuggling case, which resulted in the payment of$ r. 8 million in customs duties.
Dearest Isabella,
Âť2.
[Saint-Jean-sur-Mer] March 8, 191 l
Hip, hip, hurrah, 0 won't it be joyful, joyful, joyful, joyful, joyful, j?yful, 0 won't it be joyful if You really do come. Of course you will be encircled with people far more interesting, more important, and abler to keep up your mercurial pace, your mystic indefatigableness, your ascetiscism, and your glorious high spirits than the poor sore-headed invalid that I have grown, obliged to cosset and coddle myself day and night. But I'll get occasional crumbs from the high piled table of your doings. Write and tell me more, when you hope to be able to come, and where to travel, and where to rest. It is at some moment of calm weather I'd be best fitted to join you. I tell you what, let's us go to a cure together, to Gastein or the solitude of St. Moritz. But no sightseeing if you wish to enjoy anything but my funeral. Happily you have had enough of that. There may be a bit of real pleasure in showing dear friends the great sights they have never seen. But that once ne, aesthetic pleasure is a very solitary experience. So Proctor is marrying! My heartiest good wishes, and all my prayers. It is a solemn business which the wise Catholics bade us enter into with a contrite heart, prayer and fasting.
Claude Anet does not seem able to recover the Persian miniatures. I'll find you others. Mary who has been having the flu, hopes to join me here in a few days, and after a night or two we return to Florence. I shall hate to have Rembrandt's Mill go to anyone but you, so I hope it will remain in England. Barrels of love B.B.
Dear Isabella,
[I Tatti] Apr. 3, 1911
I write in haste enclosing two small photos of two most lovely and delightful panels by Raffaello dei Carli, a follower and successor of Botticelli. 1 I am writing to you about them first because, as I understand you once came near buyii;ig them, I want to give you the chance of acquiring them if you want to. They belong to Mary Crawshay who took them over from Murray Guthrey who bought them in Rome. Mrs. Crawshay on my advice is asking £1,000 (one thousand pounds) for them, and I assure you they are abundantly worth it-and indeed a good deal more. I should very much like you to get them truly for your sake. Altho' I want to do what I can for Mary Crawshay, I should, if you don't want them, have no slightest difficulty in placing them elsewhere. If however you do want them please cable Berenson, Settignano, YECARLI, and bear in mind that as I keep £200 of your money, your further outlay will be only of £800. How are your plans maturing? Most Europe-ward I hope. I do wish you would come and keep me company at Lausanne where I shall be taking a cure sometime in the late summer or early autumn, and where I should be a perfect angel of undistracted devotion and as entertaining as they make 'em. Just now we are both ill, and low, and rather despairing Yours affectionately B.B. » r. Raffaello dei Carli, another name for the artist now known only as Raffaellino del Garbo,
is the author of the two panels-one with Sts. Stephen, Apollonia, and Genesius, the other with Tobias, Archangel Raphael, and St . Catherine . They went to Harvard as part of the Grenville L. Winthrop bequest in 1943.
Dear 'Ramus
Fenway Court April ro, 191 r
The influenza seized me and made a mess of me, so that I can't really write you a foolish letter about your foolishness. This is only a word to say I enclose a note for Mr. Anet about those miniatures. I don't know his address. It is only to tell him that the incident is closed. He apparently would
not send an invoice, so the things must stay with the U.S. Customs, as I certainly cannot undertake to get them out. It is strange how determined foreigners are not to conform to U.S. regulations. Those regulations are ridiculous-but-they are! Don't you be ridiculous anymore but get rampagiously well and make me have the time of my life if I come over. Love to you both. Isabella
Dear 'Ramus
Fenway Court May 8, r9r r
Really not a letter, because I can't write. I have been really ill for 6 weeks, a bad dizzy head, and take digitalis and lie still. But one word must go to you, even at this late day, to say I can't buy the pictures-alas-I am trying to save pennies to get me to Europe, if I get well enough. I should like to count on a month (August?) with you at Lausanne. I remember it quiet and comfortable, and you would be my joy. Keep well both of you. My great love- Isabella Think of Senda. 1 Âť r. MB wrote of Senda's engagement in her letter of 3 l May 191 r. Evidently ISG already
knew.
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
May
21,
r9rr
I am delighted at last to hear from you but distressed and even alarmed by the account of yourself. I am sincerely sorry your heart should be untrue to you. I hope it won't prevent your coming abroad, and I should simply love to have you with me at Lausanne. There would be no one there to distract us, and I could abandon myself entirely to the enjoyment of your dear self. Here to us much has been happening. Mary was called home to England just three weeks ago to her mother's bedside, but no longer found her alive. You can scarcely conceive what a wrench it means for Mary, whose entire existence centered about her mother. She came back two days ago with the startling news that just as she was leaving England her elder daughter Ray got herself engaged to be married. One seldom has so poignant a performance of the drama of death and life played for one's special benefit as it were. I am going north the middle of next month Paris and London as usual. Of public news there is the Abdy Sale wherein was sold a late mannered Botticelli not half the importance of your cassone, and not a tenth its value for what will cost the Metropolitan Museum of N. Y who has purchased it, some ÂŁ15,000 while yours cost ÂŁ3,000 all told. 1
I am just finishing Wagner's Autobiography. Do read it directly it is translated. Ever affectionately B.B. Mary sends her love and I. Story of Lucretia, purchased for ÂŁ3 ,ooo, is not a cassone panel but an architectural decoration, as was the Three Miracles of Saint Zenobius, purchased by The Metropolitan Museum of Art through Langton Douglas at the Sir William Abdy sale, 5 May 191 l. Âť r. ISG's
Dearest 'Ramus
Fenway Court Boston [May/June] 191 l
I do not dare write to Florence for I think you must have fled in this hot weather, so this goes to London to say how much I thank you for your dear cable. I am better, but the grippe this year seems to be the devil, and a relapse which is what I also had-and is worse. Seven in one household of friends had it; 7 in another and 5 in another. No family has gone free, and there have been 4 deaths among friends. It seems to be very bad this year. Last night I was told that this was the worst year known by the doctors. But I am obeying all medicos and very slowly getting on my feet. The end of the week I hope to move to Green Hill, Brookline. And where and how are you and Mary? I am obliged to give up all idea of Europe-so after a quiet summer I shall go begin to plan to get to Italy! next Spring! That sounds to me too wonderful to be true, and it probably won't be. I can't write another word, so great love from Isabella
[I Tatti] My dear Isabella,
May 3 lst
191 l
Like all your adorers, we have been very anxious about you, and although we hear from the Curtises that you are really better, we shall not be comfortable in our minds until we hear from you that you are quite well again. I should have written before, but two family events have occupied my time. My dear Mother died on May first, and my eldest daughter, Ray, became engaged to be married. I have been in England nearly all the Spring. Ray's engagement seems to give great satisfaction to all the parties not 1 concerned, and immense joy to herself and her lover. He is Oliver Strachey, son of Sir Richard Strachey, who was for many years a very prominent figure in the reorganization of India. They will be married in September, and come here for a month, and then go to India for a little while, ultimately settling in London. Karin, to whom you were so adorably kind, is going to India with them. I have returned to find the 'Ramus still hoping you will come over, and longing to devote to you every minute of time you will accept. His foolish
old heart is healing of its wounds and he has made an oath "Never again"! On ne badine pas avec l) amour. His health is more serious, I fear. He is really "good for nothing" at present. I wish you would come and carry him off to a Cure. While I was away, Mr. Henry Walters of Baltimore came here intent on adding to his collection. 2 Some lovely things have turned up and he got some of them. You have doubtless heard that Senda is to be married on the l 5th to Abbott's son. 3 She seems very happy. They are coming here for July, but I shall be in England, with my brother and sister and daughters. We are going to read over all my dear Mother's letters, sitting in her garden. The 'Ramus expects to be at the Ritz in Paris for the rest of this month, and at Claridge's Hotel in London, you permitting, during July. After that, he has no plans. He waits for yours. Always devotedly and admiringly) and now a little anxiously) yours) Mary »I. Oliver Strachey (1884-1960), divorced father of a nine-year-old daughter, was a brother of Lytton Strachey. He and Ray worked together on suffrage and later on war relief Almost at the moment of this letter they were married at a registry office in London. »2. Now in the Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore. »3. Senda was engaged to Herbert Abbott (1865-1929), professor of English literature at Smith College. Lyman Abbott (1835-1922), minister, editor, and prolific writer on church matters, was his father.
Dearest Isabella,
[Palazzo Farnese, Caprarola] June 12, 191 l
I simply can't tell you how happy we are to hear from your ain dear sel', and to receive on the whole such fair news. We all were scared bluer than blue by the horrid accounts in those thrice accursed newspapers. The same post brings me word from Ralph who writes that he also has had reassuring news from you. So I hope all is as well as can be expected in this very unsatisfactory world. What a queer place. It takes us about twenty years to get it to fit, then for perhaps ten it does fit, and thereupon it begins to wear threadbare, get out at the elbows, falls into rags, and I do believe if we lived long enough we should return to earth as naked as we entered it. Cheer up, for everyday almost has its tiny alleviations, something sweet pushed into our mouths to stop our tears. And thus one lives, and I cordially regret that I am not to see you this summer. I don't know exactly what I shall do after July in consequence of your defection. Perhaps I may try St. Moritz once more. You see I am writing from Caprarola. I dare say you have been here. It is the more than princely palace and park of the Farneses erected and constructed in the Golden Age. As you know it has been taken by Mrs. Baldwin, and she is restoring it in the discreetest and furnishing it in the most appropriate way imaginable. She really has perfect taste, as is natural, for a
woman who dresses well will furnish well. As for me I feel in these grand spaces , these beautiful decorations, these noble gardens, and splendid groves and murmuring fountains all overhanging the blessed Campagna, I feel, I assure you , as if it had always from ti1ne immemorial been mine, and that I at last was returning to my own. We leave in a few hours, and in Florence I shall stay only long enough to put away and pack. I get to Paris the 20th and all July I shall be in London. Best love, and best luck to you, dearest Friend! Affectionately B. B.
[Green Hill] June 26, 191 I Only a word on a scrap of this Venetian hand-made paper to tell you what pleasure your Caprarola letter gave me. It came last night. I must say I envy you-and do feel badly not to be in Lausanne with you this summer. I do need you immensely. There are great long rr1oments of want for you. I am getting better and still lazily doing nothing. Okakura goes in August back to Japan and that will be a grief. Santayana has gone for summer lectures etc. in San Francisco. There have been many illnesses and deaths from this terrific grippe which took on new and dreadful forms. My great love to you both. Affy Isabella
Dearest Isabella,
[Claridge's Hotel] July 22, I9I I
Your last note to me was unusually delightful, and now I hear thro' Ralph that you are all right, and managing to live despite the awful heat that is raging on your side. I must say it is pretty bad here, considering how little arrangement is made here for hot weather. It is 8 5 in this carefully shaded large room. I am leading the usual life-museums, dealers, society, plenty, nay too much of all. But it seems a haven of rest after Paris where really and literally I am kept busy every minute. Of startling news there is only the supposed discovery on The Mill recently acquired by the Wideners, of the signature of Seghers. People like Fry and Sir Claude Phillips 1 seem to think it quite probable. Of course it is the kind of picture which-at least as I remember it-need borrow nothing but only add glory to whatever name it ultimately adheres to. But in view of the fact that the Wideners bought because it was a Rembrandt beyond dispute and paid accordingly, I am amused. Mary can not get over her mother's death, and she is not at all well. At the end of next week I shall join her at Iffiey for some ro days, and 490
then I shall go to S. Moritz-on my doctor's orders. He wants me to go to Combes in Lausanne early in Sept. After that I know not. Keep as well as possible, love me if you can, and write to me. Affectionately B.B. ÂťI.
Sir Claude Phillips (1846-1924), art critic, collector, and keeper of the Wallace Collection
from l 898 to 191 r.
Dear 'Ramus
Green Hill Brookline, Mass. August 5, 191 l
I can love you and do, and I am wnt1ng to you but with no news; only hallelujah over our baseball team the Boston Red Sox, who have just won four straight from the Detroit Tigers, and another Hallelujah for the perfect weather. What a life you do live! Come over here and be a real person. As for poor Mary I weep for her. My true love and sympathy to her. I wish I could see you both. What good it would do me. I am here nearly all summerthe garden, pleasant people, some delightful books and your letters! Write many. Okakura goes to Japan tomorrow and I shall be in the dumps. It will be a "truly" loss. I bought that precious little Lorenzetti of the Perkins' 1 the other day, and the money is to do for one of their children's school-so it seems an all round good. Come and sit in my garden with me. Santayana has decided to live in Spain half of every year-the call of his blood. Yours lovingly, Isabella Âť l. Bought from Mrs. Charles Bruen Perkins, the tabernacle with The Madonna Enthroned,
with Saints and Angels is by a painter whom BB called "Ugolino Lorenzetti" in reference to his place in the history of Sienese painting. He is now identified from documents as Bartolommeo
Bulgarini.
Dearest Isabella,
[St. Moritz] Aug. 21, 1911
I am delighted to hear that you seem to have recovered all your spirits and interests. Yes, I'm very glad you got that little Lorenzetti from the Perkinses. Do be a good girl and send me a photograph thereof. Be sure you do. I'm at my old haunts as you see but rather old for them, and as ever and in all places, rather out of it. That I should not mind so very much, for I'm now old enough to appreciate the charms and real presence of reposeful solitude. But I do hate all the changes and the flooding of the place by common rich, by the really poor, the poor in everything but money. Not 491
that there is a lack of the other sort, but they are lost in the crowd. Among people you surely know are Lucy Hewitt, Lisa Curtis, Mrs. Griswold, Lady Elcho, the Harry Whites, 1 and the Purdys, and the Laurie Ronalds. I have my beloved Serristori, and a young French woman as clever named the Marquise de Ludres. Poor Carlo Placci who had been here only two days was called away yesterday to his mother's bedside. Prince Pio is here, and among rank outsiders, Maurice de Rothschild, and Joe Widener. I remain here till Sept. 7, and then I know not. If cholera be not raging too much I'll return to Florence. Otherwise Paris and country visits thereabouts. Mary is at Iffiey, and I dare hope beginning to recover her spirits. Write again and at once to your Ever affectionate B.B. Âť 1. Henry (1850-1927) and Margaret (Rutherford) White, formerly U .S. ambassador to Italy
and to France, and later on the commission to negotiate peace, Paris, I 9 I 8.
[I Tatti] Dear Isabella,
October 28, 191 l
It seems a very long time since we have been, as they say in England, "in touch" with you. Yet your name, for the week when Ralph Curtis recently stayed with us, was constantly on our lips; and when we made a delightful motor excursion to Volterra, we all three felt it was distinctly wrong that you were not with us. Since then Mrs. Wharton and Mr. Berry 1 and Mrs. Crawshay have been staying here, and Mrs. Ripley and Mrs. Cooper Hewitt have been in Florence-and I assure you it is a case of 'when two or three are gathered together, there is Isabella in the midst of them'!! The 'Ramus got back from Paris feeling rather well, but the moment he got to work he felt ill again, and now he is very giu, and we are trying to persuade him to go to the famous Dr. Combes of Lausanne and see what after all really is the matter with him. He is getting bravely over his socalled heart troubles, as indeed one must do at his age, but (col respetto parlando) digestive troubles are much more serious and difficult to deal with! I do feel he should get some specialist's opinion. If Mahomet-and you won't come over here, so we are planning to come over and see you next autumn. In the meantime , this autumn as ever is, a good friend of ours, the painter Will Rothenstein, has gone over, and the 'Ramus has given him. a letter to you. He is an able, though very ugly little man, who paints very well, what one calls a really serious painter. He can also be extremely diverting. He did a very good portrait of the 'Ramus three years ago, and he has recently done some awfully interesting and really beautiful sketches of things in India. I think you will be glad to hear that in lieu of the flighty Lucy Perkins, we now have a steady, conscientious and able young man as secretary, the 492
very opposite to that goose in every respect. She-Lucy-is at large on the world as a dealer. Mrs. Lydig has greatly taken her up. It was, as you predicted, a most unfortunate experiment for us. My two daughters have just sailed for India with the husband of one of them-Ray. He is an agreeable man employed on the Indian R[ailwa]y for the present, but after the Durbar he is going to leave and come to England to live. We are just off to Rome for a week with our secretary, to see the dying exhibition. La guerra Tripolina 2 is almost driving us from Italy, drawing us out by floods of eloquence and cheap rhetoric. The little Deacon girl, now Princess Radziwill, has been fully received at last, and is working her way up to being one of the very Grandes Dames of European society. Her mother is weeping in beautiful Caprarola, mourning the loss of her beauty and Gladys' cruelty, who won't even write to her. No one knows anything about her. Edith came over to reform her mother, but apparently met with no success. But I musn't weary you with gossip. Please write us your news, 2.nd tell us of your health, and remember that we are both truly devoted and admiring friends. Affectionately yours, Mary Berenson Walter Van Rensselaer Berry (1859-1927), American lawyer, was head of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in Paris and a close friend of Edith Wharton. Âť2. Italy had declared war on Turkey in September in order to cement its rights in Tripoli. Italy occupied the coast and forced Turkey to sign a peace treaty in October 1912, but native resistance continued to plague ÂťI.
Italian rule until 1932.
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
Nov. 7,
191 l
Your letter 1 was delightful, and we rejoice to think you are well and enjoying the Irish Players. 2 You are always doing delightful things~ We are at last comfortable here, and have settled down to a winter of tranquil work. The 'Ramus has to pay a flying visit to Paris and London next month, and there is talk of a trip in a yacht to the isles of Greece, in the spring, but all the same I think we shall get a good deal done before we come over to see you next autumn. We have (at last) such a satisfactory secretary that every thing is different. And the other complications are smoothing out, too, though \i\1ith some pain and grief. But such things can't last, no matter how one tries. Mrs. Strong, of the British Archaeological School has been here, and I took her in the motor to see all the Roman remains between here and Spoleto. Mrs. Cooper Hewitt was here for a few days not long ago. She doesn't 493
seem to know what to do with her wealth (imagine it!), and beyond buying a fine set of emeralds and engaging a French chef her imagination does not seem to carry her. And we are running into debt to get one or two Persian miniatures by Bezad, and are awfully, awfully tempted by a fine statue by Niccolo Pisano. We both send our homages and our devoted loveYours, Mary Berenson ISG 's letter has been lost. Âť2 . The Irish Players of the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, founded by Lady Gregory (1859-1932) and William Butler Yeats (1865-1939) . Lady Gregory and Yeats brought the company to the United States in 191 l to raise funds ; much publicity was given to their touring production of John Millington Synge's controversial Playboy of the Western World . Lady Gregory, who became a good friend ofISG's, lectured at Fenway Court in October l9I r. Âťl .
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
Jan. r,
1912
This is my first letter of the New Year, and I send it to you freighted to beyond what Lloyds consider as sea-worthy, with good wishes and affection. It will go hard if before r 9 r 2 is over we do not meet either on this side or on yours. We are seriously thinking of spending some months of next winter at home, and if that comes off I need not say how much fun it will be to see you again, and to frivle together now that we all are old and frivolous. Meanwhile I am working very hard at my good old job, and I greatly enjoy the work altho' two hours of it leaves me such a wreck that it takes several hours of rest to recover. In those hours I read, and that also I enjoy. Otherwise there's no news whatever. I have scarcely seen dme qui vive since end of Oct., excepting my two or three young dependents, and my two sisters. One of them married to Prof. Ralph Perry of Harvard is spending the winter in our little villino opposite. She has a love of a little boy of five, whom I am very anxious to send to Groton when he is older. 1 You are one of the guardian deities of Groton are you not? So will you be an angel and tell me just what there's to do to get the boy there. At what age are they admitted, and to whom should one address one's self to have him put on the list? And if there be any recommendations and testimonials will you not sing my praises and tell them what an honour a nephew of mine may be to the Institooshion in tin1e to come, not to mention the fact that his papa is rather well thought of at Harvard? The Italians are so busy with their staggering daily victories that they have no time to give us. So we see none-not even Carlo Placci, who, we hear, is hysterical with delirious enthusiasm over the prowess of his countrymen. But as they daily annihilate all the Turco-Arabs in their newrobbed deserts one wonders what the Italian heroes find to conquer. It re494
minds me a bit of the answer Mary got the other day from a man she saw coming down the hill with his gun. To her question "Have you路 shot anything?" he answered "A mushroom or two." I, and Mary too probably, we shall go later to Ralph's for a few days or more. And meanwhile I may have to go to Paris and London. The gods forbid! With love and every good wish B.B. 禄 r. Ralph Barton Perry (1876-1957), professor of philosophy at Harvard, married Rachel Ber-
enson (1880-1933) in 1905. The son is Ralph Barton, Jr.
[I Tatti] My dear Isabella,
April
IO, 1912
Your Easter greeting reached us when we were staying with the Curtises, and I should have answered it at once, but that I was laid up with an attack of bronchitis, and have only just managed to reach home, leaving the 'Ramus to follow with the motor. What a lovely, what an enchanting garden they have made there at the Villa Sylvia! I have just sent my own gardener there to see what a garden can be, for he, though he is able and willing, has never seen anything and only knows the uso italiano, which does not include flowers. I find the garden the greatest help and consolation in growing old. We wish you would come over this summer-why not? Europe still has things to see. Our own trip to America next autumn is so uncertain; I fear it may not come off. B.B. asked me to tell you that he has been on the look-out for Persian miniatures for you, but the price of the really good ones has become almost prohibitive. There seem to be no bargains in the Paris market, for everyone is on the qui vive for these things. He says shall he send back the money, so as not to have it lie idle, and trust to your having it available in answer to a cable if he should find you what he thinks you would care for? That would have to be something really first-rate! You know perhaps that my elder daughter got married last May. She is expecting a baby in July, and I look forward with pleasure to 路becoming a grandmother. I think it will be even better than my garden, though perhaps not so tranquil a joy! 1 We saw Dorothy Deacon Radziwill in Rome recently-divinely beautiful, but already false and spoilt. She is fully accepted by the family, among whom she is a swan among ducks, for they are barbaric Poles thinly veneered with cosmopolitan usages, but so thinly! Of Gladys no one, apparently, knows anything, not even by hearsay. I am sending you a dull letter, but my bronchitis is heavy upon me and weights my pen. But even a dull letter may carry-and this does-an 495
expression of devotion and of sincerest good wishes for a pleasant Spring Tide, and the hope that we shall see you here this summer. Devotedly yours, Mary Berenson Ray Strachey gave birth to a girl, Barbara , on 17 July 1912. She apparently married Strachey suddenly in May, rather than September, as MB wrote on 31 May 191 I. »I.
[I Tatti] June 9, 1912
Dearest Isabella,
I have instructed Barings to pay you $1 ,075. In view of the fact that you sent me £200, the difference in exchange plus the $75 extra that I send makes just about 5°/o on your money for the time it has been in my hands. I wish I could have used it .for you, but to judge by the figured Rhages plate whereof you sent me the photo, (for which my best thanks)-if you can make such purchases in Boston you can shift for yourself. 1 You ask me about Altman's Giorgione. 2 You doubtless refer to the bust portrait of a young man. It is the most beautiful and fascinating likeness of a human being painted in the early years of the 16th century. I doubt not Altman paid somewhat more than you did for your Giorgione. We are all but on the hop, and indeed should have left already. Unfortunately I was too ill to stir. On the other hand it is too beautiful here to go away. Isabella dear, I am getting old perhaps and tired certainly. And while I have a grand time in Paris, London and way stations I'm getting afraid of fatigue, and anticipate no pleasure from the hurly-burly, and I long for quiet summers with broad spaces of calm, of un-interrupted day dreaming, even at the cost of a certain ennui, and much languor. So I am way within me meditating some castle or cottage in the Apennines where I could retire for the summer months with plenty of books, a strong motor car, a secretary and-I'll leave you to guess what else. I hear you have been having Leonie Leslie in Boston, you lucky creatures all around. I wonder when I shall see you again, dearest Isabella? I am giving a note of introduction for you to Count Hermann Keyserling, a great friend of Leonie's as well as mine. 3 He is now on the Pacific returning from the East via US. If he goes to Boston he'll look you up. He is about 30, a Balt (that is to say a Russo-German) a live, keen, eager creature with a prodigious mind and a glorious gift of gab. He won't want to see any of your belongings-thank God! As usual your note says nothing whatever about your health. How are you "in your self." With much love B.B. » r. ISG's Persian plate from Kashan, ca.
was bought from Kevorkian, New York. »2. The Altman Giorgione, bought from Duveen Brothers, New York, in 1912, was called an early work by Titian when BB first saw it in 1901, which is the attribution it now carries at l2IO,
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. BB later attributed the work to Giorgione and in 1936 called it Giorgione or Titian. In 19 57 lists he published it as Giorgione . » 3. Count Hermann Keyserling (1880-1945), German philosopher and writer, was also Nicky Mariano's cousin .
Dear Donna Isabella,
Ford Place Arundel July 27, 1912
Why are we not seeing you? You are turning the cold shoulder to Europe; and I assure you it causes grief and regret in many hearts. I am writing now to tell you that I have attained the dignity of Grandmotherhood. The little granddaughter, Olivia [Barbara] Strachey, was born ten days ago, stealing into the world without disturbing anybody, even her mother, who suffered no pain, and has had absolutely no discomfort since. I have been here awaiting her arrival since the middle of June, while the 'Ramus has enjoyed himself in Paris and London. Tomorrow he starts with Mrs. Cooper Hewitt for Carlsbad, to take a month's cure. I am going to Aix-les-Bains for August with my sister, as my ills require a quite different treatment from his. We shall spend September in Paris. How I wish you were going to be there! We have had to put off our American trip for a year, as the 'Ramus wants to go to Egypt in January. I think Mrs. Cooper Hewitt is getting up a Nile party, with the Curtises and others. I shall go first with BB to Egypt en touriste, but I haven't time for a long lazy trip. I have been so out of things that I have no gossip to give you, even of the art world, except that the most beautiful Bellini in existence, the most profound and spiritual picture ever painted in the Renaissance, is now on view (and I believe on sale) at Colnaghi's, a St. Francis Receiving the Stigmata.1 If B.£. were here he would join me in expressing devotion and disap. . po1ntment at not seeing you. Always very affectionately Yours Mary Berenson » 1. Giovanni Bellini's Saint Francis in Ecstasy was bought by Frick in 1915.
Dearest Isabella,
[Carlsbad] Aug. 30, 1912
I have not heard from you for a very long time, -nor indeed of you. Even Ralph seems to have been without news of you to hand on. So be a good girl and write at once to tell me how you are and how you have been summenng. From the address at the top of the sheet you see where I have been. My friends bored me so much with their injunctions that I should go to a cure that finally (God knows why) I came to this one. Perhaps it was because I 497
really believed in none, and Mrs. Hewitt offered to motor me here all the way and to take care of me more or less. Moreover I am very fond of her. So here I have been nigh on to four weeks , religiously attending to my belly and members. I am under an excellent doctor who had me Rontgen-rayed to make sure his diagnosis was right, and he assured me there was nothing "organically wrong" with me except a collapsed digestive system. This he undertook to restore, and may the gods help his efforts. At the present moment I feel worse than ever at all, but I am told that is a natural stage of the cure. So I am resigned to the worst, and for that matter to the best as well. I hope to get away in a week, and to take a brief aftercure in Switzerland. But on Sept. 16 I must join Mary in Paris, and by Oct. l, I want to be back at Settignano. You know we mean to go to Egypt this winter for a couple of months, so I am anxious to get home and to work. How odd life , is! The more one does to make one's house attractive the less time one has to occupy it quietly. Here I really have seen nobody, not even Mrs. Hewitt except for a minute at a time, or occasionally at meals. The truth is that the cure is so absorbing that it leaves one no time nor indeed the wish for company. On the other hand I have had leisure for reading, and I have wallowed in books, particularly in my last pet namely Dostoyevsky. Mary meanwhile has been at Aix-les-Bains for her gout and fat. Her gout may have diminished, but her fat not, and she probably will have to come here with me next summer. I think I have no other news. The art world is asleep in August, thank God, and altho' I should be a much poorer man in consequence, I wish it never would wake. I must have written you from London about the sublime Giovanni Bellini. That is the only very great work of art that has appeared on my horizon for a long time. Personally I only buy Chinese and Persian. With much love B.B.
My dear Isabella-
[I Tatti] December 31st 1912
Your cards have made us aware of our remissness-not in thinking and speaking of you!-in correspondence. We hear of you so often from all sorts of friends and acquaintances, Bostonians, New Yorkers and cosmopolitans, that we never really lose touch, but of course you do not get any news of us. We are hermits at present, for B.B. is still all undone from his disastrous visit to Carlsbad, whither Mrs. Cooper Hewitt, with the kindliest intentions in the world, took him last August. We were going to Egypt, and he was going up the Nile with her party: but all such plans have been upset by the really very low state of his health. When the grasshopper is a burden, one doesn't feel like piling pyramids and sphinxes on top of it! So we are quietly here-only I made a scappatina to London to see my
granddaughter. The 'Ramus has finished Mr. Johnson's Catalogue, 1 and is meditating a new book on Venetian painting. 2 The last years he has been rather detached with Oriental art, and the house is creeping with Beasts and Monsters of strange imaginings. Next year at this time I hope we shall be seeing you, and admiring your new (and old) acquisitions, and talking over all the amusing Boston Museum affairs (they seem to be still very diverting). Here, I am sure there is much amusement in the usual human comedy, but we do not know much about it. Everyone speaks of the Curtis difficulties, for the menage is anything but harmonious, in spite of "Donatello," [?] but I think it is one of those impasses of temperament that have no issue. He makes his woes known urbi et orbi, and everybody sympathizes with her! I passed a few days in Paris with Edith Wharton, with whom Mrs. Cameron also was staying. "Ted" is in the full swing of one of his recurrent periods of exaltation, buying motors and breaking the furniture in hotels, and sporting a Music Hall artiste. 3 But presently he will become melancholy and poverty-stricken and hypochondriac. She said I might speak of it, because she is obliged to take some action, in order to make his family recognize the gravity of his illness, for they go on pretending the poor man is perfectly sane. It is a dreadful strain for her, and has told a good deal on her health. Santayana has been here on a visit, and is now in Florence. But I think he intends soon to join the Howard Cushings in Rome. But I must stop my gossip-and send you my love and all sorts of good wishes for 1913-and especially the hope that we may see you in the course of the New Year. Yours, Mary Berenson Always with real love and devotion, » l. Catalogue of a Collection of Paintings and Some Art Objects, vol. l: Italian Paintings [The John G. Johnson Collection] (Philadelphia, 1913). »2. At this time BB was planning a series of articles on Venetian paintings in America. The articles were collected in Painting in America: The Fifteenth Century (New York, 1916) and in The Study and Criticism of Italian Art, 3d ser. (London, 1916). »3. Edward Robbins Wharton (b. 1850) was divorced by Edith in April 1913.
Dearest Isabella,
[I Tatti] New Year's D_ay 1913
As it has been for a long time, is now and shall D. V be for another long time my practice I address you my first letter on the New Year. May 1913 be more delightful than any of its predecessors in your wonderful annals. May it bring you here, may it bring us together anywhere, for I truly long to see you. We shall, if still on the map, be with you next autumn I hope. But I want you here. I want to entertain you, and make much of you, and show off my house, and my car, and my collection and "all that is his." You 499
would like some of my Chinese stocks and stores[?] , and my Arab and Persian manuscripts and illuminations. And nary a Jap dud do I own. Mary wrote you our news at length. I can only add that directly I am well enough I'm going to write a book to be called Venice Revisited, or "Vingt Ans A pres." 1 It is all that time since I have devoted systematic and serious attention to Venetian art, and now the task is happily before me . How is the Museum? What funny purchases of Hitalians they are making! That Cupid and Psyche cassone I hear they paid ÂŁ40,000 for. 2 Surely that can't be. When you and I worked together you refused to pay $2, 500 for a pair far finer than this one alone, and by the same master Jacopo del Sellaio. With love B. B-ramus Âť r.
This book was never written. Âť2. Purchased by the Boston Museum of Fine Arts for 30,000 French francs (40 , 000 francs was the asking price).
[I Tatti] Dear Isabella,
Feb. 9, 1913
lt was delightful to see your writing again! But why didn't you come over and let us all go to Egypt or India together? The poor 'Ramus though is not very fit for such adventures. He is less and less well. But somehow I think he enjoys life more. We had a visit from Mrs. Curtis yesterday (Ralph's mother), who brought an unwonted air of Respectability into our dwelling. Lisa and Ralph both promise to come, but one thing and another prevents. We are girding our loins for another visit home next winter. Since you won't come over-!! Mr. Santayana was here for a fortnight, but the dulness was too much for him. It pursued him even to Florence, where he installed himself for a time, so at last he fled to Montecarlo, hoping to find something happening somewhere! His friend, Mr. Strong (Rockefeller's son-in-law) is building a Villa near Fiesole, and hopes to entice Santayana to live there with him. 1 It would make a great difference for our small semicircle here, but is not to be hoped for! The 'Ramus has finished the Catalogue of Mr. Johnson's Italian pictures, and it will soon be published, with many illustrations. He did the Wideners' sometime ago, but has heard nothing further of it. That horrible old Altman seems to gobble up most of the best things nowadays , though Mr. Morgan has got a fine Fra Filippo recently. 2 We occasionally buy a preChristian Chinese monster. I have nothing amusing to tell you, as we are hibernating at present. It is very pleasant and we both wish it could go on for years without changeexcept that we must get across to see you, now that you've taken a vow against Europe! 500
We both send our love and adn1iration and gratitude, and too many things to express. Devotedly yours, Mary B. Charles Augustus Strong (1862-1940), professor of psychology at Columbia, 1903-ro. He owned the Villa delle Balze in Fiesole . »2. Fra Filippo Lippi's Saint Lawrence Enthroned with Saints and Donors was bought by Morgan in 1913 from Duveen Brothers . It went to M . Knoedler & Co. in 1935 and was purchased that year by The Metropolitan Museum of Art. »I.
Dearest Isabella,
[Venice] June 8, 1918
It is a long long time since our correspondence has been interrupted. I am sure there is no decrease in interest or affection. I simply feel that the things one does from day to day, in our quiet life at Settignano can be of no consequence to any one else, and that the purple moments would require too much commenting ere they could be made to feel purple to you. But you, what excuse have you for not writing? Your life is so rich so varied, and nothing concerning you but is of absorbing interest to me! So pray reform, turn over a new leaf, and write, and continuez. We are seeing Denman Ross and he gives us the best of news about yourself. He says you are enjoying the best of health, that you miss no performance at the opera, and that more than ever do you run the museum facetiously called of Fine Arts. What fun it will be to see you in action! Pray for my health for if it is tolerable we shall come to join you in the winter. You know I really have had a horrid time ever since my attempted cure at Carlsbad last summer. I have been all but prostrated with frightful neuralgias all over me, great feebleness, and no ability to digest at all. I could go nowhere and do nothing, but sort of loll about like an idiot. I am happily better now, and here to learn a little about Venetian Painting. In a week Mary leaves for Wiesbaden, and I for Paris and London. If I am well enough I shall spend Aug. in Germany trying to improve my mind, but if my body requires improving it will be at St. Moritz. I lunched yesterday with Horatio Brown. 1 The last time I had done so was with you! But I need no reminders of you. Old Mrs. Curtis is keeping up bravely. I wish Ralph and Lisa were here. I dine with them in Paris the 20. Jervey Carr is still on the map, and so are the Hohenlohes bless them, and his sister the Princess Mary of Taxis. Venice is the same old enchantress but the older she gets the more mal With love from us both B. B. entouree she is. »I.
Horatio Brown (1854-1926), British historian and author of various books on Venice . 501
Dearest Isabella,
[Cologne] Aug. 12, 1913
Your excuses are nought. I am interested in you and therefore all you do because it is you takes on colour and glow. More detail and ever more detail is what I want out of your letters. So prithee buck up. As for me behold me in Germany again. For years and years I did not put my foot here. Last summer I happened to be here by accident and I was so agreeably surprised, and so enjoyed the native virtues and the kind of Americanization that is going on here that you see me here again. True I have plenty to take me here by way of work, but one can always hush the voice of conscience. So I shall roam ab't here for a few weeks, picking up a friend here and there until I return to Florence to prepare for our winter in America. It will be nice to see you again dear Isabella, it really will. In London I had a relatively quiet time. But for the Russian ballet and opera, and the company of friends I see elsewhere as well, I should have had nothing by way of amusements there. However finally a new woman swam into my Ken. But I am getting old, at least not that at all, but I fear I may seem so to young women-and alas, women (who attract me) are getting younger as I get older. Then I had some days in Belgium, and explored its pictures once more-perhaps for the last time. I do not greatly love the place, and but for the earliest painters and Rubens I can not abide its art. I suppose Denman Ross will be returning to you soon. What fun you will have hearing his tales and seeing his things. Mary leaves England with her sister and cousin today motoring for a week in Brittany en route for Bride where she is to take a cure. Please write Devotedly and affectionately B. B.
My dear Isabella,
[I Tatti] September 30th, 1913
We both owe you letters, but we've both been wandering, like the Devil, up and down on the face of the earth, and have had not leisure for anything more substantial than the affectionate thoughts, which we always cherish in our minds for you. You will surely have seen Denman Ross, who will have told you of our meetings in Venice, and of his visits with the 'Ramus to the Paris and Berlin pictures and Eastern treasures. While I was doing a Cure with Elizabeth Marbury and Anne Morgan at Brides-les-Bains, Bernhard and Edith Wharton were motoring in Germany, to their immense satisfaction. Now we have got home, and have a houseful of Austrian and Russian friends, and next week we expect Ralph and Lisa for a few days, on their way from Venice to the Riviera-what an awful place the latter is, to live in-! I am sure I should quarrel with Bernhard all day long, if we lived 502
there, just out of sheer horror at the sight of human nature at its worsti. e. trying to make merry without any merriment. And then the horror of almost all the buildings-of everything except the lovely garden of Villa Sylvia. I've been writing today to the Somerset and the Copley Plaza, to see what rooms we can have from December 12th for three or four weeks. We sail on the 3rd, and come almost straight "home," as Bernhard always calls Boston. A delightful friend of ours will be in Boston June the r r th to the r 3th or 14th, lecturing on Roman Art for the Am. Archaeological Soc., Mrs. Eugenie Sellers Strong. Do go and hear her and be nice to her if the spirit moves you! I've given her no letter, because you may not feel like being bothered-but she is a distinguished scholar and a delightful woman. We know her very very well and since many years. It does seem a most awful shame that you NEVER come over any moreand when we have a motor, too, and could take you wherever you wanted to go! We are always hoping for this joy. Bernhard, with gaiety of spirit, continues his career of l'homme susceptible, but not very seriously, nor with such absorption, as to interfere with his work and his reading. All my spare devotion goes to my granddaughter, whom I spent the summer adoring, such a gay friendly little soul, so pleasantly at home in this queer world! Bernhard joins me in sending love, and in the keenest anticipation of pleasure at seeing you again so soon. Your devoted Mary 'B erenson
Our dearest Isabella,
On board RMS Olympic Wednesday Dec. ro, 1913
We shan't be landed till midnight-unprecedented storms barred our way. So alas we can't arrive in Boston till Saturday at 6 (as we have to have 2 days here), and then the first evening we must go to see the Berenson parents at Dorchester. From Sunday on, we are yours, to take or to leave. And it is very very sweet of you to write such cordial welcoming words. We go to the Belmont Hotel tonight till Saturday. Devotedly-and looking forward (both of us) to seeing you more than anything else over hereYours, Mary-
Dearest Isabella,
[New York] Friday XII. 12. I 3
You are the only person in the world who invariably surpasses even one's wildest hopes! It will be real joy to see you and to see so much of you is all that heart could desire. Of course it would be heavenly to meet you at the
Back Bay at 6 tomorrow, but you mustn't come, most wonderful of friends, if it is inconvenient or if the weather is bad. Yes, if you are free , we will dine at the Copley-Plaza. I almost wish we were going to stay there, but we're faithful to old loves. Which reminds me to tell you, before we meet, that the 'Ramus is out of danger from the source I once wrote to you about. 1 Those things do pass, fortunately, but he has (and I approve) the grace to keep friendly and helpful. He is heart-free, I'm glad to say, and I shall try not to be jealous when that battered old organ of his is again laid at your feet, where it has always belonged! Devotedly yours, Mary Berenson Âť r. A reference to BB's infatuation with Belle Greene.
Dearest Isabella-
Hotel Somerset The Day before Christmas 1913
Your gifts amazed and delighted us. I lost my fan a year ago, but I never thought the loss would be so wonderfully made up. Our warmest thanksand as to our Devotion-you know it is yours! Bernhard sent you Henry Adams in a new garb, who may be read by everybody, so we can lend our copies. Ralph Cram did the deed. 1 And from me to you there is coming a little offering, but it will be two days late, for lo when I opened it, it was broken. It is a little thing you once admired, which I planned to give you ever since and brought for the purpose. But it is old, old, and decay laid its hand upon it. But it is promised sound and whole for Saturday. How many people you are making glad today and tomorrow-I can Devotedly Maryjust imagine it! Merrie Xmas! Âť r. The public edition of Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres by Henry Adams (Boston, 1913) was
sponsored by the American Institute of Architects at the instigation of Ralph Adams Cram (1863-1942), architect and leading advocate of the Gothic revival.
Dearest Isabella,
5 r 3 Sherbrooke Street West Montreal Jan. ro, 1914
It would have been heaven if you had come with us, but for your sake I'm truly glad you didn't come. It is not at all worth while, and I confess humbly that B.B.-'Ramus as he is!-knew it all the time, and it was I who insisted on coming. But one might know that provincialism is provincialism everywhere, and that the one thing these provincial millionaires think of is to build ultra hideous brown-stone houses (here the stone is a gloomy slate-
colour) and hang in their multifarious and over-heated rooms a vast collection of gilt-framed mediocre pictures, often spurious and almost always, even if authentic, poor. The usual acres of Barbizon output greet us here, some of your beloved Rembrandts, a few real Goyas and false Velasquezes, endless "English School" and "French XVIII Century" pictures, Japanese knicknacks enough to bury you-and all dreary and horrible, and affording unending satisfaction to the owners. They speak of having the "collectingbug"-and that's about it. Don't you ever be persuaded to come! I daresay you would carry it off, but we feebler mortals wilt in this atmosphere. B.B. lies nursing a heavy cold on the sofa, and I shall take some awful drug I think to help me through the rest of the day. We have seen the Drummond 1 and the Angus 2 collection, which are twin-brothers to this one, and another awaits us this afternoon, the Ross Colln. How gladly shall we escape tomorrow. To think we left Boston for this-!! I am sure it would be far more interesting-not the collection but the human situation-if Sir Wm. van Horne were not laid up with inflammatory rheumatism. 3 We haven't seen him. His son is a powerful and intelligent man, but of course doubly busy with his father ill. You chose the Better Part, certainly. My pen won't, can't, tell you all the lovely things gli sposi Berenson think of their beloved Isabella. Our hearts are truly yours. I think the Ramus tried to tell you how much we loved you this time, on top of all our admiration and the fascination you exert. If we went straight home, the journey would have been worth while. I shan't try to say any more about it. But I am more than ever your devoted Mary »I. Sir George A. Drummond (1829-19ro) was president of the Redpath Sugar Refinery, 1879, of the Bank of Montreal, 1905-ro, and of the Art Association of Montreal. »2. Richard B . Angus (183 8-1922) was the manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway and president of the Bank of Montreal, l9ro-13. »3. Sir William Van Horne (1843-1915), Montreal art collector, was chairman of the board of the Canadian Pacific Railway. His collection was dispersed after his death, partly by gift to the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and partly by auction (New York, 1946; London, 1972).
Dearest Isabella,
[New York] Jan. 16, 1914
I cannot tell you how glad we were to get your letter, though we did not like to think of your freezing yourself in the garden. It is so pleasant to think of all the young life that surrounds you and makes you the centre. That is one of your marvellous Secrets. Mr. Sleeper called here, but alas we were out. 1 We were so sorry. Just this minute Mr. Grenville Winthrop has been here. 2 He is going to Boston on Sunday, and as he is gradually making a very nice little collection of old pictures, he is most awfully anxious to know how to preserve them. We 505
told him about your protege, Allerton, 3 and how marvellously he had saved and preserved your Fiorenzo, thus firing him with a mad longing to see it and him, not to mention his wish to present his respects to the Dispensatrice
des bi enfa its. It is quite absurd here in New York. We have only three tea-times and two lunches disponibles for the rest of this month, yet I feel quite at leisure and detached and amused. The 'Ramus is struggling with his cold, which interposes a complete barrier between him and the pretty (?) ladies he thinks he would like to flirt with, so he is doing nothing but seeing pictures and objets and museum directors. We dined with the Robinsons last night and I was again amazed at the way his hair stood straight up. Mrs. Robinson adores Fanny Prince, so that made me like her better. We are so comfortable here that I don't mind if the Workhouse is our next etape. Do come down for a few days after Feb. 4th to see things and let us see you. Say the word and the date and we shall make no engagements for that time, for we care for you most of all. Devotedly Mary » r. Henry Sleeper (1878-1934), bachelor, interior decorator, and one of the original trustees of the Gardner Museum who late in life went to Hollywood as a set designer. His home, Beauport, in Gloucester, Mass., is now open to the public. »2. Grenville Winthrop (1864-1943), New York lawyer and art collector whose collection went to the Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University. »3. William Allerton worked on the restoration of pictures for ISG between 1910 and 1922.
Dearest Isabella,
[New York] Sunday Jan. 18, 1914
Here is a letter about that early Persian leaf. 1 To it the 'Ramus has replied that they must give it back to Rosenberg for you, at 9,000 frcs., as Dr. Ross has already written to him for it, saying you were willing to pay that sum. There can be no question of commission upon it. The one they had, which B. B. wanted to get for you, has gone to the Metropolitan necropolis. We had a great treat the other evening hearing Kreisler play and Mdlle. Gluck sing at a private house. 2 Even more delightful was an evening spent with Dr. Simon Flexner, who is one of the Yachting Trustees of the Rockefeller Charity Trust. 3 They are undertaking to supply schools of medicine to China-if only the science isn't tainted with Baptist doctrines-but I fear it will be! They are trying to banish Hookworms from the entire terrestrial globe, and preserve the wild birds of this continent, and they're open to suggestions for other work. Have you any to make? B.B. suggested scientific reforestation on a colossal scale, which is quite within the scope of their mission. It is rather wonderful, isn't it? The best of all is that Dr. Flexner is a heavenly man. He must have some of Okakura's qualities. He is perfectly
good. Silly Lucy Hewitt (I ought to say kind, I am sure) has got up, for us of 506
all people, a diner de tetes. B. B. will go au nature!, but I am in despair, and it's tonight! Elsie de Wolfe has lent me one nightcap and Mrs. Lanier 4 another. Perhaps I shall wear them both. Mr. Walters is here now, in deep confabulation with the 'Ramus. What a genial, jolly person he is. There is one of the very greatest Titians in the world for sale here, an utterly delicious Gentile da Fabriano, a Botticelli portrait of Giuliano dei Medici (I wish we had the money to make you a present of this!) and a lovely Bonfigli Madonna and Angels-but they are all set at enormous prices. We saw Mrs. Otto Kahn yesterday crushed under her huge Frans Hals and told her about your marvellous Dutch room. 5 No more now except our love and devotion. Mary B. A Water-Clock , a leaf from the Automata of al-Jazari, Egyptian, l 3 54, was purchased by ISG with two other leaves, Th e Candle-Clock and An Hydraulic Device, from the Berlin Photographic Co., New York. »2. Alma Gluck (1884-1938), Romanian-born American operatic soprano. »3. Dr. Simon Flexner (1863-1946), head of the Rockefeller Institute and Mary's cousin by marriage. »4. Harriet Bishop (Mrs. James F. D .) Lanier of Tuxedo Park, N. Y. »5. Kahn bought the Botticelli portrait Giuliano dei Medici , now in the Crespi Collection, Milan, through BB in 1914. The Kahns owned Frans Hals's Family Group , which was eventually sold to the Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection, Lugano. » r.
Dearest Isabella,
[New York] Jan. 28, 1914
My silence is due to the bewilderment of a person, accustomed to about one engagement a week, being caught in the New York social blizzard and positively snowed under. I assure you we sigh for the temperate clime of Boston, and the joy \Ve had to seeing the same person (i.e. You) nearly every day, instead of this fant:istic pageant of strangers. The 'Ramus says that Denman will tell you when and where to pay for your miniature, as he undertook to write to Rosenberg about it. Yes, my brother-in-law, Bertrand Russell (full characterization the Honbie Bertrand Russell) is going to lecture at Harvard in March. He is a brillian·t man, very, and we're all devoted to him, but his conduct is so much a la Morton Prince 1 that my sister has now gone to live with my brother, and does not see her husband for the present. But as he belongs to a "queer" family (on both sides), we feel that he cannot really be blamed, and my sister loves him still. Do see him. I can't seem to find out clear dates for the opera-but if I do hear, I shall wnte at once. We spent Sunday at the Wideners who are "considering" that Botticelli, but "Jo" isn't sure it is "Important" enough for his gallery-!! Mrs. George, 2 who is really very nice, remembered your Botticelli with rapture, but I don't think either of them know who Giuliano dei Medici was. We're just off to
see the Altman pictures this morning. All the world and his wife here are mad about-Meunier! 3 Devotedly Mary Both men were interested in a succession of women. »2. Probably Mrs. Charles Henry George ofN.Y.C. »3. Constantin Meunier (1831-1905), Belgian sculptor and painter. » l ..
Dearest Isabella
[New York] Jan. 29, 1914
They gave "Boris" tonight, and I was so stupid I never found out until Mrs. Griswold telephoned to me to share the Payne Whitneys' 1 box with her. It was gloriously given, and Tucker Bores or no Tucker Bores, 2 you must come the next time. Don Quichotte 3 is given next Tuesday (as you know), but we are attending one of [Edward] Robinson's fabulous dinners that night, and are lunching that day with Mrs. Douglas Robinson 4 (a Robinson Day). But if you will let us reserve Wednesday lunch for you, we'll invite some interesting people. Your document has been duly destroyed. The reports were wrong, for B. B. is in the best of spirits and scarcely separated from me for an hour. We have both been to the library several times, and the young librarian has a frank, but very detached manner (she is always painfully vulgar), and there are no signs of any revival. Dead things are dead in this world. But there are really some very nice things about her, -vulgarity apart. She honestly makes no sign of wishing to blow the dead ashes into flower. The 'Ramus was never pleasanter and wiser and more amusing than now. I think and hope he will grow old genially. We both used to be afraid of what he might be like. I'm afraid we shan't be here on the 21st, as we have planned to leave and made engagements all along the line from the 18th or 19th on. So we shall hope for next Wednesday at any rate. Devotedly yours- Mary » l. Harry Payne Whitney, sportsman, philanthropist, and financier, and his wife, Gertrude
(Vanderbilt), artist and founder of the Whitney Museum, New York. »2. Mr. and Mrs. Isaac Tucker Burr-a play on words by MB. »3. Don Quichotte, an opera by Jules Massenet, was first performed in New York at the Metropolitan Opera House on 3 February 1914. »4. Corrine Roosevelt (Mrs. Douglas) Robinson (1861-193 3), wife of the financier, was active in charitable works and politics .
Dearest Isabella,
[New York] Feb. 2, 1914
I wish those Burrs were tuckered in their own juice, for spoiling our sight of you! B.B. says Morgan isn't going to sell any of his pictures, only his objets, so that the grand Castagna portrait won't be getable, alas. About the Credi, 1 he says that when it comes it should be given at once 508
to Mr. Allerton. They called to him from London to ask if they should cradle it before sending, and he would have had it done if he had not met Mr. Allerton and come to the conclusion that he will do it even better than the London man. B'u t it should go to him at once. Dr. Prince has been here, and we took him to dine with Simon Flexner, the head of the Rockefeller Institute. He was very brilliant and entertaining. I wish his domestic character was as satisfactory as his mind! Dear Isabella-the 'Ramus is growing good. I used to be afraid of his old age, for fear it would be bitter and grunching and isolated. But he has taken another path, and is become full of tendresse and sympathy and unselfregardingness (a German word, almost!), and I honestly think he has learnt a great deal even out of what seemed a foolish experience. We had such an enchanting time at the Howard Cushings the other day. What dears! I hope you will see nice Mrs. Lanier who went in today to stay with Grafton Cushing. 2 We shall be in Baltimore from Mar. 1-7, Washington till March l 4, Phila. till March 2 lst, N.J. again till we sail on the 28th. At the end of this month we're going to stay with Senda and some other old friends. Our dearest love, Mary ISG purchased Lorenzo di Credi's Boy in a Scarlet Cap from Thomas Sulley and Co. , London. Âť2. Grafton Cushing (1864-1939), Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives, 1912-14, and lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, 1915 . He was one of the original ÂťI .
trustees of the Gardner Museum.
Dearest Isabella,
[New York] Feb. 3, 1914
The old 'Ramus is so full of business and pleasures and fatigue, that he asks me to answer your letter, but first of all to tell you that he loves you devotedly. He says that this business of the Persian leaf is a case of too many cooks attending to one broth. If Denman had not undertaken to get it for you, he would have secured it at once through the Meyer-Riefstahls, but Mr. Ross was so sure that he could get it for 9,000 fr. that he did not like to let you in for the modest commission over and above the 9, ooo that they held it for. Now, apparently, it has jumped up, but he will do his very best to get it for you at the lowest figure possible. He has gone ab9ut it this morning. And he begs you, if you think of buying other Oriental things that he could arrange for you, to let him know early and give him the responsibility. He thinks he can manage it more quickly and cheaply than almost anyone else, and he would love doing it for you quite especially as he is now in a position where he needn't take any commission. The great Oriental things are going up still, and prices (as you see) are getting higher and higher. If you could
set aside a fixed sum and let him send you things-he knows your tastes pretty well, by now-I think he really would do well by you, as many of the dealers show him their finds first. But perhaps it is the fun of choosing that you like, and in that case the sooner you come over to Paris the better!! There is a Bear just brought home from China that is a perfect darling. But it will be sold I daresay almost before this is written. Great things do turn up, but one has to act quickly. Very devotedly yours, Mary B .
Dearest Isabella,
[New York] Feb. 5, 1914
My daily letter! It is to enclose you photos. of the Bears (which please return, if you don't want the originals) , and to tell you about the Persian leaf. First about the Bears. 1 They belong to Bing, and he wrote Je vous envoie
les photographies de deux grands ours en bronze qui sont parmi les choses les plus puissantes que je connais en art oriental. Ils sont d' epoque Chow, dares, avec patine verte et bleue recouvrant en partie la dorure . He did not mention the price, and this makes B.B. suspect they are very dear; but they are also very grand and powerful. They do not however seem to be large except in the aesthetic sense, for I see they are marked 16 cm. in height-between 6 and 7 inches. B.B. says he will cable about them, to ask price, if you say so, and to secure them if the price doesn't seem too great. As to paying, all his dealers will take part payments at given dates extending over some years, if you find that way more convenient. Now as to the Persian leaves. B.B. missed Mr. Birnbaum, but I saw him today, and he says !vlr. Ross has the option on that particular leaf, and for something less than 9,000 francs. I said I was sure it was for you. They were still packed up, but we shall go to see them tomorrow and secure another for you, at a much lower price, if it seems worthy, and that one is clearly yours any how. To make sure, you had better telephone to Mr. Ross. We are yours to command, and devotedly, the B.B.'s The pair of Han bears, not Chow (or Chou) as thou ght then , were at one time gilded . ISG purchased them from Marcel Bing , Paris . Only two others , not a pair, are known . Âť r.
Dearest Isabella,
[New York] Today's letter Feb. 6, 1914
We had it all out today with Mr. Birnbaum, saw the leaves and all. Unfortunately the leaf that we originally meant, and I think Mr. Ross meant, has been sold a long time. It is not even here. Now the leaves that remain, from this same book, are three, and none of them are as fine as Mr. Wetzel's 1 or Mr. Ross'. Only one of them has a figure (small at that), and the other two are only machines. Of course they are all remarkable in colour, they stand 510
out among the other things in a very remarkable way. The leaf with the figure will cost 6, 500 francs, and the other two each about half of that. B. B. advises you to get all three, for although they haven't the figures (those two), they are so fine and bold in colour that nothing else in this art compares to them. We have just had a big Abbott tea-party, old Lyman, a fine veteran with sweet candid still young eyes, and his innumerable descendants. Senda was here to shepherd us, and she goes with us tomorrow to New Haven to see the Jarves picture and have lunch with Edith Wharton's niece, who has married a Professor at Yale. 2 We shall be in Washington from the 7-14 of March (Baltimore 1-7) ... isn't there any chance of you coming down to see Henry Adams, and us incidentally? Wouldn't you like to see Mr. Walters' things in Baltimore? I'm so afraid B.B. won't feel able to get back to Boston. You see if he did he'd have to go to his family in Dorchester, and (to tell the truth) that always half kills him. Mr. Birnbaum is holding those leaves pending your decision. Your devoted Mary ÂťI. Hervey Wetzel (1887-1918), student and collector of Persian and Indian art, was appointed associate of the Department of Western Art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 1914. Âť2. Beatrix (Jones) Farrand (1872-1959), landscape architect, was married to Max Farrand, chairman of the Department of History at Yale University.
Dearest Isabella
[New York] Feb. 7, 1914
B.B. says the Bears are really "top notch." You will find them endle~_sly delightful, as nice as real ones, only more so. He is cabling to know the price, but being an economical soul, he is sending a "week-end" cable so we shall hardly have an answer till Tuesday. They are things he would love to have in his own collection (where he tries to have only first-rate Eastern stuff-to Italians, of course, we're more lenient), but he felt sure the price would be a ruinous one for him. He feels convinced you won't regret them. We have a little one set with turquoises of the same uncouth massive impressiveness, which is the joy of our lives and the envy of all other collectors. Devotedly Mary -Just off for New Haven.
My dear Isabella,
[New York] Febr. 9, 1914
I enclose Bing's answer to my long cable message begging him to give me his lowest price for the two Chou bears. 511
It is as I feared pretty steep. But though "it comes high we must have it." The truth is these things are going to be like the Sybilline books of Rome. The longer delayed the more sought after and expensive. I should not hesitate a moment to get them even at that price. I think you will be able to pay at your convenience. Affectionately B. B.
Dearest B.B.
Fenway Court February 12, 1914
I have a communication from Ross about the miniatures. What a mess it all is, and what trouble you and he have had-too many cooks! But I am very very grateful, and long to see them. How many have you bought and how much do they cost, and when shall I see them? Ross is much disturbed that you mentioned my name. That, he thinks costs much more to me. He had never mentioned me. Now, all is in your hands, only do let me have them soon. The moment they come, and I know the price I will tell Swift to do his best. Here, all is the hardest kind of work. The lst day, I began at 6 A. M., and did not get my morning? bath and food until 4:15 P.M.! But that is only one day. My love to you both. How about the bears? Can I have them and pay $ 3o, ooo? (a la Morgan) on Jan. l, l 9 l 6, two years off? Affy Isabella
Dear Isabella,
[New York] Febr. 12, 1914
I enclose Bing's cable in answer to my request that you be allowed to pay him the $Jo,ooo for the Chou bears inJan. 1916. Kindly write what I am to tell him about shipping them. Besides the three I have secured for you there are several other Persian miniatures ranging in price from $600 to $ l, ooo that I'd like to secure for you. May I? Affectionately B. B.
Dearest B.B.
Fenway Court Boston February 13, 1914
I am glad about the Bears. Why shouldn't they come straight to me, Fenway Court, Boston? As they are in New York can there be any difficulty? As to the miniatures, I judge from what you have said that I have the three best. Therefore, as every cent of money I spend now comes out of my summer, unless there is some one miniature far surpassing all others, is it not better 512
to stop? I do not yet know what the three cost. Please tell me. One of them I suppose from Ross's note, is from the Dioscurides. 1 When I know what I already owe, I can tell better if I can work any more economies for another. Mine (the three) are the best he has, are they not? So sorry to worry you again. Let me have the 3 miniatures now and their bill, and answers to my questions. Yours Isabella Love to you both, my very dearsI am tired and cross and write hurriedly. Oh, so busy! Âť r. Two Miniatures of Medicinal Plants , a leaf from a translation of the De materia medica of
Dioscurides copied by Abdallah ibn Al-Fadl, Mesopotamian, written by the Greek physician in the first century A.D.
Dear Isabella,
1224.
The text was originally
[New York] Febr. 17, 1914
What do you suppose I was ruining myself cabling to Paris for if the Chou bears were here? No, they are there, and will have to be shipped in the usual way. Shall I tell Bing to address them to you tout court, or have you found a spediteuer to whom to have them sent? Let me know. My impression is that the two automata 1 and the one Dioscurides miniature will cost you under $2,000, all told. I should like you to get a few Mongoloid, I mean early-ish l 5th century which of their kind are as fine as the others. But if you don't see your way to it tant pis. I am here to advise but not to persuade. Yours devotedly B.B. Âť r. Two leaves from the Automata of al-Jazari, The Candle-Clock and An Hydraulic Device,
Egyptian,
I
3 54.
Dearest B.B.
Fenway Court February 18, 1914
I thought Mrs. Sears told me she had seen the Bears in New York, and therefore I fancied you cabled about price! So, you see what I meant. I think it is better to have them sent straight to me Fenway Court. Swift will have the pay-agreement in his keeping and will attend to it. I have just been telephoning to Ross, because of a letter from him. He had h'e ard from Rosenberg that he can have "The Musicians" 1 for Frs. lO.ooo and he is to get it for me! Isn't that splendid? So I shall have that great sheet of the book, and the 2 you have bought for me and the Dioscurides leaf! So I feel delighted. Don't you? As to what you call the Mongoloid (early l 5th) I must have one. Please pick out the very best one, and send it and the three others and the bill to me! I am entirely grateful and affection-
513
ately thankful. Are you both well? Ross does not want my name spoken of apropos of "The Musicians." Love to you both. Yours Isabella ÂťI.
Shown in A Water-Clock, a third leaf from the Automata of al-Jazari, Egyptian,
Dearest Isabella,
l
3 54.
[New York] Febr. 20, 1914
I am very glad to hear you are getting the musicians out of Martin's book. It is one of the best. Here besides the three already acquired I have got you one of the Mongoloid. 1 Directly the show is over, March 1, namely Birnbaum will send you these four with the bill. It will come to $2,600. Yours B.B. Âť l. Kay Kaus Captured by the Divs, a leaf from the Shah-nameh of Firdausi, Persian, mid-
fifteenth century. Denman Ross gave ISG a second leaf from the same manuscript, with Rustan Fighting with Suhrab, on Christmas 1913.
Dear 'Ramus
February 21, 1914
Your letter has come two minutes ago. I write immediately to say what a dear you are to have got me the things. Is the 4th one you got, the best of the lot? I have written to Birnbaum to send them, immediately on the close of the exhibition March 1st. I am most anxious to see them, and very soon everything here shuts up, so I cannot let them go to Buffalo[?]. I heard yesterday from the family that Mrs. Morton Prince was very bad! In the evening I saw him at the Assembly! Take care of yourselves both and keep well. With love always Affectionately Isabella
Dearest Isabella,
[Baltimore] Mar. 6, 1914
Too maddening to think of you in New York and we here-! We've had nearly a week of work in Mr. Walters' huge Museum. He has some splendid things-Greek, Egyptian, Aztec, Persian, early French, Turkish, Armenian, Coptic, even Italian, and good modern pictures (a few) but hopelessly lost and buried in masses of indifferent stuff, and actual rubbish. It is very mysterious. However, we've had a most interesting and instructive time. We go on to Washington on Sunday to stay with Mrs. W A. Slater, 1731 I Street, until the 14th, and from that date till the 21st we shall be at The Deanery, Bryn Mawr, Pa., and then again at the Ritz-Carlton, N. Y., until we sail on the 28th. I may run up to Boston for the 25th and 26th to stay with dear Fanny Prince: but the 'Ramus says he just can't, he will be over514
whelmed with business. Of course I shall see you, it is what I want to do most. I hope your cold isn't bothering you any more. You showed a noble disregard of it, I must say! Your devoted Mary B. We both send our dearest love. Âť r. Ellen (Peck) Slater was married to W. A. Slater (18 57-1919) , industrialist, philanthropist,
and art collector.
Dearest Isabella,
St. Patrick's Day March 17, 1914
I have been so really ill with the cold from which I was suffering when I had the joy of seeing you, that I have become afraid of any more long journeys. I spent most of my time in Washington in bed, and even now am still quite bothered by it. B. B. has persuaded me th~refore to give up the trip to Boston-and I am most awfully sorry. We heard of your visit to New York from so many sources that we had to believe you were there at least a month! No one could do all that in two days! The shape of the Fra Angelico has come, and I should like also the measurements of the Pollaiuolo, for we may quite well find an old frame that will just suit it. Mr. Walters gave me a wonderful gold eagle of Aztec origin. Bernhard is wild to get hold of some of the early Aztec things, which are as beautiful as the early Chinese, and very like them, sculpture and pottery and bone carving and even wood. Mr. Walters has an obsidian rattlesnake and a seated god which are superb, and the last day I was in Washington I struggled out to the Smithsonian and saw some beautiful things, small slate totem-poles, and carved boxes and stone mortars. It would be interesting to put them together with fine oriental things-only we have no idea where to get hold of them! I am giving a little talk here on Friday about American Collections, beginning with Palazzo Gardner. I wish you would sometime have slides made of all your things, so that they might get known and hasten the leavening-up of the other collections. We sail on the Olympic on the 28th, none too early for my tulips. The 'Ramus will stop to see the Curtises on the way down. Ralph writes more cheerfully of late. I can't say more than I have about how very, very much we should love to have you come and stay with us. An apartment (vulgarly known as "the Ritz suite") is at your disposal whenever the fancy may take you to come and occupy it . Your presence would heighten the time of enjoyment more than I can tell you.
515
Please have a photograph of yourself as a Taoist priest taken and send us Devotedly Mary a copy.
Fenway Court Friday the 27th [March 1914] This must be my good bye to you dear friends. I do not know the name of your steamer, so can't send a farewell there. The joy of this winter has been seeing you both, and the sadness of the spring is your going away. "Hope springs eternal," so I hope-but when, shall we meet again? I fancy many of our opera people will be on your boat, so many are leaving tonight by the midnight train. The Bears have come and are darlings-to live with, and delight in. A propos, in a quiet moment tell me if anything can be done to stop the corroding process which is eating them away. Do either of you know? Last night I dined with the Brooks Adamses. 1 He took me out, and I loved to hear him admire you both. Siren the Swede is now in Boston seeing things, and eating many dinners and luncheons. 2 He comes here this morning. He is liked and is very cheerful and fresh. Good bye, God be with you. I love you both and can't bear not seeing you again. Buon viaggio, breve ritorno. Please write often. With deepest affection Yours Isabella Brooks Adams (1847-1927), a historian like his brother Henry Adams, was married to Evelyn (Davis) Adams. Âť2. Osvald Siren (1879-1966), Swedish art historian and author, wrote about European art as a young man and about the Orient in later life. ÂťI.
Dearest Isabella,
[New York] March 27, 1914
This is goodbye-and I hate to write it!--Parliamo delle case allegre! B.B. says that the chief importer of Chinese things is a man named Worsch, 1 who sells to Mr. Freer, Mr. Peters etc. Worsch has promised him to let you see his things first of all, when he takes them to Boston, and B.B. has given him a note to you, and begs you to look at them, along with Dr. Ross, and see if there is anything you want to have. There may be one or two bronzes, etc. that Dr. Ross will think worthy of your Palace, which you may like to have, if you are feeling rich! W's prices are rather stiff alas. Why didn't we all begin to collect these things years ago? We are returning to Europe positively ruined! 516
I think I told you that Mr. Otto Kahn had bought the Botticelli. 2 I am ~Nriting a brief note on it for Art in America. We feel we are leaving a most interes ting world behind us-but n evertheless the Tuscan Hills are attractive. You will be glad to hear that we have p ersuaded Dr. Prince to come over with us! It will give his wife a chance to recover-and will be a great res t for him too. His book is first rate. I do hate to write goodbye-and wish it were more certainly A bient8t! Devotedly Mary The 'Ramus has written your name on the envelope, and says it will show his sorrow in every stroke! Edgar Worch of Worch and Company, Paris, dealers of Chinese antiquities. Âť2. The first among four versions of this is in ~he N ational Ga llery of Art. MB's article appeared in Art i11 America 2 (191 4): 240-4 2. ÂťI.
Dear Isabella,
[Paris] Apr. IO, 1914
I am sending you reproductions of Goloubew's stele. You will remember it is the one Ross and I both regard as the finest Chinese sculpture that has yet appeared. You may also remember commissioning m e to get it for you, and my telling you I had no idea what the price would be but at least $20, ooo. Well I have seen Goloubew, and in view of the fact that he was building a new house, and planning another expedition to India, that on the one hand he would have no room for the stele in his hous e and on the other needed money-in view of all this I persuaded him to cede you the stele. He will let you have it not for $20, ooo but for what it cost him-as he refuses to make money by private sale-namely 55,000 fr. that is to say less than $I I,000.
But there are two conditions attached. In the first place, as the stele is now on exhibit at the Musee Cernuschi it can not be taken thence and sent to you before July. In the second place-and this is important-he must be paid no later than Nov. r. I know how hard up you are, but you inust raise the money by hook or by crook, for you are getting this greatest masterpiece for about a third of its actual value. Please write and tell me without delay what you decide to do, addressing me to Settignano. I saw Bing who assures me your bears are not diseased, and that the bloom will go no further, and that your mind can be at peace. We had a rather horrid crossing, altho in good company: Morton Prince, Henry Cannon, Lucy Hewitt. Mary passed thro ' yesterday on her 517
way to Settignano, and I leave tomorrow for the Curtises. I stay with them three days and go to Settignano myself. Affectionately B. B.
Dear B.B.
Fenway Court April 2 l, l 9 l 4
I have got your letter, rejoiced over it, have sent for Swift and have just seen him. And he agrees to beg, borrow or steal. It must be one of the three! I am really so glad to have the stele, and hope you will continue to think it is . A No. l. So please buy it for me. You said you were sending a "reproduction" of it. So far none has come but of course I am awfully keen to get it. 'M r. Swift will pay the 55,000 f:i;-ancs Nov. rst, and I will expect the stele in July. To whom does Swift pay? I do hope all will go well. I am sorry to say Mrs. Prince is very ill. In perfect agony for 3 days. I saw her daughter Claire this morning. Is Karin better? My love to you both. Always yours . Isabella
Dearest Isabella,
[I Tatti] April 22, 1914
. I have had no other Jetter 1 abo.ut the book of my mother 2 like yours, and I shall have no other. There is only one You, so large and generous and vivid in sympathy. It was a wonderful letter to receive. -You know my dear Mother had the greatest interest .in you, and admired you very much. I must get hold of my letters to her about you. I used to write her pages and pages. Although she is gone, the happy Home Life goes on, for we grew so used to being together under her wings that we cannot fall apart. My sister's husband, Bertrand Russell, left her, just at the time of my mother's death, so Alys came back wholly to us, and as she is the dearest most unselfish most helpful person in the world, she has created a Home for us all, almost like my Mother's. There we meet, with "Grace" and "the cousins," for a blissful two months, with my interesting and kind, but somewhat aloof brother, Logan Pearsall Smith in the background, coming and going with his yacht and his friends. Alys (my sister) takes every material care off my shoulders. Ray and Karin come and go, and Alys and I have the baby, who runs about on the lawn in a little shirt, and evokes in our hearts the tenderest most blissful feelings of love. Perhaps this will explain to you how, over and above my consciencepricks at having given the 'Ramus cause for jealousy on my part, I feel it only fair to let him create a little life of his own. Obviously, he cannot sink into the depths of my family life, obviously his inner shrine can't contain my idols, and, unless he makes it for himself, his heart is rather empty of intimate intimate figures, but for me. I have him and five other beings to 518
love and adore, and it keeps me warm and contented, but what has he? If and when he deludes himself into thinking he has found an idol worthy his adoration, I can't help sympathizing with him. I know now it can't separate us, any more than my grandchild can separate us. At one time, about Miss Greene, I felt that although it was natural on his part, it was making him so miserable that life couldn't go on. But that is over. She has no more power to torment him in that disintegrating way. Enough about myself! Your divine sympathy doesn't deserve to be rewarded with unabashed egotism. We are amazed, delighted, enchanted, grinning with pleasure over the Domenico Veneziano! 3 Hip hip hooray. It is worthy of your collection, and of you, splendid, splendid of you to get it. Bernhard is deeply contented. He would rather you had it than the Botticelli. As to the bronze disease from which the dear Bears are suffering, I think they understand all about it at the Museum. Our plan has been to soak the things for days in kerosine, and sometimes it is entirely successful, sometimes only temporarily so. I was ill ever since we landed until a day or two ago-the same cold I had when I saw you. And you, too, are hardly recovered from yours. 'Ramus stayed a few days at Villa Sylvia, and found Ralph rather ill and gloomy and Lisa looking "more and more like her Ma." The situation is fiercely strained, the more so that Margery and the little boy don't grow, and Lisa puts it all down to Ralph. There is something quite wrong with those children undoubtedly. Sylvia seems to have escaped. Ralph says he will die soon, but that is no sign he will. It is heavenly and divine here, only the 'Ramus has his usual homecoming collapse, and feels tired and melancholy. But he is happy too. Dr. Prince was a charming companion on the boat. He is now in England lecturing, and we hope for a visit from him before he returns. fsabella, are you quite sure all those tales are true? I ventured to bring up one or two things I had heard (I did not say from whom), in a detached way, and he made such frank and unsuspicious and full answers that I couldn't help believing him. Of course I shan't do more, for repeating tales is horrible, but I wonder if somewhere somehow somebody hasn't been spinning a lot of nubile lies about him? I have heard them from lots of people. I must go-'Ramus is waiting-he sends love-and you know I do. Affectionately Mary Âť r. The letter from ISG is lost. Âť2. Hannah Whitall Smith's (1832-191 l) religious autobiography, The Unselfishness of God, was published in 1903. The Christian Secret of a Happy Life, her most popular book, was published in 1875 . MB probably refers to one or the other. Âť 3. A Young Lady of Fashion, ascribed by BB to Domenico Veneziano, and by Philip Hendy in
the Gardner Museum catalogue to Paolo Uccello, is now considered to be by the Master of the Castello Nativity, the name given by BB to an anonymous painter whose Nativity is now in the Accademia, Florence.
519
Dear B.B.
Fenway Court April 22, r9r4
The reproductions of the stele have come. I am overcome by the wonder of it. Magnificent! Of course I can't quite realize it. Are there 4 sides all covered with sculptures and how high does it stand? It must be surpassingly great. According to Swift 5 5, ooo fr cs. is nearly $ r r, ooo, because of the exchange. But for all that, he has begun to lay plans for getting the money to him by Nov. r4. I shall begin to look out for it July rst and shall hope to hold out till then! I still have my cold and am as weak as a limpet. Yours Isabella Love to you both.
[I Tatti] Dear Isabella,
May 7, r9r4
I waited to have Goloubew's official note of confirmation before writing to you that the stele is yours. But now that it is yours, let me tell you, that procuring it for you has been the greatest sacrifice I could possibly have made to my love of you, and to my interest in your collection. For this stele is incomparably the finest thing that thus far has come out of China, and the price is such a fraction of its market value that it was well within my means to get it for myself. I was not tempted not to do my best to persuade you to get it, but I retained a vague hope that you might refuse it, and that then I could in conscience keep it for myself. What a marvel it is!!!!!! You must not expect it in July, for the Cernuschi won't give it up till July r. As neither Goloubew or I are business people, I wish you would appoint some agent of yours in Paris to take charge of the stele, and attend to its packing and shipping. If you don't I'll charge Pottier to attend to it. In that case you must write very careful directions which I shall transmit to Pottier. But I'd a thousand times rather you let some trusted agent of yours take charge of it. Please tell Mr. Swift that the 55,000 francs should be paid in no later than Nov. r to Victor Goloubew, 26 Avenue du Bois de Boulogne, Paris. The stele stands about 5 ft. altogether. We have been having the most enchanting summer weather ever since my return here, and I am quite overwhelmed by it. I heartily wish you were here to loaf with me. You must not forget to send me the photographs of the various pictures you promised to do for me. I only remember one in particular, the one I 520
am inclined to ascribe to Scaletti. 1 You remember it represents women kneeling in a chapel before the tomb of a saint. Give my love to Ross when you see him next, and tell him how I wish he were coming over too. Now, you must promise, to save all your money and let me make you as fine a Chinese collection as you have of Italian. I can do it for you I am sure, if only you will trust me, and second me. Affectionately B.B. Pray er before a Tomb , now attributed to Antonio C ico gnara and thou ght to be St . Lucy and her mother at the tomb of St . Agatha . Âť r.
Dearest Isabella,
[I Tatti] May 13, 1914
Your name has been on our lips a great deal these last two days, just before Morton Prince left, because the 'Ramus and I have been strongly counselling him to go to you and trust you with his difficult situation. 1 We tell him what we know, that no one in the world is tenderer and deeper and more understanding than you, when you are really taken into a person's confidence, that you have real miracles of kindly sympathy for grave human situations, and that unexpected healing lies in your hands. As Bernhard summed it up yesterday, sitting with Dr. Prince in the lemonhouse, "Taking it all in all, Isabella is the biggest and deepest and inost fascinating nature I ever came across. She is so splendid that you can't ask too much of her. She always pays up, and more." So this very unusual and talented and sorely unhappy person is coming straight to you to explain and correct the gross injustice that is being done him in the matter of his financial honour. We advised him to bring you even his income-tax papers and the joint account he has with Fanny, so that you could see exactly the truth. I think if you see that, you will infer a good deal beside that need not be talked of, and which he certainly will not touch upon, for he is loyal and courteous. He explained everything to Bernhard and me, in so far as he could without blaming others dearer to him than himself, and we think we understand the tragic situation perfectly, and both of us feel that you should also. You may be able to help the ship-wreck of the work of a man who is, over here regarded as of the very first importance. His last book, The Unconscious, is taken most seriously and admiringly by the authorities on this side, and he has a still more important volume in preparation which only depends for its coming out upon his getting peace and satisfaction of mind. We do think his friends should stand by him. It has taken us a long time to get to the bottom of all these reports, partly because he is unaccustomed to talking about his own affairs, and is singularly slow and confused in expression. But you will not, I am sure, let 521
this put you off when he comes to you. Listen, as we did , for the real point, and help him in that. It does seem important, first of all, that he should have possible conditions for his work: secondly that his money affairs should stand out clearly for the more than fair and honourable transactions they are: and thirdly that he should become friends again with his children. I think he is going back, meaning to accomplish these perfectly feasible ends, and he wants you to understand more than anyone else. You have been gravely misinformed about him, and I am sure he will be able to convince you of that, if you give him time and your sympathetic attention. I was told in N. Y. by an intimate friend of his wife's that he was forcing her to make her will in his favour, excluding the children, and was then going to kill her, not by drugs, but by scenes and excitements. Anything further from the actual facts could hardly be imagined. Fanny Prince seemed to me a rare and charming person, and I hope she needn't be brought into the explanation or trouble at all. I know he doesn't mean her to be. But he is coming to you, on our advice, as to the most humane and understanding human soul we know, and Bernhard and I hope you will give him his chance. He could become one of the numerous devoted slaves of "Cousin Belle"-if she would let him! My dear, my dear, you ought to be here now when the roses are rioting over every wall, and the nightingales madly singing the clock round. Such sights and smells and sounds-! Italy is a paradise at this moment. And there you are in bricks and mortar and dust when you should be seated in our new motor flying over the enchanted hills holding converse with Bernhard and receving the genuine love and admiration of your devoted 路 Mary 禄 r.
Dr. Prince was the subject of malicious gossip in Boston, with mention of infidelity, finan-
cial irregularities, and attempting to have his wife disinherit his children.
Dear B.B.
Fenway Court May r9, 1914
You are indeed a dear. I appreciate what you have done for me, but this is not the first and only kind thing. I thank the Lord for so dear and good a friend. Have no fear that the money will not be paid Nov. lst. I always keep my part of the bargain. Would that others did the same. You said at first, I should have the stele July lst, and now you say "don't expect it then." When can I expect it? They must not go back on their bargain. And who and where are the Cernuschi who won't give it up until July l? When you let me know what part of Paris it will be in, at a given July date I will have my Paris agent, Fernand Robert, get it and pack it and send it to me. The powers that be must give Robert the right papers properly made out. That is 522
always the great trouble, which delays and keeps the things months in the Customs, because duty on works of art or no duty, makes no difference. You must remember that the only things I said to you, after you told me about the stele, was that that was what I wanted. You said then, there was no chance of its being sold, and I said all the better if the paying will be postponed, but have it I must sometime. And always you never let on you wanted it! Don't let them delay giving it up to my man. It must come while the building is going on, that I may have it properly placed. No photographs can be taken now, because everything is covered and shut up because of the dirt and falling plaster. 1 I am still in town, not quite over the near-pneumonia enough to move to Brookline. If I could only be with you two at I Tatti. How I should love it. My love to you both. Affy Isabella S. Gardner The Music Room was being torn down to be replaced by the Chinese Loggia, Spanish Chapel, Spanish Cloister, and Tapestry Room. ÂťI.
Dear Isabella,
[I Tatti] May 30, 1914
I envy your child-like impatience to get hold of your new toy. But alas! I am not Father Xmas, so I must beg you not to give way to your eagerness but to remember that we both are living in a grown up world conditioned by time and space. You are free to cry off the bargain, but quicker than July l the Cernuschi Museum of the Art of the Far East will not give up the stele there on loan. Its transfer to you is not a business transaction. It is an act of pure friendship on my part to you, and on Goloubew's part to me. I am willing to do much to please you but one thing I can not do, put the stele in my pocket and fetch it for you in an ocean greyhound, and another thing I will not do, go to the U.S. consul to arrange about the papers. That must be done by your friend Robert, and it is for you to give him precise and ample instructions. Please write to him to that effect, and ask him to communicate with me at the Ritz Hotel Paris about June 29, and I will do what little I can to see that he gets prompt delivery. After that the entire responsibility devolves on him. I am still very tired, and yet in three weeks I must be up and at it again. I am very cross that you can't do me such a trifling favour as getting a small picture down and having it photographed for me. You aren't going to tell me the room where it usually is, has been walled up. A man of prowess could surely beard what lions may be denning there, and snatch the small panel from their non-extant jaws. The fact is I am writing an article on 523
Scaletti and I grievously miss a photo. of your two women kneeling in a chapel. Write me after this to Baring Bros. London. From June 25 till July ro I shall be in Paris, and then till Aug. r, in London. I look forward with zest to seeing what the dealers have of Chinese art to show me. Would I were young or at least well, and I'd chuck everything and go to China. Ever yours B.B.
Dear Isabella,
[London] July 12, I 914
I am sending you on a roll four photographs of things I would strongly recommend you to acquire. They are not Chinese but of the same quality only more so-so to speak-being more virile, and they have the advantage of being our own art-the art of Europe. As the dealer's enclosed letter will tell you they are French of the most glorious periods, the door as architectonic sculpture being in every way one of the most masculine products of human genius , and the two prophets and the Christ entering Jerusalem being the very highest reach of European medieval art. 1 Now that you have the Chinese stele-which by the way you never would have had if I was not very eager that you should have it-now that you have such an Eastern masterpiece, I am very anxious that you should own and be able to show something Western in the same mode and at least of the same quality. Denman Ross has I believe seen them. At all events show him the photographs. I should be seriously surprised if he were not of my mind regarding them. Unfortunately the prices are a good bit of money r 50,000 fr. for the sculptures, and 80,000 for the door. But it is literally the case that the Louvre is paying an exactly identical price for a similar trio, in no way preferable to this one. If your budget and your inclinations do not permit you to acquire both the sculptures and the door, I would advise you to get the sculptures alone. I am confident however that you will never regret having got both. The payment can be extended over two years. I enclose elevations or sections enabling your architect to tell you exactly how they would fit into your new corridor or wherever you decide to place them. Dear Isabella, believe that I have not a farthing's interest of a moneykind in the matter. I simply want you to complete your collection by getting when possible the best of the greatest kinds. If you can't manage it please be sure to return Demotte's letter and the plans. 524
I have only got here, and an1 writing now because I could find no time in Pari , and hall not again for so1ne days to con1e while here. Devotedly B.B. Âť r. The twelfth-century portal from a house at La Reole (near Bordeaux) and the two mid-
twelfth-ccntury relief sculptures from the fac;ade of Notre-Dame-de-la-Couldre, Parthenay, that were installed in the Spanish Cloister were bought from G. Joseph Demotte, a dealer in Paris.
Dear B.B.
July I 5, I9I4
I an1 writing in the debris and amid showers of bricks and mortar. I am n1ore than glad to hear the stele is on the way. Also I shall be delighted to have the last no. of Ars Asiatica which you say Goloubew is sending me. I got a word several weeks ago that it was being sent to me, but it has never come. I wish it would. I an1 sending you some photos of little pictures you mentioned-entre autres the Scaletti. The photos are the best possible, but very poor. Lovingly yours I. S. Gardner Don't fear, I shall surely keep my part of the bargain. I always do.
Dear B.B.
July 27, 1914
Swift has behaved wonderfully. I submitted everything to him 2 days ago, and he went away to think! I care very much for the things, particularly the door. I measured and looked and contrived for the two days to find a place. I think I have found a place that will do. Yesterday, (Sunday), I sent for Swift again!, showed him the photographs and talked some more. He ended by saying, "Well get them, I think they are splendid. The payment can't be before September 15th, 1916." So, I write to you light-heartedly. I am also writing to Robert, .30 rue Joubert, Paris, to take charge of everything, as he did for the stele, and to send them immediately. Will you give orders to Demotte to deliver to Robert. The things must come as soon as possible as they must be built in. Sept. r 5th has to be the date, because the quarterly payment does not come from the trustees before that. I shall be delighted to have them. I only wish I had more Chinese masterpieces. Love to both of you and thanks. Isabella
Dearest Isabella,
Ford Place Arundel Aug. II, 1914
I ought to have answered your letter long ago, but the War has cast such a sadness upon us that I have had no heart to \iVrite. We feel that we are lucky
to be in this safe haven, for my sister and I were motoring close to Metz only a few days before War broke out. We might have been treated as badly as Mr. and Mrs. Archer Huntington were treated!1 But we crossed the Channel just in time, and met Bernhard here, and here we are staying until further developments. He, as well as I, found this such a delightful refuge that we like to be here. Bernhard has a big cedar-panelled room looking out into a rose-garden enclosed by high brick walls, and he says he is perfectly happy here, with plenty of books. Thank God that little Barbary, my grandchild, knows nothing of War, and her laughter and pretty ways drive it out of our heads sometimes. Karin is cruising on the Solent, engaging the search-lights o'nights to follow her c.. erratic coyrse, and the Portsmouth banks to warn her off forbidden waters. We- expect a visit from Graham Wallas tomorrow, 2 and have Zangwill as a near neighbour. 3 But all we speak of together is the War, the horror of this . sudden plunge into savagery, the pity of killing our friends, the Germans, .a_nd ~he incredible dislocation of all the habits and plans and pursuits of all 路 the dwell~rs in the countries engaged. But enough of this. i wa路~ :Very -glad to get your letter and know that our路 friend Dr. Prince had at least. tried to explain things to you. 路 All we advised him to do was to make his financial position clear to his friends and especially to his children, and to heal up the breach with his children. As he is not a letter writer, we don't know whether he followed our advice or not. He spoke a great deal of his love and admiration for Fanny and also of his anxiety for her health under the care of an osteopath, and we felt that he did not need or want any advice or opinion as to that. But his money affairs seemed quite aboveboard , and he really adores his children and could easily put himself right with them, or at least we hoped so. Fanny asked me to do what we could, and we did, up to our lights. But of course now it has passed out even of our knowledge. All I hope is that things will be more comfortable in that delightful and talented family. I hear from Fanny sometimes , but she has not said anything about her sad illness. Bernhard says to tell you he is writing in a day or two-I think about those Gothic things. He conceivably may himself return to America for the winter, if we can't get back to Italy-but I do not think I should come with him this time. I adore being here with my family, and I had all the social life last winter that I can digest in five or six years. If I could come just to Boston and see you and one or two friends, I 1night do it, but New York frightens me! I daresay we shall end by creeping back to Florence, when trains can again pass freely across France or ships sail past Gibraltar, for Bernhard thinks he would enjoy getting to work again. The War has cut into our finances so that we have suppressed the luxury of a secretary, and I shall have to return to the business I really care far more for than "entertaining." A War throws one back upon real things, real values, and I can conceive reorganizing our lives jn a better way and on
a simpler footing. Bernhard maybe then would begin to write again. You cannot serve both God and Mammon. Again many thanks for your letter. It is dreadful to think of your lovely Music-Room no more in existence. But You are, which is the thing that matters! Devotedly Mary B. » r. Archer Huntington's interest in maps led to an unpleasant episode in 1914. Because of their
supply of maps, he and his wife were arrested in Nuremberg and searched and confined to hotel rooms. Their chauffeur escaped to Switzerland and called the U.S. ambassador in Paris, who arranged their release. »2. Graham Wallas (1858-1932). English political scientist and professor at the London School of Economics and the University of London. »3. Israel Zangwill (1864-1926), English novelist and playwright, was a longtime friend of BB's .
Dear 'Ramus
Green Hill Brookline, Mass. September 5, 1914
Your letter has just come. Robert had been to Demotte who told him, he had received no communication from you, saying I had purchased the things, and also saying that absolutely nothing could be sold before the war was over. And alas, dear B.B., the only thing for me to do is to stick to my original bargain. Pay for the things two years after they are received, or give them up. I think it odd that you don't realize my position. Owing to your kind suggestions I have bought several things lately, all of which must be paid for, to say nothing of my building bills. Calumet and Hecla pass their dividends, 1 and I am put to it to pay ordinary bills. And now there is a war tax! Please don't even think I could pay before 2 years after they are here. I can't. That was the bargain I made. I am as badly off as possible. Think of the civilized 20th century! Do come. Love from Isabella » l. The Gardner family had large holdings in the mining company Calumet and Hecla and
were members of the board.
Dearest Isabella,
Ford Place Arundel 0 Ct. l l , l 9 l 4
I owe you a letter since the beginning of this disastrous summer. Our thoughts have often turned to your Palazzo as an island of peace in a grisly world, and to you in the beautiful Taoist dress. Perhaps the 'Ramus will soon come over and see you and it again. We have been waiting here, since War broke out, and cannot decide what to do. If Italy remains neutral, we should go there-only somehow one cannot settle to work with these things going on. Bernhard's mind turns towards America next to Italy, but I find it too hard to leave my children and grandchild. Karin, my second
daughter, has just got engaged, and will be married in ten days, to Adrian Stephen, 1 son of Sir Leslie Stephen who was what Walt Whitman used to call a "literatus," and who marrried Thackeray's daughter. Both girls have chosen men whose families appear, along with the Darwins, in Galton's, Hereditary Genius, as examples of talent belonging to several generations and spread into all the branches, so I am counting on one or two clever grandchildren!! Karin won a fellowship at Newnham this spring, and she and her husband are going to live in Cambridge so that she may go on with her work, while Adrian does volunteer work in the hospitals established there for wounded soldiers. It is rather a grisly time to inaugurate personal happiness, but it has been a godsend to us to have something beside the War to think of. Since Antwerp fell, people have become very nervous about a Zeppelin raid on London. I heard from Mrs. Robert Benson this morning (who has three sons and a son-in-law at the fronts) that they are thinking of sending their beautiful collection of Italian pictures across to America for safekeeping, while the war lasts. 2 I cannot believe it necessary, with England's fleet, and her own excellent air-army, but a panic has seized Londoners. It is at the best a ghastly time to be alive, and who can possibly tell how it will turn out? It has destroyed all reasonable correspondence-one starts to write of other things, and always brings up at the War. The 'Ramus has turned very grey since it began. Everyone is nervous and sleepless and anxious, if not downright heart-broken. All except the fighters-they enjoy it, and are full of courage and dash and excitement. ''je n'ai jamais ete si content de ma vie," writes the cultivated young aviator who was "keeper" to Mme. Andre's pictures, just as he was starting for the fighting line. A "Tommy" recovering from severe wounds said to a friend of ours-"The Kaiser thought he'd pinched me proper, but I'll show him wot I'm made of." Again the War! I must stop. I shall be dreadfully envious if the 'Ramus does get over to see you. If there weren't a New York in America, I think I might come too. With love from us both, Yours devotedly Mary Berenson Adrian Stephen (1883-1948) was Virginia Woolf's brother. He and Karin were pacifists during World War I, which caused a quarrel with the Berensons. Adrian later became a psychoanalyst. Âť2. See Catalogue of Italian Pictures at 16, South Street, Park Lane, London, and Buckhurst in Sussex, Collected by Robert and Evelyn Benson (London, 1914). ÂťI.
Dear Isabella,
Ford Place Arundel Oct. 18 1914
Please read Demotte's letter enclosed. As you see he is ready to send you the Medieval sculptures, provided you will be so kind as to pay him at once
for the payment in advance he will have to make for the freight, insurance etc. If you want him to send them at once, please cable as follows: Demotte, 27 Rue Berri, Paris, Envoyez, Gardner. We still are here, and it has been an immense alleviation during this endless nightmare to have found such a delightful shelter and to have had such weather. But we now must bestir ourselves. If possible we want to return to Florence. Mary because she can't bear to remain away, and I to get to work. But can we return? If we can not, I at least will come over to America, and spend the winter in New York. In that case I should come quite frequently to Boston, but after the experience of our last visit I see no reason for a long stay. And yet I may settle down at Harvard for the whole winter. The truth is I am unattached, unanchored, and at bottom quite indifferent. The world consists of one's personal friends, one's thoughts and one's dreams and one can manage to live anywhere with these three. Mary is in London and I join her there tomorrow for the wedding of her second daughter. With affectionate greetings B. B.
[Paris] Dearest Isabella,
Nov.
22, 1914
We have been here for ten days staying with Edith Wharton and seeing our other friends during this marvellous time. You can't conceive how grand and beautiful Paris is now in the sparkling winter weather with the streets nearly empty. The smart shops closed, the Rita Lydigs all gone, no theatres, few restaurants, and no rastas [rastaquoueres]. It is divine, and one's French friends so grave, so earnest, so cahn. I love them like this, and I have never found Paris more to my taste. I find great distress among the dealers, and my favourite among them Vignier is in a bad way because just before war began he incurred tremendous expense by moving into a new place. Consequently he is ready to sell at nearly cost price. He already had last spring a very great Chinese masterpiece, perhaps the finest one figure that has ever come out of the Celestial Empire. I did not even dare to ask the price. It is very different now, and in view of the fact that yoÂľ wrote me earlier your regret that you did not have more Chinese works, in view too of the terms, I venture to recommend to you the acquisition of this stone statue, and enclose a photo, and a section. For if you get it, it should be walled in e.g. a pillar or wall where it would get the best light, and look as much as possible as it did at Yun-Kan [Yung Kang] whence it comes, as if carved out, as indeed it was, from the living rock. It is very subtle, in fact Leonardesque in expression, and serene and stately in pose. The lower part retains discreet traces of original color. The date is toward 500 of our era. The
effect of the whole is stately, mysterious , aloof. In short it is from every universal point of view a great, great work of art, fit for you to own. Now listen to the terms. The price is 42 , 000 fr. (forty-two thousand francs) delivered free of charge in New York (In N. Y. Vignier's agent will forward it at your expense to Boston). The payment is to be one half, that is to say 21,000 fr. on Jan. l, 1916, and 21 , 000 fr. onjan. r, 1917. You must recognize that neither price nor terms could be easier. If all this suits with your approval cable SINOPERSAN, PARIS, YES, GARDNER, and the statue will be sent by the very next boat. We leave tomorrow for Florence. Yours B.B.
Dear B.B.,
Fenway Court December 8 [1914]
Alas, alas. We are in great financial dumps here. Calumet and Hecla again passes its dividend. I am struggling to pay painters, carpenters, etc. for the six months work here, and I am being hounded. I reluctantly return the photograph and the elevations of the beautiful Chinese statue. It cannot be for me. I wish the war might make Demotte feel also that the price for those gothic things ought to be lowered! I feel pledged to them as soon as they can be got here, with of course the delayed payment. I am very sorry for all our sakes that you are to be in Settignano and not here this winter. I should like to have you see my "Early Italian Room." 1 Great love to you both. Affy Isabella Âť r . This room had been filled formerly with Oriental art.
[I Tatti] Dear Isabella,
Dec.
13, 1914
A year ago today I returned to Boston and found you waiting for us at the station. I hope another year will not pass without my seeing you again. I enclose a letter from Demotte which explains itself if you read it carefully. If you agree cable to him to send the statues. We got back some ten days ago having motored here all the way through France. This you must already know for I wrote you from Paris urging you to buy a very wonderful Chinese statue at Vignier. I trust you will, for I am certain it is one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. From Paris our journey was pleasant. It was delicious getting back to the South. We stopped over to see the Bourgets at Costebelle and the Curtises at Villa Sylvia. They had just returned and were settling in for a solitary winter which I think will not be an unhappy one. He will have his wish which is 530
to have her all to himself, and she is really very adaptable and submissive. She was knitting busily. Here we find Italy pretty feverish and busily preparing for war. Whether she will join in the fray or not it is very hard to say. I hope she will keep out of it. On the other hand very influential friends of mine, usually more pacifistic, are now for fighting. In a sense I approve of their spirit, and I wish we Americans had as much and made it as officially clear to Germany what we thought of her and her methods. Our official neutrality has something immoral and cowardly about it. This is no time for wishing any one a Merry Xmas, but a Happy New Year I wish you with all my heart. Yours B.B.
Dearest Isabella,
[I Tatti] Jan. l, 1915
My best wishes for a Happy New Year to you. May Calumet and Hecla revive and may the Lord replenish its udders. May all blessings flow your way, and health, and happiness, and sage counsel. Living on the brink of a volcano in the midst of continuous earthquakes, it is hard to prophesy where one will take his next step. But unless the monstrous happen, and we, I mean the U.S., join the Accursed e.g. all the Powers of Good, we shall stay on here, even if Italy does join the Crusade against the Accursed. That will be the more reason for staying here, and trying to help with all our substance. But I may come over in July to spend a few months. What time we spare from the war we spend working, and I am now busy writing about the Italian pictures in America. 1 Yours will come in for consideration. But what a pity you have no Bellini! I hear that Freer has just got a hundred new Chinese paintings including one which rivals my own, doubtless finest yet seen. Dear Freer, there is a collector after my own heart, and America will owe him a debt that all our other collectors put together will not have earned. And he really lives for nothing else, and has no axe to grind. How I wish I were now starting out in life! I should devote myself to China as I have to Italy. All blessings upon you dearest Isabella. I look forward with zest to seeing you before 1915 is over. Affectionately B.B. Four articles, "Venetian Paintings in the United States," appeared in 1915 in Art in America 3, nos .. 2-4 (1915) and 4, no. l (1916) and were reprinted as Venetian Paintings in America: The Fifteenth Century (New York, 1916). ÂťI.
[Postcard of I Tatti]
4 January 1915
Thanks for yours of Dec. l 5. I don't care a match stick who ships your things. All I wanted was to put you in the way of getting the statues as 531
quickly as you expressed the desire to have them. But fear not, I shall not bother you again. Again I receive marvellous accounts of Freer's acquisitions, and if I were not so limp and lazy I'd take the next steamer. 0 to be in China when Europe is at war!!! B.B.
[I Tatti] March 26, 1915
My dear Isabella,
News travels very slowly to us in this cut-off region, and we have only just heard of the death of your life-long friend and adviser John Gray. We realize what a loss it must be to you, and to many others, and we are very much saddened by it. How will his wife support it? I beg you to give her a message of sympathy and regret from us both. Like all the rest of the world, not actively fighting, we are waiting ... and a dreary business it is, with all one's friends in mourning for sons and husbands, and the slow unrolling of this bloody page of history. We have no idea what Italy is going to do. She is living up to her national motto
"Chi lo sa?" Influenza has laid its fell hand upon us recently. The 'Ramus is in bed and thinks he is going to die. Our secretary ditto, and my maid hasn't been out of her room for a week. Florence is quiet and solitary, and in so far, delightful: but the misery is dreadful, for it is a town entirely dependent on strangers. All business has stopped-I mean hotels, dressmakers, jewellers, photographers, etc. etc. The natives now live by taking in each other's washing. The streets and roads are full of little soldiers clad in dirty olive grey, shuffling along vvithout enthusiasm. The newspapers are full of rhetoric-the "Sacra Egrosino del Paese" clashing with its "Alto Dov ere," and both resolved into "Legitimo
Aspiragiare." Altogether it's a horrible world at present, and I can feel no joy in the victory of any side. I see only the killed and mangled men. And for what? Anyone is happy who dies now and leaves it, and I do not feel sorry for your friend who has passed out of it all, but for you who will so terribly miss him. Affectionately as always-
[postcard: Mo bilitazione GeneraleI cavalli di S. Marco in partenza per il fronte austriaco.]
Yours,
Mary Berenson
Settignano July 6, 1915
What an unexpected journey for these inoffensive beasts! We both send our affectionate regards. I am off to England to see my grandchild, but the 532
'Ramus vows he won't leave Italy till peace is declared, unless he has to go home for his passport. So he will spend the summer here. And you? Very ajf. Mary Berenson
[I Tatti] My dear Isabella,
Dec.
10, 1915
Oceans and continents seem to divide us now. The War is like a flaming sword between us and the Paradise of past days. Yet at Christmastide I feel a need to send you a message of our unfailing love and admiration, and our hopes that better days may ~ring us together again. I have a picture of you in that wonderful Tao dress, looking so wise and so good and so adorable-as the Soul might look after many incarnations. We often think of this-and of so many other scenes in which you appear, but I think of that one most of all. This second blood-drenched Christmas is almost too tragic a time for one to send greetings or the messages of hope and congratulation we were wont to exchange. But even with the curse of war upon the world, there is room for the rnessage of unchanged love which we both send you. Ajfectio11ately Yours, Mary Berenson
533
The Tragedy of Lucretia, Sandro Botticelli, after 1500, tempera and oil on panel, 83.5 X 180 cm. VI (J..)
-.....]
Self-Portrait, Rembrandt, 1629, oil on panel, 89. 7
X
73. 5 cm.
路-
The Blue Boy, Thomas Gainsborough, ca.
oil on canvas, 178 X 122 cm. (Courtesy of The Huntington Library, San Marino, Calif.) 1770,
539
The Rape of Europa, Titian, r 562, oil on canvas, r 78 X 205 cm.
540
r' '
Saint George and the Dragon, Carlo Crivelli, 14 70, gold and tempera on poplar wood, 94
X 4 7. 8
cm.
541
A Girl Taking a Thorn from Her Foot, after Raphael (bought as Correggio) , sixteenth century, oil on canvas, 97 X 71 cm.
542
Count Tommaso Inghirami, Raphael, ca.
I 512,
oil on panel, 89. 7 x
62. 2
cm.
543
Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel, Peter Paul Rubens , ca. oil on canvas, 122 X 102 cm.
544
1630,
Bust of Bindo Altoviti, Benvenuto Cellini, ca . 1550, bronze, 105.5 X 68.5 X 40.5 cm.
Han Dynasty Bears, Chinese, ca . first century with traces of gilding , l 5. 5 cm.
B . C .,
bronze
545
A Young Man in a Scarlet Turban, Masaccio, ca. 1425, tempera on panel, 41 X 30 cm.
Sir William Butts, Hans Holbein the Younger, l 543, oil on panel, 46. 8 x 3 7 cm.
Juana of Austria, Spanish (bought as early Titian), sixteenth century, oil on canvas, 193. 8 X 108 cm.
547
v.. ..j::...
00
The Madonna and Child with Four Saints, Simone Martini, ca. 1320, tempera transferred to modern panels, central panel 140 X 57 cm., other panels 121 x 39 cm. (excluding pinnacles).
The Madonna of the Eucharist, Sandro Botticelli, 14 70-74, tempera on panel, 85 x 64.5 cm.
549
The Annunciation, Piermatteo d' Amelia, 1480, tempera on panel, 102.4 X l 14. 8 cm.
550
Pieta, Raphael, ca. 1503, oil on panel, 23.5 x 28.8 cm.
551
Madame Gaujelin, Edgar Degas, 1867, oil on canvas, 6i.2
552
X
45.7 cm.
Portrait of a Man, Andrea del Castagno, ca. 1450, oil on panel, 54 X 40. 5 cm. (Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)
553
Elena Grimaldi, Wife of Marchese Nicola Cattaneo , Sir Anthony Van Dyck, ca. 1623, oil on canvas, 246 X 176 cm. (Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D . C.)
554
Saint Francis in Ecstasy, Giovanni Bellini, ca. 14 79, tempera and oil on panel, 124.4 X l4I.9 cm. (Copyright 1936 the Frick Collection, New York.)
555
Madame Auguste Manet, Edouard Manet, r 866, oil on canvas, 98
X 80
cm.
The Feast of the Gods, Giovanni Bellini, 1514, oil on canvas, 170.2 X 188 cm. (Courtesy of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.)
557
Bernard Berenson,
I
886.
Bernard Berenson in Venice,
I
897.
559
Mrs. Gardner in Venice, Anders Zorn, 1894, oil on canvas, 91
560
X
66 cm.
v.
째' ~
An Interior in Venice, John Singer Sargent, I 899, oil on canvas, 62. 5 X 77. 5 cm. Mr. and Mrs. Daniel Curtis, their son Ralph, and his wife, Lisa, in the salone of the Palazzo Barbaro. (Courtesy of the Royal Academy of Arts, London.)
Ralph Curtis, ca.
Arthur Jeremy Mounteney Jephson. ~
I'
I
890.
152
Beacon Street, ca.
1900.
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v..
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Bernard Berenson, his mother, Mary Berenson, and Bessie Berenson, I 90 I. (Courtesy of Mrs. Bernard Perry.)
Courtyard, Fenway Court, 1915.
Construction, Fenway Court, ca. r 899.
568
Construction, Fenway Court, ca.
I
899.
Elsie de Wolfe, ca. r 890. (Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York.)
570
Joseph Duveen, 1900. (Courtesy of the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown.)
Morris Carter,
1919.
571
J.
572
Pierpont Morgan,
1902.
(Courtesy of the Pierpont Morgan Library, New York.)
Isabella Stewart Gardner, 1906.
573
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Postcard from Altamura, Italy, 1907.
Fenway Court, ca. 1907.
574
Villa I Tatti, Settignano, 1916. (Courtesy of Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.)
575
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-.....J
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A. Piatt Andrew, Isabella Stewart Gardner, Okakura-Kakuzo, Caroline Sinkler, and Henry Sleeper at Red Roof, Gloucester, 1910. (Courtesy of Mr. Andrew Gray.)
John Singer Sargent.
577
Nicky Mariano, Bernard Berenson, Carlo Placci, and Walter Lippmann. (Courtesy of the Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.)
Bernard Berenson in his study, Villa I Tatti, ca. 1940. (Courtesy of Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.)
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1111
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renovation with its renewed burst of collecting had lasted two years. With the advent of World War I and new taxes , Mrs. Gardner was forced to adopt a quieter life, from which she never emerged. Green Hill was sold to her husband's great-nephew and his wife, two relations of whom she was fond. At the end of r 9 r 8 she suffered a stroke, the effects of which were concealed from almost everyone, and for the rest of her life she was, to some extent, an invalid. Fenway Court was opened spring and fall on its limited schedule. A few close friends came to see her regularly, and friends and distinguished visitors were always admitted to the museum. She used the Macknight Room as a downstairs sitting room, and when her health permitted, rode out in her car. Just prior to her stroke she had the good sense to hire Morris Carter from his position as assistant director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. He came as curator and future director but was pressed into service as her secretary for the better part of six years. A number of her letters to the Berensons were lost during their frequent travels, but those that survive reflect her simpler rouENTHUSIASM FOR
tine. The Berensons were in England when the war broke out, and were able only after several months to return to I Tatti. When the United States entered the war, he went to Paris and secured a position with army intelligence. As an adviser to Duveen he remained in the midst of the art market, which was still essential to his income. Occasionally he offered his old friend first refusal on a masterpiece, such as the Bellini-Titian Feast of the Gods, but Mrs. Gardner could not raise the money. During the renovations
of 1914 she had sold a painting by Romney, but at heart she was a sentimental collector and not a trader. With reluctance she let the opportunity slip through her fingers. Thereafter the only picture bought through Berenson was the Bellini Madonna and Child, but it was not her last acquisition. In 1922 she bought the small Manet Ch ez Tortoni and several drawings from the posthumous Degas atelier sale on the urging of artist Louis Kronberg. Sargent, who was in Boston for the decoration of the Museum of Fine Arts, was a frequent guest. He asked her to sit for him, and the result was the delicate and sensitive watercolor portrait that remains a fitting tribute to another long friendship. The Berensons came to Fenway Court for the last time in 1920. They had been staying in the apartment of the collector Carl Hamilton in New York, and, to cheer up Mrs. Gardner or possibly to whet her appetite, Hamilton brought several of his paintings to show her. Mary's diary records the difficulties of seeing Mrs. Gardner as an invalid, though her letters remain models of affection. And Berenson himself wrote in a letter of 5 January 1921 to Natalie Barney: "I remain faithful to old loves however, and I truly revel in Isabella Gardner, although she is 8 5 and immobile." 1 Mrs. Gardner's intentions regarding the museum are recorded in two letters in the archives. She wrote to a businessman in New Jersey, who evidently had asked if any of her things were for sale, that the collection had been formed because of the need in this country for the public to see collections like those in Europe. That belief was reflected in her will, which stated that the collection was left "for the education and enjoyment of the public forever." In a second letter, of 1923 , Mrs. Henry Higginson, with whose husband Mrs. Gardner had helped found the Boston Symphony, wrote that when they were together in Rome as school girls, "you said to me ... that if you inherited any money that was yours to dispose of, you would have a house , a house like the one in Milan [the Poldi-Pezzoli Museum] filled with beautiful pictures and objects of art, for people to come and enjoy. And you have carried out the dream of your youth and given great happiness to hundreds of people." A letter to Berenson describing Mrs. Gardner's death written by Olga Gardner Monks, George Peabody Gardner's daughter and Mrs. Gardner's favorite niece , provides a fitting conclusion to the correspondence. Ralph Curtis had died in 1922, and Sargent died in London in 1925 as he was about to sail for the unveiling of his murals in Boston. Of the group who had known her on Beacon Street and had watched the collection grow, only Joe Smith lived on to World War II. After that , a new generation discovered Berenson and the nineties were ancient history. Today Fenway Court and I Tatti continue on their predestined cours es. Readers of these letters will realize the struggles and convictions that caused them to come into being. r. A . K. McComb , ed ., Th e Selected L etters of Bernard Berenso n (Bos to n , 1964), p. 88.
586
Dearest Isabella,
Vallombrosa Sept. 4, 1916
This is to announce what I hope you will regard as glad tidings, that we are intending to come over again very soon. Whether we do or do not will depend on the great musicians who orchestrate the submarines. Should these not be running amuck we shall come. I have not written for a long time. From others I heard frequently and indeed constantly that you were indeed splendidly fit as to your health and activities. At the same time I was given to understand that you were not with your whole soul on the right side. Now as I could not write except to talk of war and politics, and as I never seek for a clash of opinion with friends, silence seemed the best cause. But it implied no diminution of affection. If all goes well we shall meet again before long, and make up for lost time. You apart, Boston still has attractions for me. There are other friends, and there are the Chinese paintings in the museum, and there is music. So we shall spend some time in the town I still regard as home. If you answer this address to Ritz Hotel Paris. As ever with love B.B.
My dearest Isabella,
[I Tatti] IX, 17, 1916
Your letter comes after a long but not unfriendly silence, and we are truly most happy to get firsthand and affectionate news of you-the more so as we have just given up our projected trip to America this autumn. Pace Ralph Curtis, we have given it up because we couldn't face a social winter over there while War is on. The idea of putting on new dresses and dining and lunching out and talking of indifferent things, was intolerable; and so in spite of all the reasons that were impelling us to go, we decided to wait. There is an immense (though sometimes faintly boring!) tranquillity about life here, almost as if we were interned. No one comes to Florence any more, most of the shops are shut, people living here have put down their n1otors, and only heat a part of their villas, and neither of us has either dined or lunched out since the war began-except once or twice with our archi1 tect en famille. There was one purple patch, when Mrs. John Garrett arrived with 23 trunks full of clothes, and Bakst2 and Walter Berry in her train. They stayed a week, and the atmosphere they brought was so foreign to the way one lives now and here that we felt quite stunned. You over there don't realize that the War is serious, that it has destroyed all one's hopes and one's habits and left little except the domestic and old affections, and a desire to "help" somehow. B. B. is perhaps as little affected by it as anyone, for it has only driven him back to those habitual studies and pursuits of his which
have at least the advantage that they don't lead to murder and destruction. He has written two books 3 and is now at work on a third. And the quiet days spin themselves out very monotonously, but it seems the only way we can live in the midst of this tragic Manquake. Of course we help where we can, in hospitals and ambulances and shelters for the unfortunate soldiers. We are so awfully sorry to learn of your severe illness. It scarcely seems believable, for you have always been a Being over whom germs and weakness could get no hold. Please get quite well soon and dress yourself in your Taoist habit and be immortal and immune as you should be! It is too delightful that you remember us as you do, and we send a thousand thanks for your letter. Affectionately and devotedly, Mary Berenson » r. Alice (Warder) Garrett was the wife of John Work Garrett (1872-1942), American banker
and diplomat, who was American ambassador to Italy, 1929-33. »2. Leon Bakst (1866?1924), Russian painter and designer of scenery and costumes for Diaghilev and the Ballet Russe. ISG acquired two costume designs from his Boston exhibition in 1913. »3. The Study and Criticism of Italian Art, 3d ser. (London, 1916), was followed by Essays in the Study of Sienese Painting (New York, 1918). In 1916 BB also published Venetian Painting in America : The Fifteenth Century (New York) and Pictures in the Collection of P. A . B. Widener at Lynnwood Hall, Elkins Park, Pennsylvania , vol. 3 (Philadelphia).
My dearest B .B. and Mary
Green Hill Brookline, Mass. September 25 [ 1916]
The Ramus's letter has just come with the very best news ever! I thank many times for the dear letter and am on my toes waiting for you to arrive. When? "From others" you heard not very true tales. I am well as far as it looks to the casual. But my big 3 months' illness last winter and spring have taken it out of me and lots of things have been shut down on me. Lots of things I am not allowed to think of doing, but I am a philosopher and accept with joy all the beautiful things that are left. Also, I think your war idea of me is wrong. I am pro only one thing and that is peace. I have done all along everything I can to help the wounded. I am running two ambulances and have given one, besides running it (financially I mean), but I will not give money for ammunitions and I will not make money (as people are doing to the bursting point) by owning stock in war weapons. I call it blood money-now you know my creed. I love you two with all my heart (my heart is my weak point since my illness!). As ever lovingly Isabella
588
Green Hill Brookline, Mass . October 7, 1916 What a delightful surprise to hear so soon, but what bitter news! Dear Mary's letter has just come and I can)t bear it. It takes so long to get well that I looked upon seeing you both this winter as the thing that would cure me, and now I shall just fade away! Gaieties for me, I haven't thought of, for months and months. I don't even go to the ball games-the all absorbing World's Series that begins today. 1 Thousands go, and the rush to get in (every ticket sold long ago) is like a fight and the doctor says my heart can't stand it. So I sit in the sun and watch the birds bathe. But if you would come, what joy! Tell me, B.B., what books you have written, and when does one find them in the shops? Speaking of "heating only half of their villas" makes me quake, for I have to envisage the thought of heating my big steamer of a house very soon, and my few dollars are balancing between that and the Red Cross. Love to you both. Isabella Âť r. The Boston Red Sox won the World Series of 1916 against the Brooklyn Dodgers . ISG
had attended all the games of the
Dearest Isabella,
1912
series .
[Florence] Oct. 20, 1916
We were delighted to hear from you and to learn as it were from your own lips that there was no truth in the foul and loathsome report that you were of all awful things the worst, a pro-Boche. I wish I had been able to come over. I assure you I should have done my best to convert you to my convictions that being for peace is playing the German game, and that the holiest duty of all of us who wish well to the world is to fight until there is nothing 1 left of the hellish partnership of Hohenzollern, Loyola, Speyer, tho' being such an obscene camorra they come to each of us with the bait most likely to tempt us. Your vibrant tremulous soul they doubtless try to lead astray with music. Beware. They dare no longer openly declare that what they want is our destruction. So they are spreading a propaganda of peace-a German peace. Don't be taken in by it; don't play their game; don't let yourself be evil in-speyer-ed. I hope that your heart is now your weak point only in a moral and not physiological sense. It was a bitter disappointment not to come over to you, but in light of what the Boches have recently attempted I am not altogether sorry. The boat I was to have gone on has arrived I hear but must have had days of delay. My friends on this side would have been in great anxiety, and perhaps
you on your side would not have felt that I was altogether safe under the protection of a Wilson note. Conundrum: Whom do you despise most on earth. Wilson. And now I am being dragged north. Mary is going to receive another grandchild 2 and I am wanted for very important matters connected with works of art. Besides everybody declares that I need and must have some change. I wish you had not been squeamish and that on the contrary you had made hea·ps of money in the manufacture of arms and ammunitions. You would have done a holy deed in helping to destroy Will-hell-m and all his hosts. Furthermore you might have the money wherewith to crown your collection with some of the masterpieces that are to change hands presently. To be quite serious I have one in view that would in my opinion enhance immensely the value of even your collection. But as there is no ghost of a chance of getting it under $600,000 there is no use tantalizing you. If however by happy chance you could contemplate such an expenditure to crown a life's work cable YES, and I will tell you all about it. At all events write again soon and address me to Barings, London. Letters to and from here not sent via Barings take forever. With love Devotedly B.B. » r. German-born American banker James Speyer (1861-1941) of Speyer & Co. opposed American intervention in the war. »2. Ray Strachey's son Christopher was born in November
1916.
Dear one and both,
Green Hill Brookline, Mass. Nov. ro [ 1916]
I have a moment now, therefore a word from me of affection and thanksand oh such disappointment. I had all sorts of plans for my winter here with you up my sleeve and they are now tumbling out through rifts and tears. Many many thanks to dear B.B. His letter came an hour ago. I am longing to know what the wonderful thing is! Can't you tell-even if ---Volpi is selling out in New York. 1 I can't even go on to see the things. Room by room is being shut up here, silver packed, plus getting ready for flight to Fenway Court in 3 days. But that place is far from ready and the public days are staring me in the face, beginning the week of Nov . 27! 2 I go in daily with my dinner pail, but the condition of work people here is deplorable. They won't work, and they want twice the money for looking on while I work! Where will you be this winter? My love to Mary's new little family. If I could only see you both! They are raking up the leaves under my window, 590
and the squirrels have on their new winter coats. The Russian Ballet is delightful-and our orchestra a \vonder-I am afraid inusic has a pull! Lovingly yours IsabellaÂťI. Professor Elia Volpi (1858-1941), the Florentine dealer. His collection was sold at auction in New York over a period of years. Âť2. ISG had a floor put in at the second-story level of her two-story Music Room, creating, above, the present Tapestry Room and, below, the East Cloister on the Courtyard, the Spanish Cloister (to feature Sargent's Eljaleo of 1882) and the
Chinese Loggia.
[Paris] Dearest Isabella,
Nov. 26, r9r6
Yesterday brought me your dear dear letter of the roth. The air has been nicely incensed with your presence as it were; for the night before I dined with the Ralph Curtises to meet the Joe Smiths and of course we talked lots about you, and last night at the Harvard dinner I bumped into Andrew and again we talked of you. 1 From the bottom of my heart I wish I were with you now, but as that is out of the question I am so glad to be here in this capital of the civilized world, this brightest eye of the universe. I can't tell you how my soul has rebounded here after two years in Italy with their sneaky fears, their "neutrality," their "pacificism" and all other synonyms for "pro-Bochism." Music is a wonderful thing to charm prisoners and slaves, and even to delight "the heirs of all the ages" like ourselves. But I'd rather never hear another note than that the Accursed, i.e. the Boches should prevail. So I have been here for a month happy with my French friends and acquaintances and with my countrymen and women, God bless them. I know now how hungry for my kind two years of solitude in Italy had made me. Meanwhile Mary has been in England to receive a new grandchild. It has turned out to be a boy. I expect her back in a few days and then we shall go on to Madrid for some three weeks. I want to show the pictures there to Mary who has never seen them. I want to see them myself in view of my next book, and I want to see friends there and add my little effort to induce the Spaniards to see that Germany is Hell. From Madrid we return here, and finally toward the New Year we hope to get back to I Tatti and to stay there till the following autumn, I suppose. Then if the world still remains and our country has not become a Prussian province we shall return thither for a long stay. As for "the wonderful thing," I' fear all I am at liberty to say is that it would crown your collection with a work of art, a picture, which I am sure is greater than any that has yet gone over to America. I won't say it is the greatest picture in the world, but I will say that the world has no greaterthe only trouble is that even I could not get it for you under half a million 591
dollars. The reason I am not at liberty to say more is that if I don't get it for you, it will go to others at a much higher price, and that consequently much discretion is needed. Please don't think I am bluffing or peddling. The fact is that the picture is in my hands and that if you can't afford it, it will be sold at exactly the same price, not a cent less, to the dealers. You can imagine that their profits would have to be considerable. If however you could afford such a sum, even if it meant drawing on capital, cable to me and you shall receive photographs and all the information. The payment could I suppose be extended over two years. All I have to say is that I know no other picture that your collection needs so much and that would so crowningly complete it. I would not say all this if I did not mean it. So good luck. With love and devotion B.B. Âť r. A. Piatt Andrew (1873-1936), professor of economics at Harvard, 1900-1909, director of
the U.S. Mint, November 1909-June 1910, director of American Field Service in France during World War I, and U.S. congressman from Massachusetts, 192 l-36. He was a particularly close friend of ISG's after 1907 and was the reason for her support of the American Field Service.
Fenway Court Boston December 7, 1916 My dearest B.B. and Mary too. I hope she has got back from grandmothering. I am terribly wrought up by the great secret picture. If I had the wealth of the munition makers could I say buy, without knowing what the painting is? Of course I believe in you and have done so for so many, many, many years, that if I had the money, I probably should wire immediately-but I haven't got it. Don't you know me well enough to know you can trust me, and that any secret is safe with me. I have never told a thing that anyone confided to me! There's a record for a woman. Since the war, it is very hard living, and getting more so. Every servant's wages raised, food furiously high and the people like me who don't make money out of the war, but only give, give, give, are having a devil of a time. The charities here are suffering and hospitals close wards; everything is being drained for Europe. I hope you and Mary are at this moment at Madrid. It makes me happy to think of anything so delightful. Were I with you both. Sargent is still here, working almost night and day. 1 He has been shut up with a very bad cold, but work goes on. He is a vital proposition. Tagore too has been here. 2 He came of his own accord and sat with me an hour, for the sake of Okakura. I care for him very much. I couldn't go to hear him speak, because I am not well enough. The doctor forbids any crowd. I couldn't even see the great games. But I can always go and look at those wonderful stone carvings you got for me. Always lovingly and affy yours Isabella 592
Âť r. Sargent was at work on the murals at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.
Sir Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Indian philosopher, poet, and composer, won the Nobel Prize for Âť2.
literature in 1913.
Dearest Isabella,
[Paris] Jan. l, 1917
We have just returned from Madrid and find your dear letter, which gives me double occasion to direct to you as I have for so many years my first letter on New Year's day. I wish you every possible happiness for 1917, and venture to include under that rubric our meeting again before it is over. As for the great secret, I am writing to the owner for permission to divulge it. If he allows it you shall be told all about it, and when you know what a picture it is I shall be surprised if you don't somehow manage to acquire it. We saw nothing at the Prado comparable to it altho' that contains some of the finest Italian pictures in the world. I am glad we had the spunk to go to Madrid despite the annoyances of crossing frontiers. These are however infinitely worse in anticipation than in reality. If one's papers are in order there is not the slightest trouble and scarcely a quarter of an hour's delay. You will hear from me very soon again . With dearest love from us both Devotedly yours B. Berenson
Dearest Isabella,
Paris Jan . 7, 1917
By giving the most solemn assurances that you would never say a word to any one, and still less show the photographs, I have got the permission to tell you about the picture of which I have been hinting. It is nothing less than the world-renowned masterpiece, the Bacchanal which was painted for Alfonso d'Este Duke of Ferrara, in l 5 l 4 by Giovanni Bellini and Titian. 1 The picture remained for generations at Ferrara, and finally after passing to the Aldobrandini family at Rome, it was bought within a hundred years by the Dukes of Northumberland. I saw it a number of times at Alnwick. Nobody but myself and one or two other outsiders are in the secret of its present ownership. It is for sale and the very lowest figure at which you can get it is one half million dollars. If you can't afford to acquire it the picture will probably pass to dealers who will pay every farthing that you do with this difference that while they would have to pay cash down, you could spread the payment over two years. I can not and would not pry into your affairs but I have understood that for a very great emergency you have resources that you could draw on. It is my conviction that in the life-time of either [of] us nothing can 593
appear that would be comparable to this Bacchanal on purely artistic ground, more interesting in connection with the history of art, or a better coping-stone to your incomparable collection. As for its artistic .value I can only subscribe to what Mary tells you in the pages I enclose. I could not add, and besides she has seen the picture much more recently than I have. So read what she says and let it colour the photographs that are being sent you-photographs unusually inadequate because made in bad light and printed on bad paper. But I am confident that if you see the original you will not find Mary's rhapsody over it the least bit exaggerated. To turn to its historical importance, it is unrivalled Venetian painting, the greatest school of painting in the world is represented best by its two greatest geniuses Giovanni Bellini and Titian. In the Bacchanal Bellini did all the figures, and Titian the landscape. And it is simply marvellous to see how the advanced age of Bellini and the glowing manhood of Titian harmonize into one whole, in which neither surrenders anything to the other, but each is, as it were, enhanced to the utmost of his genius. I venture to say that in the whole range of art there is no parallel to this event, no other instances of the two greatest artists of a great school collaborating on the same masterpiece-two masters not only the most creative of the school, but who between them cover the span of its real history, and constitute the greater part of the same history. As I go over the treasures of your collection and dwell on them one by one, I need not tell you with what admiration and loving recollection, I nevertheless can call up nothing of the profound artistic completeness, of the aesthetic significance, or of the historical importance of this Bacchanal. Curiously enough altho' you have almost every great master in your house, you have nothing by one of the very greatest of them, this Giovanni Bellini. And altho' you have one of the most famous Titians in existence, the Titian of this landscape is the youthful Giorgionesque, joyous Titian, not the sage of your Europa. So I conclude that if you can possibly see your way to paying for it, you will be crowning the work of your life by acquiring this canvas. You must please breathe not a word, or show the photographs to anyone. But if you like to see Denman Ross and can manage to ask him whether he remembers Bellini's Nude Woman Looking at a Mirror in the Vienna Gallery, and what he thinks of it. 2 Judge from what he thinks of that what he would think of the Bacchanal if he knew it, for the latter is, besides its infinitely greater importance, of still far finer quality. If Ross asks you why you ask you can tell him what is a fact that a supposed replica of this picture belongs to Fairfax Murray who is trying to sell it. This replica by the way is only a mediocre copy by a tenth rate idiot named Girolamo S. Croce. Of course I am urging you to a very heroic act, but you have the stom594
ach for it, and I feel confident that if you can see your way to it you will not let it go. If you can't manage it at all, please wire "Berenson, Settignano, Impossible." If by miracle you can manage it cable "Berenson, Settignano, will take the English picture." Paris is enchanting and I feel at home here as perhaps nowhere else in the world. Unfortunately the climate does not suit me for long, and besides my books and notes and photos are at Settignano, and I feel I must go to work again to write the volume following upon the one you will have received. So we are leaving in about a week, first for Villa Sylvia, and then home. And just as soon as this war is over we shall come over to Americauntil then and always Lovingly yours B.B. Giovanni Bellini and Titian's Feast of the Cods (called Bacchanal by BB above) was then in the collection of the duke of Northumberland. It was sold to Agnew's in 1916, went to the dealer Arthur J. Sulley, and was bought by Carl Hamilton in l 920 . Returned to Agnew's and Sulley's and sold to P. A. B. Widener in 1922, it is now in the National Gallery of Art. Âť2. Venus, or a Lady at Her Toilet, a late work by Bellini, is in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, ÂťI.
Vienna.
Dearest Isabella,
[Paris] Jan. 7, 1917
B.B. has asked me to write to you about THE picture, which I saw over and over again when I was in London. I honestly think it is the most fascinating, the grandest and the most mysterious picture I have ever seen. I went straight from it to those two famous Titians at Madrid, and in comparison they seemed empty and obvious. 1 The poetry of Bellini's picture is so profound that you feel you could never exhaust or even entirely understand it; for the interpretation of the theme has an unexpectedness and originality that make you realize it is the result of the brooding and dreaming of a great mind. Titian's Bacchanal is a frolic of young creatures, with, it is true, something of the gravity of the Giorgionesque tradition: but Bellini's is worlds away from this. His figures are really Gods, but not the Gods one expects and would, as it were, read of. They puzzle and fascinate the imagination and lead it on and on. I think the most vivid resultive impression is of having in this picture come in contact with one of the profoundest and most original poets the world has ever had, and in a mature and wise and as it were aloof phase of his creative genius. Of course this impression could not be conveyed without Beauty, but there is something in the picture deeper and more haunting than the beauty that meets the eyes. The painting has in it the thrill that certain voices have when they sing airs that we know, but, over and beyond, the melody here is in a new mode, with intervals and cadences of poetry that no written literature prepares us for. One looks and looks and looks, and all the time new 595
things strike one's attention-I never knew anything so inexhaustible. It seems to me the greatest Creation of Italian painting. I'm sure I have expressed my feeling in a very banal and uncommunicating way, but it is really as hard to write about as it would be to write about one of Bach's grandest organ toccatas-I mean to write about the spiritual, poetical side of it. The colour is very lovely, with a note of pale路 and luminous blue running through it and breaking finally into a star shower in the blossoms of the wreath on the head of the young Goddess at the right: The Titian landscape is full of surprises and a glorious play of light, with luscious foliage and sparkling water but the great group of divinities at rest and at play in the foreground, all dominated by the solemnity of the Dionysiac Mystery is the thing that holds and forever fascinates the . . . 1mag1nat1on. Such a picture seems to say "Sell all that thou hast and follow Me." How I wish you could really see it! I knew the photographs very well, but they in no way whatsoever prepared me for the reality. I simply can't let myself think of it at Fenway Court, because it would be such a glorious thing that even to write the words (without daring to hope them) makes me feel quite faint with hoping. With loveYours devotedly, Mary Berenson 禄 r. The Bacchanal and The Worship of Venus.
[Paris] Dearest Isabella,
Jan. r 5, '17
We hear that photographs of the great Bellini have gone to you, but it seems the only photographs existing or procurable now, in war-time, are a set made in a hurry for the 'Ramus, which Mr. Sulley thinks will surely frighten you. That of the whole picture looks stained and marked, and in the others the varnish looks so cracked and worn-effects which completely vanish when you see the picture in the right light. I advised Mr. Sulley to have the picture slightly cleaned (there is no repaint-except Titian's or Bellini's!), as the background has got dark and a little dirty. A light varnish, too, would bring it out marvellously. But as a matter of fact I scarcely know an old picture so well preserved-nor, as I wrote you-so mysterious and beautiful! We hear that Corinna Smith 1 has been here breathing sulphur and brimstone against the 'Ramus to many of his friends. He says he is used to hearing that I write all his books and make all his attributions, that he has no taste, that he has sold his soul to the Dealers (whom he cheats egregiously), and all the rest of the litany chanted by Dick Norton: but this is the first time he has heard of his having written a letter on his wedding day to some adored lady saying he only married me for my money! What I regret in this
piquant invention is that I had so very little!! Mrs. Corinna either said she had seen the letter, or that she knew intimately the lady to whom it was written. I think it must be a repercussion of a remark I once or twice made in joke, that we disapproved of marriage au fond (one was young once!) and only went through the ceremony so as to put our books and photographs and affetti under one roof. In such guise do one's youthful pleasantries boomerang back upon one! But why has Mrs. Joe such a tooth against us? I can't remember ever having spoken of her in my life, until this moment, and B.B. flattered himself that he was friends with her husband. Well, it hasn't much importance in any case. THE important thing is that the soul of Isabella should be inclined to crown her achievement with the greatest and grandest of all existing pictures! We are just starting for the Curtises' (the quarrel is healing, I hope, but I'm still afraid of Ralph's irresponsible and very witty tongue), and then home on the 25th. We shall await your decision with real excitement. It would be so glorious to think of that picture in that Collection! Yours always devotedly Mary Berenson Corinna (Mrs. Joseph L.) Smith (1876-1965), daughter of American publisher George Palmer Putnam and author of three books, one of which, Interesting People (1962), had a chapter on ISG. ÂťI.
Dearest B.B.
Fenway Court Boston January 30 [1917]
I am terribly excited, because I will not abandon hope, although I may have to. I got your letter and Mary's and am of course on my hind legs with enthusiasm. I got hold of Swift and broached the money question. The secret is absolutely kept for I told him nothing. I only asked if it were possible to raise a large sum of money in 2 years. He said how large, I vaguely said a great deal-several hundred thousands. So he retired to his books. I have a tentative answer today which says that to do what I have engaged to do in the future he can only see clear $3 l0,44 7. The war tax (which is what it is called here, because of the vast sums we are sending to Europe) is enormous and as yet is not exactly known-it may be even greater than we think. But I do not despair-the photograph has not yet arrived. If I could fire Swift's imagination by showing the photograph to him, perhaps he could twist out more money. But I will show the photograph to no one when it comes, without your permission. Yesterday I saw Post who happened to mention the Vienna Gallery. 1 A fine opportunity to speak of the Bellini Venus with the glass. He was very enthusiastic about it, loved it, but said it was not Bellini-Bissolo is the 597
name he gave it! Unless Swift can manage better I shall be in despair, but I do hope. I am crazy to see the photo, and if Swift and Ross could see it too, perhaps?, but no one shall see it unless you say so. You are a dear. Love to both. Isabella A definite answer I fear may be delayed. The taxes are in process. Chandler Rathfon Post (1881-1959), Harvard professor (1905-50) of Fine Arts (after 1909), was the author of A History of Spanish Painting, I I vols. (Cambridge, Mass . , 1930-53) . ISG gave him a collection of Greek coins and Renaissance medals to "inspire" his students . ÂťI.
My dear,
Fenway Court January 3 l, 1917
I am hoping to see the photos very soon. You say there is a series? Every post is so delayed I don't know when they will appear. I am finding worlds of difficulties, for now the Federal Tax is getting ready to jump, and what that will be no one can tell. I must wait for developments, but I am keen, keen, keen, after your two letters (yours and B.B.'s). I wrote to him yesterday. Poor Corinna Smith. She does not count. One doesn't say so, because dear Joe thinks she is perfect and believes all about her, that she does. I heard Miss Curtis, who knows details and facts about humanitarian work in France, say something about a speech Corinna made here just after her return from France. Miss Curtis (on our school board, a great person really) was obliged to get up and say, "My dear, you must not tell such things about France. They are absolutely untrue." So you see, Corinna thinks she knows and goes off V2 cock! But no one here pays any attention. My great big love to you both. Always affy Isabella
Dears
Fenway Court February 5, 1917
The bottom seems falling out of everything. I am more and more despondent, but Swift says I absolutely can't be sure what money I have until the Federal Tax is decided. That promises to double. If so, the game is up. It can't be absolutely known for some time. I fancy I ought to say "No," but I hold on to a possible chance. My great love all the same to you both. Affectionately Isabella
Fenway Court Feb. 12 [1917] I have written you so many letters, dear, always hoping to at last be able to give you good news-but instead, the news is worse-the Federal taxes are
doubled and my hope has flown. My possible bank account has dwindled to less than $300,000. They tell ine no private cables can be sent for the present; so I am trying another letter, as they say a ship will start tomorrow. Perhaps all my letters to you will go together. I am fearfully disappointed about the picture. What shall I do about the photographs? This morning came your book, The Study and Criticism of Italian Art. I have only had time to turn a few pages; but it delights me that you send it to me. Try and comfort me. My love to you both. Isabella
Dearest B.B.
Fenway Court March 18, 1917
I am appalled! Your cablegram has just come-I can't bear to think of your having received no answer. I have done nothing but answer. I gave you a detailed account of every step. I wanted you to understand exactly the terrible situation. Of every moment in my lifetime I think this year has been the most impossible to stretch points, mainly because of the war, which has caused this government to make new tax laws. Of course people who make ammunitions are rolling in billions. I won't even have stock in what I call blood money, and do not roll! When the first of my letters went to you, I was having everything overhauled and added up, to see if it were possible to get together 500,000 in 2 years. I sent you the account. All depended on what the taxes were to be, and if everything else could be given up. Then, I sent another letter saying the only definite answer must be "No," as the Federal Tax would not be known for some time and that would probably finish me. Then I wrote again that the probable Federal Tax did finish me! I said in my last but one letter (2 before this) that our war scare had put a stop to private cablegrams. But all the same I sent you one to Settignano. They took it and my money, but said it would probably not get to you, would I send it on my own risk? I said "Yes" (there was no other way). The cablegram was "Regret Impossible Isabella." Then I wrote again asking for sympathy, and now again. I shall ask George Gardner to cable to you for me-"Despair Impossible." He may know a way. "Despair" means I am so much disturbed that you did not get an answer. You have no idea of the condition here. People have lost their heads, and those like me are settling down to serious economy. So much flour, etc. a day! I can't bear to think of you being kept waiting. Perhaps my letters never got to you either. It was my only way not to say "No" immediately, and I did so much want It! I hope you have got my 2nd cablegram. George will send it today-if possible. Love to you both Alfy Isabella
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[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
March
21, 1917
All your letters have straggled in, and yesterday your cable puts the final end to the hope that that most glorious picture will crown your great collection. You have so many Venetians, yet not the Parent and Master of them all-Bellini. It is a great, great blow that you cannot get it. B.B. is quite overcome, for he believes it to be one of the greatest works of art of the whole world, and he doesn't want anyone but You to have it. But if it can't be it can't. Parliamo delle cose allegre! Yet, when one thinks, there is nothing very allegro to speak of. Only tremendous Exdtements-our country tending to enter the great conflict, Russia (unlike the leopard) changing its spots, the Germans retiring in France, and Baghdad the romance-haunted in the hands of the English. What do you suppose les belles adolescentes make of the Tommies? and will there be anyone to write it down in golden words for the delight of people a thousand years hence? Alas, I fear not. Newspapers and their like even in printed books preserve nothing-only art preserves. There's a charming little "Mystery" which I will send you, that you can't help enjoying. Mrs. Wharton gave it to us. And here and there there are beautiful little things cast up from the boiling of this awful cauldron. But the war, like the loss of the Bellini, mustn't be dwelt upon. We have been truly troubled to think of you as in something less than the Glorious Health and Radiance we always associate with you. I don't see how those wretched boys dared to have their football match without you! I wish I knew words of comfort. Would it amuse you to hear of smaller pictures for sale, at smaller prices? There are some good though not supreme things going. Sometimes if one feels low a new affetto raises one's spirits, and the fun of finding a place for it. I have no gossip to tell you, because we are living here like Robinson Crusoe and Friday. No one comes to Florence nowadays, travelling is too difficult, and the Florentines regard us as we regard them as a very poor alternative to solitude. Kenyon Cox's young son of 20, a very intelligent boy, scholar at the American School in Rome, is the only new person we've seen. 1 He is most promising as a person, but we haven't seen any of his work. He spends Sundays with us. The Vienna Bellini-B.B.'s old sins visited on his head!2 That Bissolo business was a myth he inherited from Morelli. Of course it's a Bellini, and one of the loveliest. But I will close this letter now, and let B.B. take up the tale when he has sufficiently recovered from his really profound disappointment. Bellini or no Bellini, we are always most devotedly and admiringly yoursMary Berenson ÂťI. Allyn Cox (1896-1982), American painter and muralist.
Bissolo in BB's original lists. 600
Âť2. The painting appears under
Dearest Isabella,
[I Tatti] Apr. 24, 1917
The letter of March l 8 which reached me a few days ago made me feel more than the previous ones how much you minded not being able to acquire the Feast, and leads me to wonder whether it could not be managed. The price is the lowest possible one, so that along the line of reduction there is no way out: but if you and Mr. Swift put your heads together and decided on the shortest period of years during which you could pay it off at the rate of so much a year, I would do all I could to persuade the owners to accept your terms. Possibly they might, if the limit was a reasonable one. I can't begin to tell you how much I regret that the Feast can't enter your collection. I will not call it the greatest painting in existence for the simple reason that no one picture deserves that designation. Mr. John Sargent's "greatest painting" would differ from Mrs. Tom Perry's 1 etc. etc. And I myself could never say that any one work of art was the greatest in existence, and I should be torn in pieces if for instance I was offered the choice between Botticelli's Birth of Venus and the Feast. There is no choice fortunately, and what I can affirm against even Mrs. Tom Perry, against John Sargent, and if need were, yea, against Tarbell2 and all Boston, is that of all the paintings of the past still in private possession there remains no rival to the Feast. And that is why I should like it to enter your collection. From your self I have always understood that you were reserving certain moneys for a supreme occasion. HERE it is-and bless the war that you have the chance, for without it the Feast never would have left its old home, nor I be in a position to urge it upon you. All of which is to no purpose if you simply can't. Only do not make il gran rifiuto. Look up in your Dante what happens to those who do-Cables come thro' constantly, so you can cableI have no personal news for we live in almost complete isolation. Since our return just 3 months ago I have been feeling stupid and good for nothing. I have scarcely put pen to paper-o there is so much to do-I wish I were home, where I had for once in my life the joy of feeling in unison with the overwhelming majority of my countrymen. I wish I were younger, and stronger, and more efficient, and better situated, so that I could serve instead of merely paying and looking on. Who knows! The war may be over by the autumn. If it is we shall hasten over, dearest Isabella, to embrace you. Yours with love B.B. ÂťI. Lilla (Cabot) Perry (d. 1933), portrait painter.
Âť2. Edmund Tarbell (1852-1938), painter
of the Boston School.
601
Dearest B.B.
May 18, 1917
It is no good. There is no use. I had saved as a nest egg about $300,000, but that is now dwindling. The War Tax will finish me. Three taxes in one year is too much for me, with what I have to carry. As I cannot make any more personal economies I must take it out of "environment." Brookline is being turned into potatoes and hay, the latter for my two farm horses. There are no oats to be had and hay is getting beyond me. I shan't open Green Hill house, but shall live here. This house is being rapidly closed, with the exception of 2 rooms. A bedroom for me and the little room on the lst floor which will be my living room. 1 I shall eat in the cloister. I think it will all be cool enough, and it will make a money difference. It was a boon and pleasure to have a letter from you to read; although it is heartbreaking to know I can't take advantage of your kindness in making arrangements for dilatory payments. So this must be final, and the Feast is put behind me! There is one joy, if there is peace you and Mary will come. Oh, for peace. Love and love and love to both. Isabella My cable address is always Stewart Boston, by the Western Union. The Macknight Room, originally a guest room, became a downstairs sitting room filled primarily with works by Boston painters, especially Dodge Macknight (1860-1950). Âťl .
Dearest Isabella,
[I Tatti] June 19, 1917
Of course I am sorry that you can't annex the Feast, but surely you are not so poor as to be obliged to bake in two rooms of your palace during the horrid season. That proves to me that like all other women you have no unfailing sense of money values. Every hour of your life is precious to us your friend, and to shorten it, as you surely will by weakening your physique, is the height of sinfulness. Evidently you need me to set you straight. And don't I wish I were there now that we too are fighting the Accursed, the beast of the Apocalypse, the foulest heresy that humanity, so much tried, has ever been tainted with. There is something perhaps I could do there. Here it is almost impossible for hospitable Italy never forgets that one is a foreigner even if one has lived here as I have all but 30 years, and knows their country at least as well as any of them. Where I could be useful would be in Washington to tell our panjandrums what the Italian government is attempting, what are its internal difficulties, what its external ambitions etc. etc. Of course our people have not the faintest idea of these things. Now that we too have become a human, I mean a European power, it really would be worth while to know something about abroad besides what you can learn at ceremonial flummeries, from touring, or reading a few books compiled out of other books. What I shall really do is to stay here until I am baked out, and then take 602
my work up to Vallombrosa and work there. This season more than ever it will be Italy's fashionable summer resort, but there is solitude in crowds. Happily too it is only an hour from this house to which I can return at a moment's notice when it cools off. We have not been quite so solitary of late for various English and French friends have been staying with us. But I miss our own American circle, Edith [Wharton] and Walter [Berry], and all the rest of them, not many but who followed each other in almost uninterrupted succession. What would I not give to have you here! With love and devotion B.B.
Dearest B.B.
Fenway Court July 4, 1917
Solitary, I am sure you are not. Even if you hated people they would clamor for you, just as I do. In fact, even birds flutter round the lighthouse! I am not pitying myself this summer; far from that. It is quiet, cool and comfortable here-much more so than Brookline. My upstairs little corner bedroom has the south and west wind galing through and at night I am like Peto, I sleep with my hair blowing! And my cloister life below is very pleasant. We have had continual rains and very little heat. The trees, from my window, look like peridots, with an occasional vivid emerald-so fresh and green. Here, the only thing that will cause my death are the servants. Owing to the war they are fast disappearing. Four of the Brookline men have gone 1 and it is absolutely impossible to get others. They don't exist. Here I have four women, one a wretched cook, two of them old cripples I keep on to help them (they do little or nothing), and the fourth woman is everything. But it is really the simple life, with Hoover presiding. 2 And there is always so much work to do. Owing to the public who come and go certain days during the year, all damages have to be repaired, so the few workmen one can get at double price, are on hand. And my life is saved daily by Bolgi my Italian, who always is a comfort. 3 And my doctor allows me to have coffee with hot milk every afternoon and that is a spree! My true love to you both. Always yours Isabella As military volunteers. » 2. Herbert Hoover was then in charge of rationing the food supply. »3. "Bolgi" was the name given to Teobaldo Travi, who came with the stonemasons when Fenway Court was under construction and stayed on as "major domo" for the rest of » I.
ISG's life .
Dearest Isabella,
Vallombrosa Aug. 18, 1917
I feel most grateful to Bolgi for sticking faithfully to you while your other servants have deserted you to serve their country. Presumably they \Vere Americans.
I wish you were here with us in these enchanting forests in an exquisite temperature and delicious air. The views are among the most lovelies路t and romantic on earth and the effects of light sheer magic. Even the company would not displease you for most of it is of your way of thinking. As that is not mine I see very little of them, altho' some of my very best friends are among them. I have to be so fond of people as I am of you, and they are so few that I can't remember who they are, to forgive their being even lukewarm in a crisis like this-so we see almost nobody, and when we don't walk together, work and read. Mary has become a great pedestrian and starts at sunrise to crush the mighty mountains under foot. I, alas, can only toddle now, and envy her the freedom, that counts most-the freedom that begins with one's own limbs. I have been writing latterly on Sienese painting, and but for the shindy [war], should very soon bring out a book about it. The public has other things to think of, and I shall put it off. Meanwhile some of it will appear in Art in America. I suppose you see that Mag. don't you? If you have any leisure for books do read Aksakoff's Years of Childhood. 1 Never have I read anything that calls up so my own, and must everybody's. Most of us forget it so soon, yet the magic words of a gifted writer can bring it all back. Ah, those Russians, what artists they are! Who of the last lOO years can be compared with them! I'd give all that the rest of the world has done in that time for their masterpieces. France first and England at a great distance may dream of rivalling but nobody else. Shame that you are not here, it is so lovely, such washes of air, such beauty! With ever so much love from us both 禄 I.
Devotedly yours
B. B.
Years of Childhood, by Sergei Aksakoff (1791-1859) , was published in 1856.
Dearest Isabella,
[40, avenue du Trocadero Passy 69-52] Nov. 29, 1917
You may be surprised to read the address on this paper. Yes, it is the Curtises' flat that we moved into yesterday, and we are going-D. V-to live in it until they return at the end of May. We left Florence some seven weeks ago with the intention of returning to winter not in Florence but in Rome. Once here however there seemed no reason why, if I had to be separated from my books and my library, I should not winter here in the midst of my friends and numerous acquaintances. Furthermore we both can prove more useful here than in Italy where personal service of the only kind we could render is scarcely wanted. Poor Mary is going back to put things in order
for a long absence, and leaves me at the mercy of the stingless but not yet voiceless sirens of my own advanced age. It seems funny to be living in a flat. It is so very long since I have been to Paris except in a hotel that I feel at once lost from the hotel point of view and cramped from the point of view of all the space I enjoy at Settignano. Best wishes to you for a Happy New Year, and heaps and heaps of love. B.B.
Dearest friends,
Fenway Court Deeb. 17 [1917]
May the New Year bring peace and joy to you-and your heart's desire. B.B's dear and surprising letter is just come. Surprising with the news of your being in Paris for the winter. I wish I could look in on you. Fenway Court is in winter garb; quite different from my Summer Cloister Life. So, all goes on-we knit, we Red Cross; we Red Triangle; plus this very minute I am writing that I will be a Patroness of the Navy Ball. I shan't go to it though, but send my money and my name. The latter is getting bigger than the former which has dwindled to a speck! Cheer me by writing your wonderful letters. I read William James and continue to smile. Tell me about the "stingless (happy thought) but not voiceless sirens." My big, big love to you both- Isabella-
My dearest Isabella,
[Paris] May 21, 1918
Your note is brief but brings me your great heart. 1 I need it, for there are moments when I feel as if the game were up. Mary's health has been the citadel of my life. I felt sure of that and it gave me a sense of unquestioning security. Now it has failed me. There is a chance that it may not return. I am ill myself and can go on only if I can get a great deal of care and relegate many of my worries upon a broad pair of shoulders. So the future is not bright. Mary had bronchitis in Italy and a bad bladder trouble here, and finally a nervous breakdown. It is so complete that doctors, relations and friends insisted that she would get well more quickly without me. So her daughter took her back to England, three weeks ago. Thus far there is no improvement in her condition, but as soon as my presence can be of any real comfort to her I shall join her. Friends have been very kind. Edith Wharton was here every day, and
605
continues to befriend me now that I am alone, and I spend week-ends at Versailles with Elsie. I do everything to avoid breaking down myself. But I am so tired, so discouraged, and I long for my oldest friends, and I'd give anything to be with you, dearest Isabella. Devotedly Yours B.B. If you write to Mary as I beg you to, address Chelsea, London S. W 2 » r. ISG's letter is missing.
Dearest Isabella,
l l
St. Leonard's Terrace,
»2. Her brother's townhouse.
Address Baring Bros. London [Postmarked June 1918]
Your letter of June 7 forwarded to Paris reached me last night on the eve of my birth-day and it could not have brought me a dearer gift than the convincing expression of your devoted affection. 1 As you see I am in London and hurried over because Mary with no control over her nerves was working herself up into a panic over my personal safety in Paris. Much as I hated leaving that least odious spot on earth, I am glad to be here because my coming seems to have soothed Mary and to have re-assured her in every way. Indeed I hope to be able to take her out of the nursing home and not to have to send her to a rest cure, but instead to keep her with me in her brother's house which I am taking for July. If she is well enough by Aug. r we shall go down to the country and if not we shall have to remain here. The trouble is still the bladder which gives her dreadful pain, prevents her sleeping, obliges her to lie up and may keep her bed-ridden for months. All of which it is easier for herself as well as for me to bear than the demonic possession of neurasthenia. Happily I have Mary's brother and sister and daughter to help me take care of her. The war is going on as well as possible seeing we came in two years too late and utterly unprepared at that. If it were a universe in which reason had a single word to say, we ought to have peace before Xmas. But we are in the hands of blind forces, of enfevered passions and God only knows how it will end except thro' sheer exhaustion all aroµnd. Who would have let this genie of War out of his bottle had he foreseen the consequences already realized! Thanks for all your sympathy, beloved friend, and take all my dearest wishes for yourself. Affectionately, B.B. »I.
ISG's letter is missing .
606
Dearest Isabella,
London Aug. 21, 1918
Your note from Gloucester was so welcome. 1 I hope staying there did you lots of good and that your doctor is satisfied with you. It is not easy to write truthfully about Mary. Her case is so complicated and so changeful. For instance in the last 48 hours she has put me thro' the whole gamut from deepest despair to cheery hopefulness. I scarcely dare hope, and yet it is hard to believe that a woman with her record of health and sense should settle down to the existence of a halfcrazed and tortured invalid. I have been trying hard to convince her that most of her suffering was due to neurasthenia, and today she assures me that she too is beginning to believe it and that it makes all the difference. Meanwhile I am sinking lower and lower. I was completely exhausted when I arrived here and fit for nothing but a rest cure. Instead I have now had two months of fatigue, despair, and torment, interspersed it is true with some very delightful moments, when I was seeing interesting people. We expect to be able to take Mary down to the sea presently and I shall spend Sept. there with her. At the end of that month I shall return to Paris if I am allowed to. Here I cannot remain because I can not afford to pay income tax here on top of all I pay at home and in Italy. Much love to you, dearest Isabella, and let me hear from you often. B.B. Âť r. ISG's letter is missing.
Dearest Isabella,
Li ttleham p ton Sept. 23, 1918
We have been here three weeks right on the sea, and Mary is distinctly better. Her trouble is still very bad and tormenting and she is frequently and for hours together in great pain. Nevertheless even physiologically there is steady improvement. In the hours when she is out of pain she is stronger and brighter every day. Mentally and morally she is quite her dear self again. That is all important, for I can not tell you what fear I had that she might remain a nervous wreck. I am leaving her in a week or so to return to Paris where I shall hope to have her join me when she is well enough to travel. Meanwhile she will be with her brother and sister at Chilling, Warsash, Hants. England. Do write her there. It will give her great pleasure. I have naturally been quiet in this very unfashionable little resort. I have casually seen Belle Herbert, the Jack Carters and their daughter Lady Acheson 1 who happens to be summering not far away, and Zangwill. This evening I expect Santayana for a few days. He is at the very height of his powers and in splendid form.
I long to see you, dearest Isabella, and should sorely be tempted to come over but, materially and morally it is very, very difficult-let me hear from you. With love B.B. John R. Carter, U.S. minister to Romania. His daughter Mildred was the wife of Archibald, the viscount Acheson, later fifth earl of Gosford. ÂťI.
Dearest Isabella,
Big Chilling 1 Warsash, Hants. Nov 7, 1918
Your letter of October 16th came on to me a few days ago, just about coinciding with the sudden cessation of the pain which has been almost continuous since last February. I hope it is alL of the past, and I shan't think of it any more. I suppose some physical sufferings may be ennobling-but mine reduced me to a helpless and whimpering animal, and my nurse tells me it is the only kind of pain that keeps patients in the hospitals continuously moaning and shrieking. Its name is cystitis (I hope you've never heard of it!), and Dr. Simon Flexner, of the Rockefeller Institute, who came to see me a few weeks ago, said that no one on earth knew any cure for it, though the germ is easily isolated. The malady just runs its appointed course, and then vanishes, as mine has done and then one tries to forget it, save in so far as one is more tender to all suffering, afterwards. Enough is too much. Going over old letters, look at the spontaneous tribute to you I found!! Long before I ever knew you too! Wonderful indeed to create memories like that, instead of the horrible furrows most people make in the lives of others!! Now I have many many more impressions and memories-I must really set them down in writing some day. Events are swifter than thought in Europe now. It only needs Pres. Wilson to come riding in on the White Horse of the Apocalypse to make it a real Last Judgment. The Ramus in Paris writes me the most exciting letters, and I long to be there, but I am still mostly in bed with weakness and the strain of the long months of pain, and can make no plans. Sufficient unto the present is the joy thereof, with Peace in sight. At present I am living in what I call the "Cave of Laughter," for the household consists of only my sister and myself and five healthy, jolly children (3 of them my grandchildren) with the necessary complement of attendants. Laughter ripples in and out of my room, and about it, from 6 a. m. till 7 p. m., and each ripple makes me feel more convalescent, brings recovery nearer. Yesterday I had my first walk, along a sunny lane with an oak forest on one side and on the other fields sloping down and the golden Solent framed by the blue distance of the Isle of Wight. Great troopships pass under our windows all day and all night, and from a tongue of land opposite the aeroplanes and hydroplanes go up to disturb the flight of birds 608
and break the lines of swans on the surface of the water. The Country is always delightful and I adore the English country and adore the sight of the youngsters on their donkey riding along "The Secret Path" in the woods, or rushing with shouts to pick up chestnuts from the grass . And it's delicious to graduate from a Bath Chair and use one's feet again. Everything is set against the background of approaching Peace, but alas we shall never forget the last four years and their horrors. Have they not in a way robbed us of our distinctive confidence in life? With all my love and devotion, and with gratitude for your letter and remembrance of me Yours always Mary Berenson Âť r . Logan Pearsall Smith's country house.
[Enclosed was the following letter]
Dearest Bernhard,
[Friday's Hill, Haslemere] August l 9, l 900
What a letter from Mrs. Gardner!! She is a marvellous woman, and I wish there were some way by which she could realize how keenly I appreciate her. Her tact is a truly regal gift, and I had a sensation of real exhilaration at the spectacle of it, in that memorable letter. People so rarely do the generously tactful thing; she always does. It is unprecedented in my experience. What a Monarch she would have made! I don't suppose I shall ever be lucky enough to come into personal relations with her, but long ago she won my appreciative admiration for what really is genius, in its way-"Let it be a lesson," as the Kinsellas say, to be tactful.
Dearest Isabella,
[Paris] Nov. 14, 1918
How I miss you here these days, when you who are the most youthful and larky of my friends, would enjoy these Bacchic days when Paris is up in the air with victory. We were so sorely urged not to believe in its immediacy, it has come so suddenly to the crowd at least, that I truly wonder at its keeping its head to the extent that it does. Mary seems from all accounts, including her own much better physically. Morally she is not yet herself, and it does not look at present as if she meant to join me here very soon. But I do not despair of her recovering altogether and in every way, altho' it may take some time still. I fear we shall be in now for a tepid and boring time when the excitement of war is over, but the healthy calm of peace, with all its habitual normal life, has not yet returned. I shall resent every day that this transition
period is unnecessarily prolonged. When it is over we surely shall meet again. And won't it be joyful. With a heartful of love B.B.
Fenway Court Nov. 28 1918. 1
Thanksgiving Day indeed, dearest Mary, for your letter has just come. And such a darling, precious letter! And here am I, reading it and trying to write to you, with the very wonderful old Italian necklace on that you gave me! You see I was thinking of you at the very time. Thanksgiving indeed. Peace, and you well! To think of you suffering, I could not bear; and now with you well again the Sun is really bright. I send this to Barings because you are probably en route for Paris. The 'Ramus must be on his head, wiggling his feet in the air, for very joy. If I could see you both. I don't even feel that you can have got all my letters and at least not all my thoughts. When Peace really rules land and sea will you not both come here again? The House of Laughter sounds so deliciously rippling. Make the most of it and tell me some more. I am well and beginning to look forward. A cook has promised to come next Monday. Still no maid to replace my devoted and lost Ellaa seamstress comes 3 days a week. Her doctor thinks she ought not to work more! Labour here has got to the grotesque stage. Imagine how my stockings look! I wash and darn them!!!!!!! Today I go to Brookline and have midday feast with George Proctor, his mother and sister. The Gardner family don't Thanksgive. Mrs. Proctor is very far from well; and George is hard at work with very little time to himself. Fortunately he is so much in demand as piano teacher (which is saying a great deal in these days), that he can keep the wolf from the door-the wolf here is getting to be a terrific Isabella beast. My biggest love to you both. Âť r. MB 's letter is missing.
[Paris] Dec. 3 1918
Dearest Isabella, It is good of you to write if only a brief word. Yes, it is a fearfully fatiguing world that we people who are no longer young are now going to encounter. It will be full of live wires, dynamic personalities, sound propositions, and God knows what horrors as yet nameless. Happily we shall not be in it for long, and departing can boast that we are the last of the dodos. Mary is much better altho' I still am far from satisfied. I doubt whether I shall ever recover my confidence, and feel justified in treating her as a responsible person. The difficulty of course is that she cannot allow that there is anything the matter. 610
"I went to the animal fair. The birds and the beasts were there. The old racoon by the light of the moon" etc. etc. That ditty was a prophecy of Paris at the present moment. The racoon changes. Now it is this, now that, and then a third conqueror, but the catchwords, the hypnotized plebs of all ranks, the ennui remains the same. I suppose during Parsifal's 1 stay here it will be delirious. What visiting monarch heretofore travelled with a claque of 500 as our un-gracious un-sovereign autocrat of all the United States is doing now! 'Tis a pity he could not remain in the Sinai of the White House thundering forth commandmentsand commandments I am happy to say which were truly admirable, noble, and of constructive benefit. But gods should not leave their heavens, nor prophets desert their tripods. I spend all my weekends at Versailles with Elsie. There I thoroughly enjoy the setting of Old France, and the society of our professional army chiefs, and the equally brainy British ones. Last Sunday there was delirious dancing as if Victory had taken her wings from her shoulders and attached them to her heels. With loving wishes for a Happy New Year B.B. Âť 1. BB refers to President Wilson as the operatic hero, or the "guileless fool."
Hyeres Dearest Isabella,
Apr.
IO,
1919
What, 0 what has become of you!1 It is such a very long time since we have heard from you or even of you. Recently we spent some three weeks near the Curtises but Ralph too had no news from you. So pray hasten and reassure me that all is well with you. As for us, we live in a very troubled and distressing world. I left Paris some five and more weeks ago nearly heartbroken over the way things are going. We went south and I was so tired that I spent most of the time in bed. But altho' I am feebler and feebler and have very little health, I always can keep up. Mary is very much better but still makes me anxious, and sometimes very anxious indeed. She insisted on going down to Florence to see after the house and I joined Edith Wharton here. Now I return to Paris, and Mary rejoins me there. We mean before the end of the month to go to Spain and to stay there till July. I have been invited to help them re-organize the Prado. Address to Baring London-and at once. With love always B.B. Âť 1. ISG had a stroke on 26 December 1918, and only a very few knew of it. The next letter
from ISG that was saved is dated 19 March 1921; all subsequent letters were written for her.
611
[Postcard: Granada, exterior of the Alhambra]
May 25 [1919]
Best remembrances from this paradise where I know you have been happy. After 30 years I find it more enchanting than ever. We have been in Spain since May 3, and shall spend all June here. B.B.
[Granada] May 27, 1919
Dearest Isabella-
I reply to your letter of April 29th from this enchanted spot which B.B. keeps telling me is yours. He was never here with you, to be sure, but you told him so much about it and about your enjoyment of it, that he always feels as if it was almost as much yours as it was your great predecessor's, Isabella of Spain! This reminds me that we had a grand ceremony all to ourselves the other day, when they opened for us the reliquaries of that other Isabella, shrines which are only opened four times a year, or else for Visiting Monarchs! We, being neither Church Festivals nor Monarchs, despaired of getting a glimpse of the reputed Botticelli hidden away behind those gilded doors: but the Due d' Albe managed it for us, in the end, and we did find, among many beautiful things collected by the Isabella of the Fifteenth Century, who also loved pictures, a fascinating small Botticelli looking very romantic and poetic among the Memlings, and van der Weydens and their Spanish Imitators. There was also a "Dead Xt" [Christ], which seemed to be by Fiorenzo di Lorenzo-so her taste resembled yours! We have been wandering in beautiful hot places, among unimaginable scenery, trying to forget "the Jack that House built," 1 and his failures, and the ghastly farce that is being played at Paris. All the same, I loved it there, and was fascinated by some of the people we saw a great deal of, especially Kerensky, 2 and Venizelos 3 and Benes. 4 But B.B., after 18 months of it, was really worn out, and had to come away. Now we are heading for Madrid, where he is to give his advice on the rehanging of the Italian pictures in a new wing of the Prado. We shall be there all June, and then again at the Hotel Ritz, Paris. After that we have no plans-perhaps we shall come to America. We are broken-hearted that you have sold your home at Brookline. 5 But it is worse news still that you are not quite at your accustomed level of vitality and joie de vivre. Is 't this awful war? That has destroyed all my instinctive faith in the Universe, and somehow with that happiness has leaked out. But you will recover I am sure. It seems like destroying the Law of Gravitation for you to lose courage! We both send our real love and the best wishes of our hearts. Your always devoted, Mary Berenson Âť r. Col. Edward Mandell House (1858-1939), member of the American delegation to the
treaty conference at Versailles. 612
Âť2.
Aleksandr Feodorovich Kerensky (1881-1970) was prime
minister of the second provisional government of Russia following the February Revolution in 1917. He fled Petrograd on the eve of the October Revolution and went to Paris after his troops were defeated by the Bolsheviks. He died in New York. »3. Eleutherios Venizelos ( l 8641936), leader of the Greek delegation to the peace conference. »4. Edvard Benes (18841948), leader of the Czechoslovakian delegation to the peace conference, was foreign minister, prime minister, and later president (1935-38) of the new republic and of the government in exile (1939-45). He was reelected in 1946. »5. Green l-lill had been sold in 1918 to George Peabody Gardner, ISG's grandnephew.
Dearest Isabella,
[Paris] Sept. 5, 1919
How are you and what doing, beloved old Friend? Don't I wish I were seeing you and hearing you and getting a sense of your being. I fear I am not likely to be going over till a year hence. I have been away two whole years from my work and my books, and it is high time, ifI am not to grow rusty, to return to them. Mary is much better and ever since our return from Spain, six weeks ago, has been in England with her children and children's children. I have been motoring about a great deal in search of my last love, 12th century sculpture-Paris is relatively empty but altogether enchanting. I am expecting Ralph, retour de Deauville. Santayana is here but invisible. Edith Wharton is in her suburban villa and I see her very often. The Versailles ladies are away. 1 Daisy Harriman 2 and Dorothy Straight3 are in this hotel and I see them often. So time passes not too unpleasantly, and despite the murtherous "peace." With love B.B. The "Versailles ladies" were Elsie de Wolfe and Bessie Marbury. »2. Florence J. "Daisy" (Hurst) Harriman (1870-1967), wife of]. Borden Harriman, was active on civic and charitable boards, was a founding member of the Colony Club, New York, and was U.S. minister to Norway, 1937-40. »3. Dorothy (Mrs. Willard) Straight (1887-1968) was the daughter of William C. Whitney, American tycoon and onetime secretary of the navy. Her second marriage was to Leonard Elmhirst, with whom she founded the experimental school Dartington Hall. » r.
Dearest Isabella,
[Paris] Sept. 17, 1919
So delighted to hear from you, and how I wish I were going to see you soon. I envied Archie Coolidge when I said good-bye to him, for he is probably already with you. 1 I don't suppose I shall be going over before Oct. 1920. Unless you are a very privileged or piratical person it is impossible to get passage now. Mary left yesterday for Florence and I hope to join her in two or three weeks. Meanwhile I am getting more and more absorbed in 12th-century sculpture, and if only I weren't such a lame and lazy lout, I'd devote the rest 613
of my flickering life to its study. I fear I lack the energy. Besides, there are younger people, disciples of mine, who will do it well. Mary is better and better. She is determined to drag me in February to Egypt and Syria. I don't see myself. Write at once, dearest Isabella. Devotedly B.B. Âť r. Archibald Cary Coolidge (1866-1928), historian, author, and editor of Foreign Affairs,
1922-27, taught at Harvard.
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
Dec. 9, 1919
With all my heart I wish you a Happy New Year, and all the serenity and gladness that can come to you during 1920. I have been back just two months, but I am not yet rested or settled down. It is not easy after two such searing and devastating years as I spent away from my books, my photographs and my works. Happily I have started an absorbing new interest. It is the sculpture of the l 2th and l 3th centuries in France. Of course I have always looked at it with pleasure, and you may recall that more than five years ago I urged you to get those Parthenay figures which many others would now give their eye teeth to own. But never before was French early medieval sculpture a dominating passion taking the first place in my day's work, as it is now. But I have no idea what will come out of it. Mary is much better and absorbed in two grandchildren who are here. Them she enjoys thoroughly. I don't know what will happen when they have gone. Do you remember Fritz Hohenlohe? Poor old dear after 5 whole years of exile he has returned, penniless but more charming than ever. Affectionately and devotedly B.B.
[Postcard: photograph of BB]
I Tatti Settignano Dec. 17, 1919
The 'Ramus sends his love and so does your devoted,
Mary
Dearest Isabella,
[I Tatti] Febr. 8, 1920
A letter from Wendell just received, tells me what I did not in the least suspect, namely that you have been very very ill. 1 Happily he assures me that you were on the mend. How I hope that the improvement has been 614
maintained and that you are now your perennial self again. I certainly look forward to finding you as bright as a button when I get over in the autumn. Meanwhile we are still under the black spell of all the murky, foul, and bloody disappointments that have overtaken my kind of feeble folk since the fatal armistice. Before that we had been fighting that easy enemy, the foreign foe. Since then it has been a match, so pathetically uneven, with the ever invincible enemy, the Fiend within us. Alas, and alack! I am still too prostrate to get to work altho' I browse and ruminate a great deal. Mary is in far worse case. She does not sleep, looks collapsed, and a day seldom passes that she does not suffer from acute melancholia. Pazienza. What skies, my beloved Friend! I would I could share them with you. Devotedly B.B. Âť l. Barrett Wendell's letter is at I Tatti.
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
March 25, 1920
Thank you so much for having that little note sent to us-though it made us very sad. We simply cannot get it into our imaginations that YOU can be ill! It is like the sun not rising, it upsets all one's ideas of the fitness of things. I am deeply sympathetic, for I had two years of really severe illness; and I confess it has left me with a chastened view of human life. Parliamo delle case allegre-! We both hope you are getting well quickly, and please remember that we count on your being entirely Yourself next winter, when we are coming over. We've been away too long, with this accursed War and still more accursed Peace; we long to get to our own country once more. And for the 'Ramus that means, most of all, Boston, and You are such a large part of Boston to us that we can't admit you should be ill when we come. Denman Ross and his astonishing cousin have been here, and are coming again. We have just had a flying visit from Carl Hamilton, who says he has the finest private collection of pictures in the world!1 He is a youth of genius, certainly, and he may end by doing great things. His ambition, tempered by genuine religion of a Presbyterian cast, is insatiable. But for the most part we are very much alone with our books and the lovely landscape. It is pleasant after B.B.'s hectic activities in Paris. We shall stay here till mid June and then go to England. And then-home, where please be well enough to do some agreeable things with us. Your always truly devoted, Mary Berenson ÂťI.
Carl W. Hamilton (1897-1967), American financier and art collector, later lost his fortune
and was forced to sell his collection to Duveen.
615
Dearest Isabella,
Settignano Apr. l 5, 1920
Denman Ross has got back from Rome and brings me ever so much better news of you. His affection for and devotion to you are enchanting, and as I contributed something toward bringing it about, long long ago, I am doubly pleased. He is now seriously thinking of returning home in October instead of going to India first. I hope he will, for my sake as well as yours. For you know that we have every intention of wintering at home, in Boston and New York I mean. We count on seeing you all the time that we are there, you and Ross. So do please summon all your will to get well, and let us enjoy each other once again in the good old way. I enclose the photo of a stone statue French of about 1200. 1 It belongs to Kelekian who behaves as if he were not a bit anxious to sell. At all events, it is with the greatest difficulty that I have got out of him this very inadequate reproduction of the original. This original is as fine of its kind and moment as I have ever seen. And remember I have of late been devoting myself entirely to this kind and this moment. You need only look with a magnifying glass at the feet to see for yourself. By the way the precision with which they are done reminds me of the Greek statue that you have deposited at the American School in Rome. 2 Look at the draperies, and the modelling of the face. Not even on the north portal of Chartres will you find much as good. The size is just over that of life, the colour of stone, but not weathered. Evidently it was always in a sheltered position and has an ivory patina. Kelekian insists on calling it the portrait of a donor. He certainly is mistaken. More likely the figure represented John the Evangelist, and perhaps he was intended to stand under a cross in a Crucifixion. I venture to tell you that on me it makes the impression of being a supreme masterpiece. I mean to say that I am convinced that it is the kind of work of art which persons of enlightened taste will admire thro' all time and eternity. For those reasons I should like you to own it, if you can afford it. But the price, to us who used to be called extravagant twenty-five years ago, seems enormous. The lowest price Kelekian will take for it is $60,000 (sixty thousand dollars). Nevertheless, I advise you to pay this price and get it, even if after getting it you have to sing Nunc demittis. As Paris is filling up now with buyers all with fat shekels lined, and all famished for goods, I advise you, if you decide to take this statue, to send the following cable:- Kelekian 2 Place Vendome, Paris. Will take statue of Donor. Isabella Gardner. Another thing. This is not a matter of business for me. I do not stand to lose or gain a cent by the transaction. Or rather I could, by recommend616
ing it to others, make a fat commission. But I want you to have it, and so forgo every thought of profit. On the other hand however, if you do accept the offer, I shall ask you to carry on all further discussions with Kelekian directly. I heartily wish you the means and the inclination to make such an acqu1s1uon. Oh, I do wish you were here! We simply have never had such a spring. With love from us both B.B. Âť r. The st;-
, has not been identified. Âť2. In 1901 , through Richard Norton, ISG bought a headless Grc'-o-Roman marble of a woman wearing a peplos , a copy of a Greek bronze. Denied an export license, the statue was placed in the quadrangle of the American Academy in Rome . In 1936, its export was permitted, and it was placed in the Gardner Museum courtyard.
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
June
19, 1920
Be a good child, and get as well as possible, well enough at all events to spend some time in New York while we are there. During the weeks we shall spend in Boston, you shall see us every minute that you can give us. You, my mother, and the works of art are what draw me to Boston, altho' I shall be very glad to see such other acquaintances as still care to see me. I know my place, at last. We are leaving tomorrow, to motor to Paris, if possible. But one of the delectable results of the war has been that frontiers have become all but impenetrable and insurmountable. For instance in order to be able to take our car thro' to France and England we have had to deposit 4 5, ooo fr. half as much again as the old hack cost six years ago. Everything else in proportion. We enquired for modest cabins on one of the big Atlantic liners$2, ooo. Address me to Earing's London, at once, please. With devoted affection B.B.
Dearest Isabella,
[Paris] July l 8, 1920
How glad I am to receive your word of the 6th. Your voice rings thro' the dictation. No day and few hours pass here without my talking of you. So many common acquaintances and so many works of art that should be linking friends. 617
Mary ran away after a day or two, and left me to Paris. I have not been much in the mood for this extremely interesting ageless siren. If I had not been under the fingertips of a digestion-restorer, I should have left after very few days. I remain till the 26th when I join Mary in London for a few days and then in the country, in the very place [Fernhurst] where I first fell in love with her on Aug. 4, 1890-just 30 years ago. I expect to motor about in S. W France thro' most of Sept. in search of 12th-century sculpture, my latest hobby. When in Boston we shall lodge and board at the Copley so as to be as close as possible to you. What fun it will be to see Beloved Isabella again! Devotedly B.B.
Dearest Isabella,
Fernhurst, Haslemere Aug. 12 1920
How I wish you were here in this Sleeping Beauty's bower of verdure! Nowhere else are there such trees, such hedges, such wood-paths, and such utterly virgin prospects. And I like it no less than I did 30 years ago. In London I spent four days only, quite enough. I'm not in the mood for people and their cities. I no longer believe in their aspirations, inspirations, or aught else that is theirs. In less than three weeks I shall be spinning along the byroads of Central France in search of 12th-century sculpture. We shall spend Oct. at I Tatti. Nov. 17 we sail for New York. We shall spend the Xmas holidays with you-if God is good to all of us. With love and devotion B.B.
Dearest Isabella,
Beaulieu Oct. 4, 1920
I am just leaving France after a whole month's touring in quest of 12thcentury sculpture. Among other places that I visited was Parthenay way out in the west to see the place where grew those wonders that you got from Demotte in 1914. Mary joined me a few days ago at Avignon, and after spending two days revisiting St. Gilles, St. Trophime, Mont-Majour, St. Maximin we came on here to Mrs. Barton French's. Happily and unexpectedly we found the Ralphs [Curtises] back from Venice, all in good form. Lucky creatures , their wanderings are over for the season. We are going to be but a month at I Tatti, and that will be a month of preparation for crossing the Atlantic. If seeing you were not to be the reward of the voyage I should quail before it. With much love B. B. 618
Dearest Isabella,
[New York] Nov. 26, 1920
Here we are and writing to Copley Plaza to reserve us rooms for the 23d of Dec. We do look forward to seeing you, and all you can stand of us daily. Br-r-r-r how cold! With love B.B. We are so glad to be on the same Continent with you again! Your devoted
Dearest Isabella,
Mary
[Carl Hamilton's apartment, New York] Dec. l l, 1920
What a wonderful person you are to think of us and our small doings! You make America seem like home to us. Otherwise, we feel far away and strange, coming from War here, and the neurasthenia of Peace, to a place where everybody is "carrying on as usual." We, too, are doing the usual things, that is seeing collections and collectors. The days pass in a sort of dream, I am so anxious about my dear sister, I feel as if all the things here were just marking time until I get a cable from my daughter about her state. It seems almost horribly certain that she has cancer in the spine. If it is so, and the disease threatens to progress rapidly, I shall go to her at once. Otherwise I shall wait till March. This menace takes the reality out of the passing show, as you can imagine. It acts like a sifter, and only a few things over here seem real. Only, in fact, the old friendships-quarum magna pars es! That will be a very real thing, seeing you again, with eternal youth in your eyes and voice, I know. We have seen the Blumenthal house (museum), 1 and the Kahn mansion which, on the whole, I like better-the Frick mausoleum inhabited by his wraith of a daughter, the Lehman collection, and of course the Museum, and the ever new treasures which the inexhaustible Sir Joseph Duveen draws into his net. The Goldman pictures too, a few but very fine. 2 People kindly give us lunches and dinners, but the best of it is, we can have our friends here (though the Japanese servants are rather wild!)-Walter Lippmann, 3 Bryson Burroughs, the Hutchins Hapgoods, Jefferson Fletchers 4 and so on. B. B. thinks Lippmann one of the ablest people he has ever known. There are also certain lovely young things into whose flames that singed old moth, 'Ramus, precipitates himself, notably a Miss Evangeline Johnson, who flies. 5 Well, well! Dearest Isabella-we shall see you soon. I don't know yet about our train, but we shall go straight to the Copley-Plaza when we arrive, and then to Fenway Court as soon as may be. Your unceasingly devoted, Mary B. 619
» l. The Metropolitan Museum of Art received the Spanish patio from the George Blumenthal
House and various gifts and bequests but not the entire collection. »2 . Henry Goldman ( l 8 56-19 37) , a banker, bought paintings from Duveen that were sold later to the Kress. Collection. »3. Walter Lippmann (1889-1974) , last editor of the New York World, political writer, and journalist. »4. Jefferson B . Fletcher (1865-1946) , professor of literature at Columbia University, 1904-39, poet, and translator of Dante. »5. Evangeline Johnson (b . l 898), daughter of Robert Wood Johnson, founder of Johnson and Johnson, was married to Leopold Stokowski, 1926-37. In 193 8 she married former Prince Alexis Zalstem-Zalessky of Russia.
[Boston] Dearest Isabella,
Dec.
30, 1920
I am so touched by your wonderful gift to me that I hardly know how to write. I remember so well adoring that grand ruby on your finger, and I half remember a thrilling tale connected with it, which you must tell me again. 1 B.B. brought it to me quite overcome. It seems to both of us a part of You: and you well know that once I put it on my finger it will draw our thoughts to you whenever we see it. I was just writing to Josephine Griswold-"This visit to Boston is Isabella and nothing but Isabella .. That Cleopatra of the Charles River is still her glorious self. Age cannot wither her." Dear Isabella get well from your cold soon, so that when I return from Bryn Mawr, I may find you well, when I come to thank you in the spoken word for your enchanting gift. 2 Your always devoted, Mary B. No " thrilling tale " about the ruby is known. »2. The " cold" may have been ISG's way of keeping people at a distance so that the extent of her stroke would not be known . » I.
Dearest Isabella,
[New York] Jan. 15, 1921
The Parthenay sculptures are scarcely later than l l 50. You are aware that it is not easy to be more precise, altho' some day we shall be able to. I cannot begin to tell you what exquisite and enchanting memories of your dear self I have brought away with me from Boston. They will not be obliterated by many an incarnation. Here it is very hectic and futile. I do a lot of talking, and lay myself open to being frightfully mis-quoted, and utterly misunderstood. So many people ask after you, beg to be remembered, and send their love, that I cannot recall their names. Little Miss Frick may be going to Boston before long. 1 Will you be With tender devotion B.B. gracious and receive her? » I.
Helen Clay Frick (188 8-1984) was the only daughter of Henry Clay Frick. 620
Dearest Isabella-
[New York] Jan. 19, 1921
My brother's little book, Trivia, 1 is still un-get-able, but I am sending you today a small volume we adore, Gorky's reminiscences of Tolstoy. 2 Perhaps you already have it, but never mind. We love getting little messages from you. I gave your message to Walter Lippmann, and he says he will come to Boston when we are there in March, as seeing you again is one of the things he most wants to do in all the world. He has a lovely little wife, full of humour and quiet good sense, a Boston girl, to whom you have been a Great Myth, since her babyhood! 3 Miss Aileen Tone dined here last night. 4 She wants to come and pay her loving respects to you, and also will be in Boston in March. Mrs. Kahn sails for England to preside at the birth of her first grandchild next month, or I think she would have brought her Botticelli to lay at your feet. Carl Hamilton came home last night with an adorable Botticelli under his arm, the portrait of a youth in a red cap and fur-trimmed brown coat. 5 It used to be in the Schickler collection, where B.B. discovered it. The Duveens bought it with the rest of their fine things. Hamilton is paying $250,000 for it. Think of yours-!! We dined on Monday with the Bullitts 6 and met some charming people. Yesterday we lunched with Josephine Griswold, who is going to take Villa Medici at Fiesole next September, just stepping into it with its servants. Our friend Lady Sybil (Cutting) Scott lives there. 7 Hamilton's young friends are going to take it for June-September. Tonight we dine with the Rockefellers, tomorrow with Alice Garrett, going on to the Scola Canterini[?] at Mrs. Cuttings; Friday with the Rockefeller's architect, Saturday (after a day at Englewood in the Platt collection) with Miss Tone to go on to music at the Drapers. 8 Today we lunch with the fat Miss Hewitts, 9 after seeing a collection with Mrs. Bradley, and then go to the Spanish Museum. And so on. We sigh for Boston, and our daily visits to you, so much more worthwhile than this maelstrom! However, we are seeing all the things and all the people we intended to see, and it will soon be over, and we shall come "home" again, for Boston remains home to the 'Ramus, and, in a way to me. We hope the fearful cold hasn't penetrated into your Eden? Your always black-and-blue-cut-me-in-two devoted, Mary B. » r. Logan Pearsall Smith, Trivia (New York, 1917). »2. Maxim Gorky, Reminiscences of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy (New York, 1920). »3. In 1917 Walter Lippmann married Faye Albertson. »4. Aileen Tone, American secretary/companion of Henry Adams. » 5. Botticelli's
Portrait of a Youth went from Hamilton to Duveen to the Clarence Mackay Collection, Roslyn, N. Y., thence to the Mellon Collection, and is now in the National Gallery of Art. »6. Anne (Reed) and William Christian Bullitt ( l 89 l-l 967). He attended the Versailles Peace Conference and served as ambassador to Russia, 1933, to France, 1936, and at large, l94L »7 . Lady Sybil Cuffe (1881-1943), daughter of the fifth and last earl ofDesart, was married successively 621
to Bayard Cutting, Geoffrey Scott, and Percy Lubbock. »8. Possibly the Tuckerman Drapers. »9. Sarah Cooper and Eleanor G. Hewitt of Tuxedo Park, N . Y.
Dearest Isabella,
[New York] Feb. 3, 1921
Gretchen Warren lunched here today, and told me of your famous lobster lunch. 1 Last week Mr. and Mrs. [John] Elliot came, and they carried off Gorky on Tolstoy to give you (I hope they brought it?); and two days ago Mr. Richardson 2 came to see the pictures 3 and took away my brother's little book for you. Not a day goes by without people asking us about you, and rejoicing to hear that you are still so triumphantly Yourself. I've quite lost track of our crowded engagements, and although some of them are very pleasant, I feel too hurried to dwell on them. We spent a Sunday with the Hapgoods (Hutchins) up the river, and another at Miss De La1nar's super-super-Ritz Palace on the Sound. 4 She is now all but engaged to Carl Hamilton, but they are like Daphnis and Chloe in their shyness and fright. They sit close together too scared to exchange a remark! Neither has ever been in love before. We see a good deal of Manship, 5 the sculptor-with whom Mr. Sargent lunched, by the way, yesterday. He has done a very fine bust of old Mr. Rockefeller, which reveals him as a truly great sculptor: and B.B. and I are tempted to wish he might do you sometime. Miss Beaux's three portraits 6 stand out remarkably in the dreary waste of Tarbells and other mediocrities who painted the infamous crew at Versailles. 7 Wilson has been more than punished for all his mistakes by the portrait Tarbell has perpetrated of him! We are getting awfully tired, and shall welcome a week-end in the country at Mr. Vanderlip's. 8 On the 19th we leave, to go back to you, via Philadelphia, Baltimore and Washington. I hope we shall reach Boston on March 12th.
Much love from us both-
Your always devoted
Mary
» l. Gretchen Osgood (Mrs. Fiske) Warren (1871-1961) was the wife of a partner, later presi-
dent, of S. D. Warren and Company, and the sister of Molly Osgood. Sargent's famous portrait of her with her daughter Rachel, now in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, was painted in the Gothic Room of the Gardner Museum. »2. Richardson has not been identified. »3. Pictures in Carl Hamilton's apartment, where they were staying. »4. Alice De Lamar, a wealthy American acquaintance of BB's. She never planned to marry Carl Hamilton. »5. Paul Manship (1885-1966) and his wife were also friends of ISG's . »6. Cecilia Beaux (1863-1942), painted three portraits at Versailles, 1920: Cardinal Mercier, Georges Clemenceau, and Admiral Lord Beatty. »7. Tarbell, like several other members of the Boston School, was trained in Germany and taught at the School of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. »8. Frank Vanderlip (1864-1937), American financier, lived in Scarborough, N.Y. 622
[New York] Feb. 7, 1921
Dearest Isabella,
The 'Ramus went at once, with Archer Huntington to see Ehrich's pictures, and alas there was nothing worthy of you there. He wanted to help Ehrich, but could not find it in his conscience to recommend anything to you. 1 We're getting busier and busier-and shall sigh with fatigue and relief when we get off to Princeton-Bryn Mawr on the 19th. We had a very pleasant lunch with the Drapers, Miss Tone, Judge and Mrs. Wells and Lawrence Mason the other day, and now we're having the Griswolds, Cottenet, Stanley Mortimer, Miss Dewar, Mrs. Pinchot and Chester (!) Aldrich. 2 We spent Saturday night at Mr. Vanderlip's up the Hudson and cast a gloom over him by telling him his Cima was only a Marco Palmezzano, and his Mino da Fiesole a forgery! My dear, Miss De Lamar has refused our host. But she has done it in such a way that he remains full of hope and means to win her in the end. We think he will, but girls' hearts are incalculable. We have about 20 people coming in every afternoon to see-not us, but the pictures. You can imagine how weary we get. I read with great pleasure the first half of Tagore's Reminiscences-quite exquisite. 3 We both send love. Your devoted Mary B. » r. In 19!0 ISG had bought Zurbaran's A Doctor of Law from the Ehrich Galleries, N. Y.
Chester Aldrich (1871-1940), New York architect. Rabindranath Tagore. »2.
Dearest Isabella,
» 3.
My Reminiscences (1917) by Sir
[Baltimore] Feb. 28, 1921
It has been on my mind to write to you, but Pres. Thomas 1 asked me to give a lecture at Bryn Mawr, and I was lost for days preparing it. I hadn't "lectured" once since 12 years, and did not feel at all sure I could, so I wasted lots of time preparing what, in the end, I could have done just as well extempore. However, that's over, and now I feel we are headed for Boston, although as a matter of fact, we are first going to Washington. We shall be here, undergoing varied medical examinations, until the 5th, and then at the Wardman Park Hotel, Washington, till the night of the 11th when we take the train for Boston. There we shall be from the 12th to the 16th, and then alas we have to say goodbye. And we sail on the 22nd. But we are planning hard to come again, some early September, so as to have more time. It will be soon I am sure. We have no friend like you on the other side.
We saw at Bryn Mawr chiefly academic people, but also ex-Leila Bryce, now Mrs. Gifford Pinchot. 2 She used to dress to make your eyes fall out of your head, but said she had reformed since her marriage (she is, in fact, fearfully keen on the Women's Political League and various reforms), and said "I only just cover myself now"-which we all thought odd, for she had nothing but a revealing wisp of chiffon draped around her taille. However, she looked gorgeous, with her glorious red hair. Her husband is one of the most agreeable men I ever met. She said "Didn't I do well? I pursued him ever since I was l 7 !" Speaking of her reminds me of lovely Mrs. Howard Cushing, whom I saw at a dinner at Alice Garrett's. She was as unsubstantial as a moonbeam and as lovely, in filmy white with strings and strings of pearls, and a bright green feather fan across her lap. Her face was dead white and her draperies seemed to enwrap-nothing. I am so glad to have done with "society" life, tho' a dinner at Mrs. Borden Harriman's (B. B. calls her "The Eternal Flapper") awaits us. But I'm dead tired, and sometimes, those last days in N. Y, I nearly called out in the dullness of the after-dinner drawing-room-"! can't bear it any longer!" I wonder if you've had any more of Prichard's profound epistles? The thought of them makes me ashamed of my foolish prattle, so I will come to an end. With love from us bothYour always devoted Mary Carl Hamilton wants to bring his Botticelli on to show you. M . Carey Thomas (1857-1935), president of Bryn Mawr College, 1894-1922, and prominent woman suffragist. Âť2 . Gifford Pinchot (1865-1946), Yale professor, government official, author, conservationist, and twice governor of Pennsylvania, 1923-27, 193 l-3 5, married ÂťI.
Cordelia Bryce in 1914.
[Baltimore] March 5, 1921
Dearest Isabella, All being well, we shall present ourselves at your door today week, about l l o'clock, unless you send word that some other time would be better. It is a joy to us both to look for ward to it. We have been so busy here that we have seen no one-except the fifteen or sixteen doctors who have had us in hand. We have been through Dr. Barker's famous clinic, with the result that-B.B. digests badly and I am fat and rheumatic! Every square inch of us has been Xrayed and examined, our blood-pressure, our metabolism (as to oxygen and carbon) tested, our very blood analyzed. We have new glasses and new teeth (at least old ones out), I have new boots for walking-all that science can do to make well people feel they present an "interesting case" has been done. So now we are
624
off for Washington with a clean bill of health. Just before we leave we are to lunch with Alice Garrett, who has grown plump and houri-like. She and "John" are settling into their big country place near Baltimore "for good," they say. But Harding may pull them out and send them somewhere. Now I must run off to my last test, a pump to extract-col rispetto parlando!-my bile. B.B. went through it yesterday. He says it is awful! Langdon Warner 1 ran down one day to see Mr. Walters's Collection. He seems such a nice fellow. A bientot most adorable of beings. Your devoted Mary Langdon Warner (1881-1955), American archaeologist and Orientalist, was then director of the Pennsylvania Museum, Philadelphia. Âť!.
Dearest Isabella,
[New York] March 18, 1921
Thanks for that screed about me. It must have been written by a fresher [freshman] named Lewis Hind. I met him but once and like many an admirer he did not seem admirable. A good enough and loyal enough man however! I have sung your praises to ever so many hosts and captains of hosts, and they all with one accord promised to go and prostrate themselves and all that theirs is, at your feet. I surprised myself to discover how far down into my heart you Yours tenderly B.B. plumbed.
Dearest Isabella,
[New York] Mar. 19, 21
It is quite horrid to be here again with no visit to Boston to look forward to in the immediate future. That puff of the 'Ramus was written by an Englishman, Mr. Hind, who came to see us here. We are now doing the last boring things-but with some pleasant interludes, as, for example, when Courtlandt Palmer came and played to us a glorious thing of his own-almost Bach!1 2 We dined with Mrs. Lanier last night, and she had the Jameses, Lucy Hewitt and others of our friends. In the afternoon we had a reception, with Cecilia Beaux and beautiful "Ernesta," the Danas, 3 Manship, etc. I do believe the whole company talked more about YOU than about anything or anybody else. You see they knew we had been with you lately. We expect Mr. Hamilton back from the West today, and the "young ladies" are returning from the South on Monday to say goodbye. I think we've asked at least l 500 people to come and see us in Florence-!! Travel625
ling, however, is difficult, 300 percent on the value of all motors coming in and lOO percent more for foreigners to pay for everything than natives pay. This will not encourage the tourist, and it may end by discouraging us. Mrs. Sears and her daughter travelled down with us, and came yesterday morning to see the pictures. They are both so nice. I will write again before we sail, so this is only a line to bear our love. Your devoted Mary » r. Courtlandt Palmer (b. l 872), American composer and pianist. »2 . The "Jameses" were probably painter William James (1882-1961), son of professor William James and his wife, Alice Runnells. » 3. Richard Henry Dana (18 5 l-193 r) was a lawyer who worked for civil
service reform.
Dearest 'Ramus and Mary,
Fenway Court March 19, 1921
Just a word before you sail of affection and good wishes. I can't bear the word good-bye, although it does mean God be with you. I don't like to think that you will be so many, many miles away. May you both find what you hope for on that other side, and no matter how delightful, don't let it make you forget me. I'm very grateful for your perfect visit here, but it only makes me more grasping, and I look forward to three years from now! Impress on Lippmann and Hamilton that I shall be always hoping to see them. Bu on viaggio, breve ritorno. Great love from As ever yours, Isabella
Dearest Isabella,
[New York] March 21, 1921
Here's a snapshot of our garden which the 'Ramus asked me to send you. 1 We shall soon be in it, and I'll write you from there. My dear! we saw a picture today that made our hearts ache for you. It is the grandest of early Bellinis, a severe yet radiant Madonna-as beautiful as anything of his in our country-except of course the Bacchanal. You have no Bellini-no Giovanni, that is-and he was the Tree ofJesse of the whole Venetian School, perhaps the very greatest artist of all the Renaissance. We have always mourned his absence from your collection, as I am sure you can understand. Well, this picture is here and is for sale. It came from Sigmaringen. 2 It belongs to Mr. Walter P. Fearon 107 East 55th Street, New York. He would bring it on for you to see whenever you like. The price was $100,000 but is now $75,000, and this is cheap for prices now! He is quite willing to bring it senza impegno, you would not have to buy it. A line to him will cause it to be laid at your feet.
Pichetto the restorer brought up a picture from Baltimore and had been working a week on it when we went with Mr. Henry Walters to see it yesterday. I can't tell you how delighted we all were with what he had done. Mr. Walters could not believe his eyes, but we could, for we had often seen Cavenaghi at work. He never destroys any real thing that exists, but he does perfectly understand the careful removing of dirt and varnish. We leave feeling happier about Italian pictures in America than ever we have felt. But we are sad to go, leaving you behind. Alas that things are so brief. Memory and imagination help, but really absence is a brutal thing. We wish we lived where we could go in to greet you every day. Half New York is sailing tomorrow on the Aquitania. Elsie has got us a table with herself and Mrs. W K. Vanderbilt and some others. 3 You can't think how happy the Lippmanns are over seeing you. It meant more to them even than your Palazzo, though they enjoyed that passionately. They are soon coming abroad, and promise us a long visit in October. But here I am, in the midst of packing, writing a long letter. I mustn't-
Mary
Just thanks and our love-
If my cousin Pres. Thomas writes to ask if she can come to see you, do let her! She is a wonderful person, enthusiastic over Italian art, and a very vivid "life enhancing" personality. We've always wanted you to know each other. A photograph of I Tatti was enclosed. On the back MB had written, "Garden of I Tatti Winter 1920." »2. From the collection of Prince Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen the painting went to Sterling and Francine Clark. The Clarks sold it to the New York dealer Henry Rhenhardt, from whom ISG bought it. Fearon's position in this is unclear. »3. Anne Harriman (1878-1944) of Boston (formerly married to A. H. Rutherford) married William Kissam Vanderbilt, the railroad executive, in 1903. »I.
[22
[New York] March 1921]
On the point of starting. Wonderful Isabella-even today a handshake from you! We are much touched, and we can't bear to be going. Your utterly devoted B.B.'s [MB's writing.]
[RMS Aquitania] Tuesday [22 March l 92 l] All my love to you, dearest Isabella. Hold the fort till my return, and keep it warm and cosy. How I have enjoyed seeing you! I hate to go away. I shall be very hungry for you. Love B.B.
627
March
Dearest B.B.
30, 1921
Out of the deep a letter appeared from you the Saturday after you sailed. Probably the whale swallowed it and threw it up . I was awfully pleased to get it. Now I think of you in Paris, and I am writing to tell you about yesterday. Mr. Fearon and the Bellini arrived . It is really a charming picture, not the ideal child for my taste, but a very charming Madonna and I should love to have it, but it would be absolutely impossible even vaguely to think of it, if the statue was to be at all considered. 1 Both of these are apparently at present impossible, and I am writing to you to know if one must be given up, which should it be-statue or Bellini? Please let me know as soon as possible which you think. I told Mr. Fearon that, notwithstanding the pleasure of seeing it, I must not seriously think of it perhaps for weeks-and perhaps forever! This he would be sorry to have happen, but understood perfectly. $15,000.- or $10.000- (I am not sure) was what he said. I perhaps, if Mr. Swift consents, might make a more favorable offer. Tell me about your gaieties and life, as well as what you can about this. Affectionately, Isabella Love to you both, At Mrs. Gardner's direction I told Mr. Swift this morning of the opportunity to purchase the Bellini, and asked if he thought Mrs. Gardner could manage it. Although he said he wished as much as she did that she might add it to her collection, he did not see how it was possible in these very bad financial times. Mrs. Gardner was very much disappointed at this report, and is afraid she will be unable to get the picture unless a miracle happensor a great change in the money market. M[ orris]. C[ arter]. 2 Âť r.
The Gothic statue of Saint Paul has not been identified .
Âť 2.
See ISG to BB,
24
October
1922 .
[Hyeres] Dearest Isabella,
Apr.
13, 1921
Your note of March 30 just finds me, and I hasten to an¡swer. Much as I like the Sigmaringen Bellini I should not hesitate an instant to chuck it for Gimpel's Gothic statue. I hear, by the way, that Miss Greene is determined to get it for Mr. Morgan. Here I am in the south once more. It is like heaven or at least like Paradise to be staying with Edith Wharton in this most unspoiled and lovely spot on the Mediterranean. We spend most of every day out of doors motoring and walking, and, needless to say, talking. In Paris for ten days I saw old friends, French for the most part, and found them much more amiable than when I left. Paris was looking lovely, and the weather was radiant. Mary is still with her offspring in England.
She joins me in a week here, and then we go for two days to the Curtises, on the way to I Tatti. Much love to you, dearest Isabella. Devotedly B.B.
P. S. Read Ethel Smyth's Streaks of Life .1 [In pencil on back of the envelope, in Morris Carter's writing:] Dear B.B. There's a hold up about every thing now Swift has decided I have no money for anything. Photo has come from Gimpel and is very fine but I am schooling myself to have no wants. You sound delightfully gay. Here dismal and weather reflecting inside and out. Love to both of you Isabella Dame Ethel Smyth (r 8 58-1944), English composer, writer, and militant suffragist. Streaks of Life, a collection of autobiographical sketches, was published in London in r92r. ÂťI.
Dearest Isabella,
[Saint Jean-sur-Mer] April 23, 1921
We are safely here on our last stage before getting home. You can imagine the eager enquiries there have been for you-the affection expressed by us all-the heartfelt wishes for your complete return to health. Everyone everywhere loves to hear how triumphantly you have dominated Fate, how unchanged (only, if possible, improved though the same) you are, how you never speak of being ill and make everybody forget it. And then my magical ring, that glows as if a lamp were in it, is passed around. Yes, wherever we go, you go with us, I wish you could realize it. We had a very Vanderbilt-y crossing, and I got out at Southampton. B.B. undertook the horrors of Cherbourg and arrived in Paris exhausted and cursing, to surrender himself to a thousand dollars' worth of dentistry in the hands of a pirate named Hipwell. I got much the same work done in London for a hundred dollars by a modest practitioner named Page. But B.B. is unable to resist fashion!! I dropped into my family circle without a splash, and was very happy until the coal strike made it impossible to heat my sister's house and the cold strike overwhelmed England with snow. I promptly went to bed with bronchitis, but after a week crawled forth like a ghost and took the luxe to Hyeres, where B.B. was staying with Edith Wharton in her romantic monastery on the rocky hill above the town. There I stayed 4 days, creeping about in the sun and hearing poetry read aloud in the evenings, and Lytton Strachey's new book, Queen Victoria. 1 And yesterday we came here. Ralph is much much improved as regards deafness, and is otherwise quite himself, with the same incomparable cuisine. Lisa has bobbed her hair and curled and I suspect dyed it, but it does not make her look younger-on the con629
trary. The shadow of the Duke of Connaught lies heavy over the peninsula, 2 and the King of Sweden and many other snobilities have adorned the place. Sylvia is en beaute, a charming young girl. Marjorie has put up her yellow hair, and Lisa tries to think she has grown a little, but she is really a dwarf. Bino is here with a tutor. 3 He can't pass his exams, he can't grow, and I fear it is a real tragedy. The garden is most beautiful, the weather divine. Mrs. Hunter is visiting here. 4 She has suddenly grown old, and she dresses like an incredible idol. We leave tomorrow and hope to get home soon. Trains are so uncertain that we've sent for the car to meet us at the frontier. I've told you all our news, and will end with sending our devoted love. Yours, Mary B. »I. Lytton Strachey (1880-1932) published Queen Victoria in 1921. »2. Prince Arthur William Patrick Albert (1850-1942), duke of Connaught, was the third son and seventh child of Queen Victoria . »3. "Bino" was Ralph Curtis, Jr., who inherited Palazzo Barbaro from his »4. Mary Smyth (Mrs. Charles) Hunter was the father. Marjorie and Sylvia were his sisters. sister of Ethel Smyth and a great friend of Sargent's.
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
May 3,
1921
We got back a week ago, but I have not yet begun to feel settled do\vn. I no longer can return home and get to work in three days as I used to when young. I now dawdle like a highly simonized wage-earner. There is the excuse of my toppling years, and feeble health. There is also the intoxication of getting back, indoors to my library, and out of doors to this landscape in May. Remember it was here that "May" was discovered and made a current article of song and poetry. On the way hither I had ten days and more of talk and walk and sail and auto with Edith Wharton. Mary joined me there, and together we spent a couple of days with the Curtises. Much talk of YOU. Ralph was at his best. He is one of the last hosts now surviving. Indirectly I hear that you could not find the money for Gimpel's Gothic statue. I am indeed sorry, for it is a noble creation that would have magnified and glorified you for ever. Let us hear from you often, dearest Isabella. With love B.B. Elsie de Wolfe and Ogden Codman 1 arrived yesterday to stay a week with us. »I. Ogden Codman (1868-1951), Boston architect who lived for many years in France. He and Edith Wharton wrote The Decoration of Houses ( l 897).
Dearest B. B. and Mary,
May
23, 1921
I'm very glad you've got back, and wish I could peep in on that library and out of window at the view. These are the last few days of my living in the front of the house; toward the end of the week I shall be moved for the summer to the room where you saw me when you came. But such weather as we've had! Over 90째 Saturday and Sunday and a terrific tumble of temperature to-day-tornadoish and so forth! My collection is changing in a surprising and unexpected manner. Suddenly, after communication with the dealers of the statue and the Bellini, and after giving up all hope of ever owning either, -suddenly, as I say, owing to the death of Reinhardt's father and Mr. Swift's leniency, I was able to procure the Bellini for $10,000.- with a possible future payment, not at all immediate, and never more than $40,000.- There was such an enchanting slump in the demands that I began another negociation with the Gimpel, and came up against the impossible wall of $130,000.-, which I cannot possibly think of-no future seems distant enough. Will you be quietly at home at I Tatti the rest of the summer? And who are your next visitors? I should like to have heard the many brilliant things you poured into Edith Wharton's ears. My best love to you bothAffectionately, Isabella
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella-
May
27, 1921
How lovely to hear from you! Your ruby recalls you to me every minute, and I don't need that, either. We are slowly settling in, the process being somewhat retarded by a stream of visitors staying in the house. Elsie d'e Wolfe and Ogden Cadman motored down from Cannes and spent a week here. Elsie has the magnanimous plan of leaving the Villa Trianon, fitly endowed, as a hostel for carefully chosen women students, in perpetuo. I believe Anne Morgan is going to join with her in the scheme. Cadman leads a little vitino as an aged butterfly on the Riviera and in Paris, entertaining and being entertained by the smart set, and the underworld. He seems very pleased with the universe, and I think he has quite forgotten there was a war. Daisy Chanler and her pretty daughter and the musical son are now staying with us-charming people. 1 The son goes back to America, Bibo goes to Paris to study painting, and the parents talk of spending the winter in India. We had Mass in our little chapel for them today-Corpus Cristias they are practising Catholics. Lytton Strachey spent three weeks here, and now we have Lowes Dick-
inson for a month. 2 I do hope you've read Strachey's Queen Victoria-a priceless book. Things are quieter here than the newspapers make out. But financial conditions are rather serious, and no one will work. M. Sazonov dined here last night. 3 He did not hear from his wife (in Russia) for 3 years, and has just learnt that she passed l 8 months in a Bolshevist prison. She is not allowed to leave Russia, and he cannot go there, as he has been condemned to death . The 'Ramus and Daisy Chanler have gone to see Miss Paget today. They are out, or I am sure they would both send messages to you. Yours always devoted Mary B. Âť I. Margaret Terry (Mrs. Winthrop) Chanler (1862-1952); her book Autumn in the Valley has a chapter on ISG. Âť2. Goldsworthy Lowes Dickinson (1862-1932), English humanist, historian, and philosopher. Âť3. Sergey Dmitriyevich Sazanov (1861..::_1927) , Russian diplomat, es-
caped the October Revolution to become minister of foreign affairs under Aleksandr Kolchak's counterrevolutionary government. He retired to private life in 1920.
Dearest Isabella
[I Tatti] July 16, 1921
No news is good news! So we hope the horrid menace of appendicitis has been removed. We are all playing a losing game-you play it better than anyone in the world, and the splendid example you give heartens up all the rest of us. Whenever I don't speak of my rheumatic knees and my sleeplessness, I feel I am following in your glorious footsteps. I wonder if you have ever had the photographs of our pictures? I must have sent them to you-yet I don't know. A line will bring you the whole collection. And do tell someone to send us a photograph of your lovely new Bellini. It is so cool and pleasant here that we aren't going away for the present, though we have our rooms at Vallombrosa. I think it is cooler here than anywhere else in the temperate zone! Miss De Lamar and her lively friend, Miss Evangeline Johnson, are at lovely Villa Medici, greatly enjoying themselves. Last night they gave a party, with old music on the viola d'amore and the harp. She's a queer girl, with lots of character, but all angles and resentments and revolts. Her friend is simply a man-snatcher, with the nice qualities that go with that agreeable profession. I took up a young Conte Mario Bacciocchi (Eliza Buonaparte's arriere-arriere heir), and Miss Evangeline caught him at once in her soft paws, with the claws hidden. Of Carl Hamilton I have heard nothing since we left, except that he sent back a dress-shirt of BB 's by a touring friend. 632
Lucy Hewitt has taken Palazzo Barbaro for August, and Mrs. Dunne (ex-Gayley) has it for September. Mrs. Sears and Mrs. Lanier will be in Venice in August, and I think the 'Ramus will go over there when I go to my Cure at Salsomaggiore, on August l 5th. I shall be in England during September-unless that island is burnt up by the sun!-and in October the Walter Lippmanns are coming here for a long visit. In November I suppose we are going to Egypt, and Anna De Koven 1 may come and live in our house, while we are away. I have taken the former Cavendish-Bentinck Villa Capponi at Arcetri (on the heights across the river) for Josephine Griswold, for September, and possibly parts of August and October. She was going to Villa Medici, but the water is running short. Elsie de Wolfe was at the Deacon-Marlborough wedding (where Walter Berry officiated as best man), and she said it was appalling! Instead of getting married quietly, they invited Everybody, from Clemenceau and Briand down, and nobody came, only a tiny handful of curious and scoffing spectators. Gladys wore an elaborate virginal veil, but it took in no one. My dear, I have gossipped a lot!! We are sending you a Florentine acquaintance named Arthur Acton, who collects and sells. 2 He was Stanford White's agent here, but since then he has married a very rich Chicago woman. He is a "bounder," but he has a flair for good things, and would appreciate yours, if there were a chance of his getting to see them. Isabella, we are both of us your devoted and adoring, "B . B .'s " [MB's writing.] ÂťI. Anna (Mrs. Reginald) de Koven (1862-1953). Âť2. Arthur Mario Acton (1879-1952); his art collection is in the Villa La Pietra, Florence, now owned by his son, Sir Harold Acton.
Dearest Isabella,
Vallombrosa Aug . 21, 1921
Our neighbour, Mrs. Janet Ross, was immensely pleased that you remembered her, and also that you liked her book. 1 She is very much the same as when you saw her, fine, upright, handsome, with white hair and piercing eyes. I go to see her every day when I am at home, for she was so kind to me in my long illness, writing to me every day for l 8 months! We gather that you didn't have to be operated for appendicitis-what a blessing! We were very anxious. I had no idea you did not possess a complete collection of photographs of our pictures! As soon as we go down to Florence I will do them up and send them off. We are up here since August lst, as it got rather hot at I Tatti. Up to that time we had been quite comfortable-indeed, I really believe Florence during June and July was the coolest place in the Temperate Zone! Miss De
Lamar and Miss Johnson were our near neighbours at Villa Medici, and we picnicked with them 路 on the hills nearly every evening, enjoying the coolness and the beauty. The girls went off to the Lido ten days ago, and by now I suppose they are starting on their motor trip in Spain. We got to like Alice De Lamar very much, but I do not see a happy life for her. Her early upbringing is against her in the society her wealth and perhaps tastes would naturally get her into. And she is very moody. An awful Armenian or Dago of sorts named Sidis is always hanging round her, evidently determined to marry her and annex her fortune. He is like a bad smell, and her permitting his attentions is a bad sign. During all this time not one of [us] has heard once from Carl Hamilton!!! He has vanished as utterly as if the earth has swallowed him. We do not know what to make of it. You will be amused at the following description of Gladys Deacon's marriage, which Linda (Thomas) Cole Porter sent us the other day (she was the Beauty of the Peace Conference time in Paris-a lovely, lovely creature, whom both the Duke of Alba and Prince Beauvais were in love with but couldn't marry because she was divorced. She suddenly and to the surprise of everyone married a little musical man from the Middle West, r 5 years younger than herself, and has nearly worn herself out going his rattling pace ever since. They came to us on their honeymoon, and I saw their future in the blackest terms). Here is what she says:-"Well, B.B., the DeaconMarlborough wedding was the most incredibly vulgar performance I have ever witnessed. No clever person could have staged anything so utterly absurd-for stupid it was. I shall never forget the picture. Eugene Higgins's 2 ugly house: Gladys dressed in gold brocade, moyen-dge, long lace veil lent by Rose Carnastra, and literally covered from head to foot with orangeblossoms, kneeling with Marlborough shrunk into his collar, in a bower of white roses at the end of the salon, the walls of which were alive with pictures of nude women. Nearest the wedding party sat the ambassador and his wife [he has none]; the minister, of what religion no one knows but himself, combined his own strange service with that of the Church of England, and was so confused he actually said 'John Charles Spencer Churchill (or whatever his name is) wilt thou take this MAN to be thy wedded wife?' and Walter Berry, the immaculate, the only assistant. Hordes of strange people, the Harry Lehrs, 3 Sertes, 4 a few Duchesses and one conspicuous Englishman, Charley Montagu. 5 During the whole service a babble of conversation. The wedding breakfast was served in the garden, and outside the house were at least 20 photographers snap-shotting the guests, and a cinema man unceasingly turning his machine. A huge tapestry and rug were arranged under the trees where Gladys and her Duke were 'taken' in every attitude, with and without the minister. It was funny and-horrible." B.B. was going to Venice to stay with Lucy Hewitt in the Palazzo Barbaro-what memories that calls up!-and to float about sight-seeing with Mrs. Sears and Mrs. Lanier: but it was so desperately hot he changed his
plans and stayed on here, and I gave up my cure at Salso. Of course the weather changed the moment our plans were altered, but still we are glad to have more time in this lovely place. And the 'Ramus has an outburst of writing. He has just done a long article on two real Byzantine paintings of about 1200, one in Hamilton's Collection, the other in the Otto Kahn's. 6 He is entirely absorbed in Medieval Art now. He plunged into it as an escape during those awful months in Paris when Wilson and Clemenceau and Lloyd George and Sonnino were wrecking civilization. He got in so deep that he thought he would never write again, but now he has come up to the surface once more, like a whale, to breathe-and spout. He expects to go to Venice, to see its Medieval treasures, next month, when I go to England-and we shall join forces again at Salso at the end of the month. I hope the Walter Lippmanns will come and stay with us in October, and we have taken our passages for Egypt for Nov. 17th. Mrs. De Koven is coming to live at I Tatti part of the time while we are away. It seems she has fallen in love(!!) with an Englishman in Florence named Spender, a man of a very queer reputation-but no one can predict the outcome. 7 She had an operation for removing her superfluous chin last October, and it was so badly done that she was in agony with it until the end of May. She tried to console herself by buying a pearl necklace for a million and a half francs to hang on her rejuvenated(?) neck. The 'Ramus asks me to say that he has never given up the hope of seeing your collection rounded off by Gimpel's statue of St. Paul! The more he thinks about it the more he feels it should be there, near the great window. He wants to help you in every possible way, and he asks whether, if he could persuade Gimpel to let you have it .for a hundred thousand dollars, you could possibly buy it? And if so , what arrangements could you make about the payments. Possibly with a real prospect of a sale, he might induce Gimpel to come down. Have you ever had Pichetto come to see your pictures, I wonder, and lay his healing hand on them? I do wish we were coming to Boston again this winter. It was so wonderful seeing you every day. With love from us both, Your devoted Mary B. I am Hendrik Andersen is here at Vallombrosa, with his nearly blind old Mother, and a nice young Italian woman who runs the household. 8 He has done a bust of the Pope, and now wants orders for Catholic monuments. He did a ghastly Crucifixion (bas-relief). His work is awful beyond imagination, and he pours it out endlessly, and has huge studios filled with it, poor man. I forgot to tell you that Josephine Griswold and all her family have taken a beautiful Villa (Villa Capponi) on a hill near Florence for September. I 635
shan't see them unfortunately, as I shall be in England. She was to go to Villa Medici, but the water gave out. In fact during the first days of August, Alice De Lamar and her guests had to come over to I Tatti to take their baths! » r. ISG received a copy of The Fourth Generation (1912) in 1921. »2. Eugene Higgins was Gladys Deacon's cousin. »3. Harry Lehr (d. 1928) was a figure in New York society until he married the wealthy Elizabeth (Drexel) Dahlgren and retired to Paris. »4. MB possibly means Jose Maria Sert (1876-1945), Spanish mural painter, and his wife Misia (Godebski) Sert (1872-1950), of Paris. »5 . Probably Lord Charles Montagu (1868-1939). »6. The paintings, both entitled Enthroned Madonna and Child, are now in the National Gallery of Art as gifts of Kahn and Andrew Mellon. »7. John Alfred Spender (1862-1942), journalist, biographer, historian, and onetime head of the British Institute in Florence and member of the Milner Commission to Egypt. »8. American sculptor Hendrik Andersen became a friend of Henry James after their meeting in l 899. Despite a strong attraction to him, James was no more appreciative of his work than MB. (Leon Edel, Henry James : The Treacherous Years, vol. 4 [New York, 1969], 290-91, 306-16.) See also ISG to BB, 16 May 1898.
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
Aug.
29, 1921
I am sending you not the photographs of all our works of art. That would bore you. I am rather letting you have the reproductions of the very pick only, with the exception of a few that at present we lack prints of. Of course it is the ensemble that counts. I flatter myself that as furniture and decoration our works of art help to make a pleasant enough home for people of our tastes and pursuits. Individually they scarcely count among masterpieces of such universal importance and appeal as you live with . .. We came down from Vallombrosa two days ago, to the most enchanting freshness and radiance of weather. Mary has just left for England, whence she expects to return in just three weeks. I shall be motoring all this time with my best French girl 1-aged toward 50-in search of Early Christian and Medieval sculptures, mosaics, and frescoes. Don't give me away, but the disease is raging within me. If I obeyed my most headlong impulses just now I'd look at nothing earlier than 300 or later than 1300 A.D. Happily my head is wiser than my heart. With much love, dearest Isabella Affectionately B.B. » r. Baroness Gabrielle La Caze (d. 1929) .
Dearest B.B.
September
19, 1921
I'm excited at the thought of seeing the photographs you let me see. I am glad one or two things belonging to me suit you-meaning that th~y are old enough. And by the way, do you remember the Bellini that Mary wrote
to me, with your endorsement, I must surely get? There was a floating newspaper-the name of it I never knew-throwing doubts on the Sigmaringen Bellini. 1 Do you know anything of this? I was asked if you had pronounced on it, which eveillait my suspicions, because I couldn't understand the question, and when I said, "Yes"-they said-Then it is all right, as you know. It was only after that I heard the doubt raised in the unknown newspaper, whose name I've never heard. I wish I could send my love to your French girl-instead, send a double amount to youIsabella Âť r. The attribution is not in doubt.
Dearest 'Ramus,
September
21, 1921 1
The photographs have this minute arrived, this very hour I mean. I'm so delighted to have them and know your beautiful things. The orientals come first, and how fine the Borobodour lady is! The Persians are a great delight. I remember some of the Europeans-they are dear old friends. How enchanting it is to think of Santa Monica praying for her son who has a toothache! Is the Francesco di Giorgio as fascinating as the photograph makes it out to be? I could make remarks on each one, but my remarks are not worth while. I delighted in all the pictures. I remember since many years the Neroccio-and how fine those Signorelli heads are! Burne-Jones never painted anything else so delightful. Giambono and Bonfigli and Sassetta are joys, and the two little things holding their baskets of flowers in the Boccatis. How they all lead up to the Baldovinetti! And the Bellini I think enchanting. Hope you're enjoying your holiday, and that Mary will come back soon. My devoted thanks and love, Isabella Âť r. Franco Russoli's La raccolta Berenson (Milan, 1962), a catalogue of paintings, was published
after BB's death; an Oriental catalogue is soon to be published.
[Venice] Dearest Isabella,
Oct. 4,
1921
I have just received yours of the 19th ult. I can't imagine any one questioning the Sigmaringen Bellini-the one you purchased recently on, as you say, Mary's urging, or at least encouragement. You can rest assured that it is a Giovanni Bellini-if my authority suffices as a guarantee. Talking of Bellini I have just seen the S. Giovanni Crisostomo one where I could flatten my nose against it. 1 How every thing recalls you, beloved Isabella, even this very hotelVenice is not changed for the worse, nor even for the better. Only the gon-
doliers are more and more impossible and intolerable. I should like to send them all to fight the Bolsheviks, and bring in a fresh lot of American Indian boatmen. Socially the place for me is without interest. A wooden-headed sewingmachine queen, named Polignac, heads the foreign colony. 2 As for the natives, they and I have not spoken as we passed by for many a year. But the light, the colour, the works of art, and above all St. Mark's!!!! Paul Manship joined me yesterday and it is great fun seeing things with him. Mary left Salso today for a 48 hrs. visit to our very dear friend Cagnola in his divine villa near Varese, and then she joins me. Then together we return to I Tatti, sailing for Egypt, Nov. 17. Dear Isabella, my heart is set on your acquiring the St. Paul belonging to Gimpel. Try your darndest to raise the $100,000 necessary for its purchase, and let me know at what rates you could manage payment. I shall then do my best to persuade Gimpel to let you have it at that price. How I wish that, as a year ago, I could look forward to seeing you soon. With deepest affection B. B. Âť l . Saint Jerome between Saint Christopher and Saint Augustine, an altarpiece in S. Giovanni Cri-
sostomo, Venice.
Âť2.
Winaretta, princesse de Polignac (1865-1943).
Fenway Court October 20 [1921] Your dear letter came yesterday. I was delighted to get it. This minute comes a clipping which I enclose to you, but of course you know it. I Tatti always makes me envious, but Egypt makes me more so. I spent five delicious months on that river; that was years ago before so many of our blessed countrymen [went], only a few English who went there for science, hunting, or health. And Oh, the darling birds. Best love to you both Affectionately Y
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
Nov. 5,
1921
It is a long time since I have written to you. I've been in England visiting my second and third generations, then at a cure at Salsomaggiore, then with B.B. in Venice, and finally in Rome looking, in vain, for a flat. B.B. wanted to give up Egypt, as he has such a head of steam on for Medieval and Early Xn [Christian] Art, that he hates to draw across his track the huge red herring of Egypt. If I had found a flat or a villa we should have gone to Rome in January, when Mrs. Reggie DeKoven comes in here for 2 months, and I suppose B.B. would have spent most of his time in the Catacombs! However, there isn't an unoccupied cranny in Rome, so fate decided for us,
and we are making all our arrangements to start from Genoa for Alexandria on the I 7th. Our address till March will be Shepard's Hotel, Cairo. "Et Voild pour le derriere de la ghoule!" as they say in the Mille Nu its. I do hope we shall have good news of your health in Egypt. We rejoiced with you over every drive you were able to take. I fear the inclemencies of winter may keep you indoors again-but what an "indoors"!! It is a joy to remember how it looked last year in its perpetual summer. B.B. asks me to tell you that he is sending to you Iris Cutting, the charming grand-daughter of Mrs. Bayard Cutting. 1 We are very fond of her, and know that she will appreciate in a very real way the privilege of coming under the spell of your personality. Of course she will also love the beautiful surroundings of that personality, but the real point is for her to get an impression of you. Because, you know, after all, YOU are much more than your palace or than your works of art. So we hope that you will see her several times, that she may get a feeling of what you are. She is very subtle and appreciative, and I am sure nothing will be wasted on her. Her mother is Lord Desart's daughter, and lives at Fiesole in Villa Medici, having married en seconde noces our brilliant ex-Secretary, Geoffrey Scott. 2 She also is a very great friend, one of the few people who make life in Florence endurable. Who do you think dined here last night? George Santayana! He is stopping with Charles Strong at Fiesole, on his way to Rome. I am afraid he will never return to America. The habit of solitude is growing upon him. It is a pity, for he is so agreeable, and when he does come out of his shell, he seems to enjoy talking. He is writing a novel, in his moments of lassitude. 3 He spent last winter in Spain, but felt himself so out of sympathy with the clericalism there, that he does not want to go back. I think he is happiest at Oxford. The 'Ramus seems to have lost all his interest in his fashionable friends. It is curious, for he used to enjoy the pageant. But now he only wants to see people who share his interests, people whose minds stimulate his, and people he loves. Our present guests, the Walter Lippmanns, fulfill all these categories. They really are the dearest people imaginable; and we hope to decoy them into coming over whenver he wants leisure for writing a book. His book, called Public Opinion will soon appear, and it ought to be extremely interesting. The dear little pair, with shining ,happy young faces, went off to San Gimignano or Siena in our motor yesterday. It is delicious to see people so happy. My dear-your letter of Oct. 20th has just come! A coincidence-I thought at first it was in your own beloved handwriting, but the 'Ramus says not. Anyhow we rejoice to hear from you-altho', very wickedly, you say nothing about yourself-! We shall think of you continually in Egypt.
To go back to the Lippmanns-they want to come to see you again sometime. What you did for him is still living on in his soul, and fills him still with a warm glow for the beauty of this land. B.B. tells me before I end to remind you of Stephen Pichetto, the restorer (115 E. 55th St. N.Y). We hold your collection so close to our hearts that we long to be sure it is being properly taken care of-no light matter! Our own pictures receive a visit every month, and there is always something necessary to do to arrest their decay. And really it does make all the difference in the world whose hand touches them! We shall often write to you from Egypt. Ah, if you could only come along!! Love and saluti and good wishes from both your adorers- The B.B.s [MB's writing.] » r. Marchesa Iris Origo (b. 1902), daughter of Bayard and Lady Sybil Cutting, did not go at that time. »2. Geoffrey Scott (d. 1929), English writer, was married to Sybil Cutting in 1918. Scott introduced the Berensons to Nicky Mariano. »3. Santayana's only novel, The Last Puritan: A Memoir in the Form of a Novel, was published fifteen years later.
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
Nov.
16, 1921
We start in a few hours for Egypt, and if all goes well we shall be there in four days. Would you were going to be there to take me up the Nile! How different that would be from the way we shall without you. And I am not at all well. However, it may be very wonderful-if I can afford it, I mean if I can stand the effort. I am getting very cowardly about fatigue. And I do get tired so very soon, and so utterly. But if it does agree with me it will be delicious, for after all there is no sculpture like it, nor any art of contour comparable to it. Then there is Coptic, and there is Islamitic art. Have you met Kingsley Porter yet? 1 If not, command him at once. Devotedly B.B. All our love to you, dearest Isabella. » r. Arthur Kingsley Porter (1883-193 3), professor of history of medieval art at Harvard, 1920-33 .
Dearest Isabella,
[Cairo] Dec. 8, 1921
We think of you here-the real Cleopatra we have known! I wish the world weren't what it is, and that you could be here now. B.B. has taken a perfect
passion for the mosques. He was always afraid to come, for fear of liking it too much, and it has happened. He would love to share it all with you. We find very agreeable people here, too, all the scholars and architects and diggers, and you would thoroughly enjoy them. Old Flinders Petrie called on us the other day, grey and hairy like a prophet-a truly demonic man, the greatest genius they have. 1 Unfortunately he has the little foible of getting his finds out of the country without reporting on them, so they won't let him dig in the hopeful places. He talked at full pressure, with his eyes mostly on the ground. But sometimes he lifted his shaggy eye-brows and gave us a strange, mystic, rather frightening look. Afterwards I heard that he prides himself on his phenomenal power of seeing to the sides, way round, like a spider, and that he practises this circular glance when he is alone. We start up the Nile on January 10th, returning here at the end of February, to go then to Jerusalem to stay with our old friend who is Governor ofJerusalem-the successor of Pontius Pilate! We may go to Damascus, and even Aleppo, if things are fairly quiet. Our address until April will be c/o Thomas Cook and Son, Cairo: and we hope we shall hear from you of still further improvements in your health, of drives, and the visits of adoring friends, and Christmas cheer. Last Christmas we were with you, and you gave the wonderful ruby that I have worn ever since. We hear our young friend, Carl Hamilton, has met with business reverses, but as he has never written to us (though he has sent cables, modo business-man) we do not really know anything about him. My brother is at the Johns Hopkins Hospital now. I hoped to have sent him to see you, but his operation proved more serious than we thought, and his recovery is so necessarily slow that he will be well only just in time to join us in our trip up the Nile. But before he sails he has to face, he writes, "a group of admirers in New York, about whom he has the gravest misgivings." The "Select and Neo-pensive Circles," in which he's named is pronounced with bated breath. He says he has nightmares about these Neopensive Circles! Mrs. de Koven-did you know her-came on our boat, and she is going back to live at I Tatti during two months or so, while we are away. It is a boon for us, for the servants if left to themselves, revert to savagery. The 'Ramus joins me in sending love to you, and in devoted best wishes for your Christmastide and for 1922. Your affectionate and admiring Mary Berenson Âť r. Sir Flinders Petrie (I 8 53- I 942), English Egyptologist.
Cairo [Postcard with small picture of I Tatti]
Dec. r2, r92r c/o Thos. Cook till April
Your letter of Nov. 22 has just come. It makes us very happy to hear from you. If it were only seeing you! I wrote a letter three days ago. This is just to send thanks for yours and our love and greetings. Mary B.
[Cairo] [ r January r922] All good wishes to you for the coming year, Beloved Isabella, whom I so fervently wish to be here! What fun we should have exploring mosques and shrines and ruined palaces and museums at Cairo, and then sailing up the Nile, all of which we are doing, or going to do but alas! without you. We start in ten days for Wady Halfa, so as to get in Abu Simbel, and on our way back we shall spend a few we~ks at Luxor. And the Governor of Jerusalem, 1 the nephew of Harry Cust whom I loved so much, invites us to come the middle of March to spend three weeks with him and explore Palestine. We shall, if all goes well. We are in the midst of a so-called revolution. The naughty infants think they would prefer a world without grown-ups, and the British grown-ups are so bored that they would gladly let them have their way-if duty did not call. Bless these British! I should like to see the whole earth ruled by them, for on the whole they do it so much less badly than any one else. We have old friends among them here, so that we are not a bit lonesome. Only they don't care very much about what keeps us here. All hail, Isabella. Devotedly B. B. ÂťI.
Sir Ronald Storrs (1881-1955) .
Dearest Isabella
Wady Halfa Febr. 3 r922
A line to you before turning back to the North. We have just had an enchanting sail, winding our way between the diorite rocks of the Second Cataract. We climbed a hill whence we looked southward, half way to Dougola, we were told. It is hard to get over gaping with wonder at being in the tropics at all, and being in tropics subjected from time immemorial to an artistic civilization. Across the river there are, in a temple, remains of painting in exquisite preservation, and worthy of long life, dating from the fifteenth century B. c.
Of course you have been here. You have seen it all, and in the most gorgeous Cleopatrean fashion. We have Cooked it [Cook's tour], and yet, fared not badly. The fellow-passengers have not annoyed us at all, and we were always left along to see the temples by ourselves. Here and there colleagues at work came and gave us a guiding hand. In a few days we shall get off at Luxor and stop for three weeks. Then Cairo again, and March 14 to Palestine and Syria. I fervently hope we shall get back to Sattignano before May l. I hope that all is well with you, beloved Isabella. Devotedly B.B.
[Luxor] Dearest Isabella,
Febr.
17, 1911
Would you were here to glide, as we shall do in an hour, over the Nile, and to ride with us across the plain to the entrance of the Valley of the Kings. We are lunching there with Howard Carter 1 and Carnarvon who are digging there. The diggers are all charming and hospitable, except in the Metropol[itan] Mus[ eum] outfit, where we met with a John-Lodge-like reception. 2 "You ask me why[,] I cannot tell." It may have been the merest accident. We are drunk with the sun, the air, and the colour. On the rocks I feel as if more than thirty years had dropped off my aching back, and I frisk and leap, yea even as a gazelle. Indeed the desert affects me exactly as the glaciers used to twenty years ago, and wading thro' sand is extraordinarily like wading thro' snow, and the sand flows around resistances , and blows and drifts, and powders just as I used to watch the snow do in the Alps. But oh, how much more satisfactory than the product of cold is this product of heat! We are inconsolable on leaving Nubia, and felt so flat and commonplace on returning to Chromo-Philae at Aswan. 3 But Luxor has got hold of us to such a degree that we are giving up Syria so as to be able to remain here longer. We shall get to Palestine I hope, even if Ronald Storrs with whom we are to stay, if he remains governor, is kicked out. Tell your servants that when I knew his present Holiness Pius XI, he was sub-librarian at the Ambrosiana and used to fetch and carry books for me, then a much more important personage than he. I regard his election as due to the direct interference of the Holy Ghost. There has been no such scholarly pope since Nicolas Vin the l 5th century. I hope all is for the best with you in the best of all possible worlds. With love and devotion B.B. I hear awful rumours about Ralph Curtis and am greatly alarmed.
» r. Howard Carter (1873-1939), English archaeologist, discovered the tomb of Tutankhamen in 1922. »2. John Ellington Lodge (1878-1942), curator of Oriental art at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, who "froze" BB when BB went to see him. »3. "Chromo (colorful) Philae at Aswan"-an Egyptian temple on the Nile.
Dearest Isabella,
SS Egypt Cook's Nile Service March 13th 1922
We have thought of you so much during this trip. We long to know just where you want and what you did. "Was she here?" we often ask each other: "Did she love this as much as we do?" We spent a month at Luxor and came away three days ago feeling as if we had only begun to see what there was-although in fact we got on our donkeys every morning early and crossed the river with lunch and tea, and never stopped looking till the sun went down. The 'Ramus filled the air with lamentations at not living there, like Howard Carter or the Winlocks 1 (the Reisners, 2 alas, so far we have missed). But I must cut across my letter here to say that the news of Ralph Curtis's death, followed by that of his mother, was a great shock to us. 3 We did not hear it until three weeks after he had died. I am sure you will feel it very much. We cannot easily imagine what Lisa will do. With all the difficulties between them, she ended by living his life-and he had created a very complete kind of life for himself-sharing his standards and thinking his thoughts. I feel sure the freedom she once longed for will come to her now as emptiness and lack of direction. Perhaps if Sylvia marries, she will find a new centre of gravity. The little girl, Marjorie, is very abnormal and undeveloped, and I feel always terrified when I see the boy, although neither Lisa nor Ralph ever admitted there was anything unusual about him. We shall miss Ralph a great deal. His letters were always an event. But even a shock like that could not darken for us these matchless Egyptian days. On the whole, it is the greatest experience we have ever had. The poor 'Ramus worked day and night to demonstrate his undiminished capacity to take possession of a new province of art-like a woman sur le re tour to prove that she is still young!! But I fear Anno Domini has been too much for him. Our delightful and intelligent young secretary, Miss Mariano, 4 will undoubtedly return a fair Egyptologist, while B. B. and I stagger home dazed, mazed, overwhelmed, muddled and undone. At first we thought we should escape unscathed, owing to the fact that as handling and execution so much of the work in the temples and tombs is not up to the best Renaissance standard. But little by little, although we returned most often to the few spots where the artist's hand had proved equal to his imagination, that way of judging fell off us. Evidently the motives of Egyptian art were fixed long before the execution of most of what we now see, but
those conceptions were so grand, so overwhelming, that they only need setting forth, no matter how. Of course we get only broken echoes of this millenial art, but they are enough to suggest some mighty orchestral symphony, in comparison with which our European art is like chamber music. Certainly it is the loudest bray the human donkey has ever brayed in the face of the mysteries of life and death! I use the simile on purpose, for our archaeological friends assure us that behind this unmatched symbolism there was nothing but primitive fetishism, the worship of a real ram, of an actual plain hawk! It does seem as if there were nothing too foolish for human beings to believe!! But at any rate these people clothed their nonsense in forms of unsurpassed pride and force and domination. You remember the great monarchs who stride across the enormous temple walls, gathering up a hundred captives in one hand, and raising the other with a superhuman gesture to strike or slay. And the kings that glare straight into the eyes of their gods shoving the symbols of life and power into their noses, or receiving the same from them, or else standing eye to eye embracing them, or swaggering under the streams of the water of life poured on them by leaping animal-headed deities. It is too incredible! We have given up Palestine and Syria in order to drink more deeply of this draught. I suppose we shall stay a month in Cairo, spending every morning in the Museum, and then go home to digest our too abundant feast. If we have the courage, we shall go to Constantinople and Greece in the autumn. We begin to feel it is "now or never" for our travels. I hope we shall someday hear from you your impressions of this enchanted land. I know they were very vivid. Meantime please get better and better. Your truly devoted B.B.'s [MB's writing.] » r. Helen and Herbert Winlock (1884-1950). He was curator of Egyptian art at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1929-32, and director, 1932-39 . »2. George Andrew Reisner (1867-1942), American Egyptologist, led expeditions to Egypt for Harvard University and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 1905-42, and was curator of the museum 's Egyptian Department, l9ro-42. His wife was Mary Putnam Bronson. »3. Ralph Curtis died on 4 February. »4. Elizabeth "Nicky" Mariano (1887-1968), hired as BB's secretary and librarian, eventually took on all of MB's duties. She was the author of Forty Years with Berenson (New York, 1966) .
[Cairo] Dearest Isabella,
March
23, 1922
I dreamt last night that I was "home" which always means Boston. I was not a little surprised to find myself there, as I was aware of having spent the evening at the pyramids. However I could not question the fact that I was in Boston. It was early morning. And what do you think my very first thought was? To surprise Isabella at r r. What would she look like and what would she say when I appeared thus suddenly!
I wish this dream could come true. How I should love to see you and unpack before you all the sensations, impressions and reflexions of the last four months. To clench them we have given up Palestine and Syria, and are staying on here. Perhaps the most poignantly Pharaonic sensati0n one gets here one receives from the Reisner hut above the pyramids where we took tea yesterday. How I envied the young Dunhams living and working there!1 Much love to you dearest Isabella. D.evotedly B.B. Âť r. Dows Dunham (r 890-1984) was George Reisner 's successor as curator of the Egyptian
Department at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts .
Dearest Isabella,
[I Tat-ti] May 3, 1922
We got back some ten days ago to rain, drizzle and cold. The contrast with Egypt is rather severe. I should not half mind it however, if I could ruminate 1n peace. This however is the season when bipeds peristaltize along Italy's alimentary canal, and too many of them want to see our house, and hear me, like a valet de place showing its contents. It bores me to hysterics, and next spring I shall run away. I don't half mind the friends staying. They will not leave an empty bed at I Tatti, till we ourselves go north, June 20. Isabella I'd like to croon over Egypt with you, in my library, with no other bipeds within range. I feel dreadfully shy of them. And yet they are all we have. That's the worst of it. 1 Mrs. Leggett who is among our guests boasts she saw you in February. Is it true? With much love B.B. Lady Irene Curzon (later Baroness Ravensdale) was accompanied by Mrs. Leggett, her chaperone, while being courted by Sir Ronald Storrs. ÂťI.
Dearest Isabella,
Munich July 8, 1922
Here we are in good old Germany once more. It does my heart good .t o see again such exemplary order, such competence, such cleanliness, and such friendliness. How different from countries as shall be nameless. Don't we all wish we could go back eight years, and yet retain what infinitessimality we have learned. We both are better than we seemed to ourselves before leaving Florence. Mary has stood the journey quite well, and even I who suffer martyrdoms
from fatigue, am tolerable. We have come all the way in our own car. Since crossing into Germany the fields and forests have looked as carefully kept as a dainty parlor. Again how different fromEverything except works of art, is dirt cheap owing to the exchange. And the people are good natured, almost gay. Oh how different from the sons of the Tiber and Orontes when their Lira comes anywhere nearly as low as it should be, owing to their scandalous incompetence and extravagance. I revisited today for the first time in ten years or more the incomparable Aeginetan marbles and all the splendours of the Picture Gallery. Some of the marvels had gone clean out of my mind as for instance the placid and still Perugino, and the enamelled Francia. It was a joy to see again all the grandeur of Early German art, the depth of Diirer, and the grandeur of Titian as well as the exuberance of Rubens. Dear Isabella I seldom enjoy any of these things without wishing you with me in the flesh as you so often are in quality. From here after tomorrow we go to Kissingen for the cure. The Lord only knows how I dread it, but the doctors insist. With much love from us both B.B. Address Baring Bros. London
Dearest Isabella,
[Bad Kissingen] Aug. 7, 1922
I hear from the Kingsley Porters that you have been to Elmwood to see them. And you don't come to I Tatti, naughty! As it is only le premier pas qui coute there is no sufficient excuse. I love to think of you getting out and about. That is right. And Mary is-unberufen-a reformed character. This cure has done her good. She has lost weight, and gained health. You see she is enough of a body for a cure. Of me there is too little, so that as net result, I have lost one pound, instead of gaining at least ten. That augmentation was to be my reward. But it is so quiet, so calm, so pleasant here. The countryside so lovely that I don't complain. Besides, I am delighted to be in Germany again. I had remained away long enough to miss them. And you know I am a supernationalist, and I hate above all things the opposite thereof. That is why I hated them politically as I did till Nov. '18. ~do like their love of trees, and flowers, and neatness and order, and books, and ideas, and music. It is moreover such a relief to be among a Continental people that positively did not win the war. Address me to Barings, London.
With love
B.B.
Munich Dearest Isabella,
Aug.
28, 1922
I cannot leave this place which you loved so much without a word of greeting to you, so far away, alas! How I wish you had been sitting with me as Muck was conducting the Meistersanger [sic]. 1 Who should be sitting just behind me thro' the Palestrina but the Edgar Speyers. 2 Her I find fascinating, him less. I have heard Don Giovanni and Parsifal as well, and now I am off to Dresden and Berlin. In the latter place, Mary who is now with her offspring in England joins me again. I revel in the picturesqueness of the small and unspoiled German towns, and I get ecstatic over their fairy tale painting of the fifteenth century. They are far less serious but also so much less academic than their Flemish models. Things are a bit uncertain here, and I am not altogether persuaded that it is beyond peradventure safe. In exasperation even Germans might turn and rend the seemingly well-to-do, particularly when foreigners. With much love B.B. ÂťI. Karl Muck (1859-1940), German conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, 19061908, 1912-18. He was jailed during World War I for eighteen months as an enemy alien
though never charged with any crime. ISG visited him in jail and befriended his wife during the ordeal, for which actions she was criticized. Âť2. Edgar Speyer (1862-1932), brother of James, renounced his baronetcy and left England for the U.S. in 1915 . His wife, Leonora, was a poet.
Dearest Isabella,
Big Chilling Wars ash Han ts. August 30, 1922
It is indeed glorious to hear of you "going on a spree"-may it be the first of many! B.B. is having his spree in Germany, revisiting old haunts, sometimes heartbroken, sometimes furious, according as he meets still unrepentant Pan-Germans, or reasonable sympathetic human beings. The latter form the bulk of the population I am sure, and I am bitterly ashamed of the follies of our statesmen who will not give them a chance. The Mark, which was worth only 2, 300 to the pound when we got to Kissingen, has since rocketed down to l l, ooo, and of course that means ruin to business and reconstruction, and most of the people. One almost longs for the inevitable disaster to begin in France, to Zarn 'em to behave! I have been so sunk in Grandmotherhood that I pay little attention to world politics. Kissingen made me so well that I can thoroughly enjoy a riotous household of children. They call me "God" "because I am so kind"-a view of the Eternal shared by very few adults since 1914. When I propounded the War to little Barbara she said stoutly "Well, it was God's
War, to conquer the Germans." "But who made the Germans?" "The Devil!" "O Barbara, think!" "But Gran, it couldn't have been God, it would make it too confusing." Which reminds me, have you read Walter Lippmann's book Public Opinion? It is admirable, but leaves one rather hopeless. Do you know, we have never had one line from Carl Hamilton since we left America?! And now we hear that his collection is dispersed. I wish you could get his Cimabue! Or his Piero della Francesca, or the Fra Filippoall masterpieces. Clarence Mackay has bought his grand Verrocchio, and the Bellini Feast of the Gods is Widener's. 1 I expect to fly (!) to Paris on the 8th, and then to join B.B. in Berlin on the 14th of Sept. and we shall motor slowly home. I suppose there isn't a day when we are together that we do not speak of you. Always your devoted Mary Âť r. Christ between Saints Peter and James , bought by Andrew Mellon in 1937 and now in the
National Gallery of Art, is attributed to a follower of Cimabue. The Piero Crucifixion went to ]. D. Rockefeller, Jr., and is now in the Frick Collection . The Fra Filippo Lippi is listed as "Homeless" (location unknown) in BB's last list. Duveen Brothers repurchased the Madonna and Child from Mackay and sold it to the Kress Collection; it is now in the National Gallery of Art with the attribution "style of Verrocchio."
[Dresden] My dearest Isabella,
Sept. 5, 192[2]
What a delightful letter yours of Aug. 2r. Write oftener that way. I mean with abundance of detail, and apoint de malice. I should surely have heard if Paul Bourget had lost his Minnie, so I am confident she is alive and boring. Holy Church knew better when she forbade intellectuals wives. The only new star in our-not mine alone-horizon, is our secretary, librarian and general pet, Nicky Mariano. She is all that one of Mary's own daughters should have been and is not, as a companion. Isabella, I am per Jorza a reformed character-none the better for that. I have become painfully aware that with almost vanishingly rare exceptions, women are time-wasters and men bores. I have to spend so much of my day just resting that I am at present in frightful fidgets about the few hours that I can employ. I am so jealous of them that I waste them. From this exasperated state I must recover, but I doubt whether I shall ever again cease from hearing Time's winged chariot hastening near, and be a carefree loafer. My greatest joy is just looking, looking, looking until indeed I become the thing I look at. When I stop looking I want to gather information about the object I have been looking at. I have grown as greedy as a glutton for INFORMATION. I have seriously reached the years when, if ever, I must learn
some few things that are so, instead of teaching so much that is not so-as youth is wont to do. "What a solemn old owl" you will say, rightly. For you, Beloved Isabella, endless affection. Yours B.B. Our plans are to be at I Tatti until March and to spend that month and April in Greece. Mary joins me in Berlin in 8 days and then we wander slowly back to Settignano, getting there in Oct.
[Berlin] Sept.
Dearest Isabella,
25, 1922
We leave tomorrow after three weeks of museums and operas in this town. The variety and accessibility of the works of art are a joy. Every day I looked till I dropped. Even during the war these fabulous people kept on acquiring great masterpieces, and some of them are the wonders of the world. The archaic heroic-sized goddess for instance that was in Paris in the summer of 1914, that I tried so hard to get to America. 1 Harry Walters did not dare for fear of socialist outcry against spending on mere works of art, and our museums got cold feet because the sapient Parisians declared it to be a forgery. Here too we have had an orgy of opera, all of Mozart, some Wagner, Strauss, and two or three enchanting light things. Under the smart surface there is the most alarming distress. The middle class is reduced to beggary, and the working people can not earn enough to live. The near future is simply unthinkable. Fortunately no folly can prematurely ruin a race. We hope to be safe at Settignano by the time you read this. With much love B.B. A figure of an agricultural goddess, 5 ro erich Museum. ÂťI.
Dearest Isabella,
B. c.,
which Jacob Hirsch sold to the Kaiser Fried-
Gazzada Prov. di Como Oct. 6, l 922
Just a few lines from Guido Cagnola's lovely place, where you came once with B.B. and lunched and then went to see the Masolino frescoes at Castiglione d'Olona. Don't think I need any prompting to be continually speaking of you! You are a great figure in our lives and in our imaginations. And then, every minute your glowing ruby on my finger reminds us, through our eyes, of you no fear! Wherever you have only passed by you have left an indelible trace, and how much more where you have come and stayed and come, weaving all through our lives.
We are glad to be out of Germany for we felt such brutes to live in luxury for almost nothing (in our money), paying for one meal as much as half the whole month's salary of a professor or museum director (about $4!!). Then one couldn't help feeling ashamed of "our side" for going on, year after year, piling atrocious misery on the best people. The "Profiteers" and the workmen are flourishing and the big manufacturers, but the middle and learned classes and the aristocracy are in misery. Well, we are impotent to change the course of affairs. And I am glad not to see it any more. We shall be home in a couple of days. That Cimabue-! That Hamilton!! What a picture! And, in the opposite sense, what a man! I believe it is sold already, but we have the most wonderful Filippino in the world up our sleeves for you, only we don't want to write of it till we can quote the lowest price. 1 And now the motor is waiting, and I must go to say goodbye to Guido's sweet wife who is very dangerously ill, tho' she seems well. She had one fearful attack of uraemia (kidney poisoning) and they fear the next will carry her off, alas. Goodbye with love. Mary Âť l. Probably the Filippino Lippi Madonna and Child, then in the Von Dieman Collection, Ber-
lin, bought by Duveen Brothers in 1923, and sold to Bache in 1928; now in The Metropolitan Museum of Art.
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
Oct.
18, 1922
I have been home just a week, and I have spent it in bed nursing one of the worst colds I've ever had. It was the result of two months of shivering in Germany, where I was always uncomfortable and sometimes downright wretched. It is nice to be back here, despite the difficulty of shutting out the world of folly, and all the foolish people who want to see one. There are those who want to get rich by persuading me to certify that their geese are phoenixes. There are those too who want to make me poor by robbing me of my time, insisting on coming to see me because I have become one of "The Things you do in Florence" or simply to kill time. I wish, yes with all my heart, that you were here, and coming with us to Greece at the end of Feb. as we fervently hope to, perhaps with the Kingsley Porters. Much love to you, dearest Isabella,
Dearest B.B.
Sincerely devoted
B.B.
October
24, 1922
I celebrate the return of my write-hand man, 1 who returned to-day, by writing to you. Your last letter was most interesting and fills me with hor-
ror when I think of the poor wretched Germans and the condition they are in. But what you say of the surface conditions is very wonderful-what they are doing even in the stress of war. Before long Fenway Court will be making ready for the "damn public"-27 th and 28th of November. It will tear in and out on two public days and very soon I must get ready for them. I hope you are peaceful and happy at Settignano. The stories from everywhere are sad. My reading matter has been thrilling to me, as the book called Atlantis has been a daily companion. 2 I suppose you read it so many years ago that all its interest has gone. Foot-ball is the only thing we really know anything about, and that will be soon over and never worth your while. Did I tell you of Sargent'~ wonderful sketch in water-colour of me which keeps every one's tongue busy wagging? 3 Even I think it is exquisite. As it was utterly unpremeditated both by him and by me, I think that is its main reason for being so good. My best love to you bothAffectionately, Isabella »I. Morris Carter (1876-1965) was hired to be director on ISG 's death and was so named in her will. During her last six years he served in several capacities, including writing her letters after her stroke. Former librarian and assistant director of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts , Carter had a broad background and served the Gardner Museum well. His biography of ISG, Isab ella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court (1925), is still in print. »2. Ignatius Donnelly, Atlantis: The Antediluvian World (1910). »3. Mrs. Gardner in White, a watercolor painted at Fenway Court on 14 September 1922.
Dearest B.B.,
Fenway Court November 2, 1922
I should love to go to Greece with you-what a difference that would make to me! What a joy to again take my coffee and see the sun come up on the top of the Acropolis as I used to do. There's no getting away from it-you are one of Florence's sights. I've nothing to tell you except that I've just had two fascinating Hallowe'en cards sent to me because I am one of the sights of Fenway Court; and your Italian Post Office prays me to request my correspondents to direct my letters with the number of the postal quarter! We are starting in with most wonderful winter weather, and even my poplar trees refuse to lose their leaves. If you do go with the Kingsley Porters to Greece, it will be better than ever, but don't get ill there! Lie in bed in the middle of the day-the early morning is the true time to be out seeing all the goats come in from the country and hearing their bells tinkle. I hope modern times haven't done away with their picturesque boys.
A thousand thanks for your delightful letter, and don't get another bad cold and don't go to Germany to shiver ever again. I would give more than a dollar if you could see my Giorgione Christ. The man Thompson who takes care of pictures here is a wonder, and all foreign substances have been removed. It is really a glory! I have had it rephotographed, and I think I will run the risk of sending you one of the new photographs; it ·may give you some idea of its present look. Does dear Mary keep well? I long for a sight of you both. Affectionately, most Isabella
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
Nov.
20, 1922
We are having as bright and bitter cold weather as you may be having at the present moment. A year ago we were on the way to Egypt. What an experience it was, and yet it has left us both less able to resist cold and damp. From the point of view of health Egypt is a preparation for further Egypt. Mary and I with our guest Mrs. Don Cameron went up to Vallombrosa eight days ago. There was a nice Yankee Nor'easter blowing. I revelled in it, and have had a bad throat ever since. Mary came down at once with bronchitis, and has kept her bed. This week-end we have had staying with us Flora Priestley, 1 a dear old friend. She is the aunt of that Erskine Childers who married Mollie Osgood. As you know, she Mollie I mean is supposed to be behind the very worst excesses and follies of the Sinn Feiners. Erskine was caught a few days ago, and yesterday Mollie cabled to Flora that he was to be shot. He deserves it a hundred times, but I fervently hope that instead they have put him into a straight jacket. I understood from something Joe Duveen recently wrote that he meant to offer you for sale Carl Hamilton's Cimabue, and a Filippino. I have not written before because you know what I think of the Cimabue from the article about it that I published in Art in America. 2 I need not say that if you could afford it, that would be a picture to irradiate your collection with a new glory, and add interest in the direction of all the aesthetic courants-I mean currents-of today and of tomorrow for many a day. As for the Filippino it is the loveliest, the most delicate, and best preserved I've ever seen. We still are meditating upon Greece in March and April. Please send a tip-top photo. of the resuscitated Giorgione. With love B.B. » r. Flora Priestley (1859-1944) was an Irish-born resident of Florence. »2. "A Newly Discovered Cimabue," Art in America 8, no. 6 (1920): 25 l-71. See BB to ISG, 30 August 1922.
[I Tatti] Nov.
Dearest Isabella,
25, 1922
We are enchanted with the photograph of the cleaned Giorgione! It comes out very much clearer even in the photograph, and we can imagine how refreshed and translucent the original must look. Many congratulations! You will not be surprised to hear that Carl Hamilton has never written to us since we left America. I am sure he meant to pay for his pictures, and he is probably dreadfully ashamed, and may have made a vow not to write until he makes good once more. 1 I don't know. It seems awfully gross and mal eleve. I think most of his pictures have been taken away from him. Would that some might find a worthier home at Fenway Court! He has been a real disillusion for us, for certainly he started collecting in a most unusual spirit, and he undoubtedly loved the pictures. We hoped he would be one of the great collectors of the world-but the 'Ramus and I are evidently too naive to exist!! I daresay it is cold in Boston, but a clement atmosphere always envelopes your abode. It is happiness to think of it. We are both settled well into our winter's work, and don't expect to stir till March, when we mean to join the Kingsley Porters in Greece for two months. They said: It is a dreadful thing, the world is all gone wrong that you cannot be there, too, who would be the life and youth of the whole party! Did B.B. tell you we made a pilgrimage to Dannstadt to see Hermann Keyserling and his Schule der Weisheit? 2 As he is an ass, I cannot believe much in his blend of wisdom, but one of the amusing things was that he went on and on about "Tension," as if he had invented the idea. I had the lack of tact to murmur something about Prichard's views, and the prophet was much annoyed and instantly decided it must be some other kind of "Tension"!! We both send our love and warm winter wishes. Your devoted » l. Hamilton owed Duveen £400,000 .
Mary Berenson
Keyserling studied Oriental philosophy. Deprived of his fortune by the Russian Revolution, he settled in Darmstadt, where he founded the School of Wisdom in 1920. See also BB to ISG, 9 June 1912 . »2 .
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
Dec.
12, 1922
I want this to bring you my wishes for the jolliest Xmas that you have had yet. And don't I wish I were going to spend it with you! We are having weather surprisingly like what I expect to find at home in America. It is dry, sparkling, and cold. In the sun it is enchanting. Denman Ross writes that he has made a general confession, and has
exhibited the work of his entire career. Have you been to see it? I wish I had. It must be fascinating as well as delightful. Here there is always somebody. Just now it is Manship with his fullthroated gurgling laugh, and sound super-artistic sense. He is one of the very, very, very few bipeds I still would rather see than not. If the ultra-Boches on the Seine will let the poor Greeks alone, so that Greece is not so dangerous for travellers as Paris , we may go there, to Athens etc. for March and April. 1 What blankety-blank fools we were to interfere between the Boche on the Spree and the plusquam-Boche on the Seine! With love B.B. The Allied Supreme Council in Paris authorized the landing of Greek troops in Smyrna, Turkey, in 1919 . A catastrophic war broke out between the Greeks and the Turks in 192!. Breaking with the Allies, the French government sided with the Turks . At war's end there was a compulsory exchange of Christian and Moslem populations between Turkey and Greece that left Greece to assimilate l, 500 , 000 refugees. Âť l.
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
Dec.
28, 1922
Your letter sounded vital and gay-you incorrigible Lover of Life! It is a joy to know you. Listen, didn't you promise us a photograph of Sargent's sketch? We hear it is really wonderful, so even if you didn't promise it (and I think you did), please do send us one. We should simply love to have it. I daresay he did not turn you out like those Prang-Huyler nymphs 1 in the [Boston Museum of] Fine Arts Cupola, but gave you instead something of that force of character he usually reserves for his male sitters. We are snowed under this Xmas by family visits, but like it. B.B.'s little sister Bessie, looking wonderfully beautiful with her waving grey hair and big blue eyes, and enormously improved in attitude to the world by having a big impersonal interest, her Sculpture, is here for a fortnight, also my sister, a grandchild and her companion, and in a day or two, Ronald Storrs from Jerusalem, come to court Margaret Strong, who lives at Fiesole. He is really in love with her, but her money (she is Rockefeller's granddaughter) will not come amiss to him, as he is heartily sick of playing Pontius Pilate, this time against the Jews, who are making things very hot out there. We hear Gladys Deacon, Duchess of Marlborough, is radiant again, and keeps the Duke at her feet. A cousin of his says that two mysterious children live with them and come to lunch, but are never introduced. We have the most gloomy letters from Egypt, prophesying the decay of the Arab mosques and tombs, the cessation of digging, the neglect of the monuments, the old oppression of the fellaheen, and the unopposed march 655
of cholera, when it comes, as the result of the new regime. Even the Egyptians deplore the change. We hope to get to Greece in March, in spite of the Near East troubles, and the refugees. And we shall meet, I trust, the Kingsley-Porters there and have two months' sight-seeing. I wish I saw clearly enough ahead to say when we are coming home again. At any rate, it must be soon. Yours always devoted and admiring Mary Berenson Âť I.
Louis Prang (1824-1909) , publisher and lithographer, popularized the Christmas card.
Huyler is unknown.
Dearest Isabella,
[I Tatti] Jan. l, 1923
As has been my habit for many years, I write the date of the new year, first of all, on a note to you. I fervently pray that 1923 may be altogether propitious to you, in fact that it may prove one of the happiest. Here it opens propitiously with sunlight after many days of rain and storm and fog. The house is full. Mary has her sister and two grandchildren . I have my sister Bessie, and the successor of Pontius Pilate, the Governor of Jerusalem, and Judea, Ronald Storrs, nephew of my fascinating friend Harry Cust. The Billy Bullitts are here for a few days and full of boisterous vivacity, and zest. This afternoon there is to be a pandemonium for the children, and the very thought of it has already tired me out. If only I did not feel so tired! almost all the time! How do you manage to remain fresh and keen for so many hours a day, and at our age! With love from the depths up B.B.
Dearest B.B.,
[Fenway Court] January 19, 1923
"From the depths up" I write that I am not at all fresh or keen, but at present under every kind of dismal weather with I suppose the usual cold. Freshness and keenness must wait until the pleasant weather and the spring. I envy your being able to be in a household of joy. It sounds like a new life. My delight of the moment is some mimosa, freesia, and gardenias which are trying their best to push joy through the gloom of this January day, which is really very cold and dark. The post-Pontius Pilate must at least be interesting. Many, many thanks for writing January lst. You've always been my affectionate delight. Love to you b'7th, Isabella
[I Tatti] March 5, 1923
Dearest Isabella,
Kingsley Porter has sent me your picture by Sargent. It is a dashing little sketch, and if I hold it far enough away I get a sense of its being you. We are going to Greece all the same, and are being vaccinated and inoculated against everything but who will inoculate me against fatigue? Who will harden my heart against the piteous looks of the hosts of victims of French prestige and Italian greed who now swarm in Greece! Mary is atiptoe with expectation and she lives so much from within that she is incapable of disappointment. Did you see Ronald Storrs? I hope so, for tho' rank and tropical, he has a great deal of knowledge and sense, and no little taste. I must not forget the photo. you send of a Greek Ascension. 1 It is probably as late as the r 5th cent. but interesting harking back as it surely does to a 12th-cent. composition. Europe is past praying for and will presently be past preying after. We shall have to come back to put it right. Let us promise ourselves not to be led again by a Wilson. With love B.B. Âť r. Now catalogued as The Assumption of the Virgin, Russian , fifteenth century, it was a gift
from Thomas Whittemore in August
Dearest Isabella,
1922.
[Athens] April roth 1923
We are glad you liked Ronald Storrs. I need not say he was madly enthusiastic about you. Poor man, he fell in love with a young neighbour of ours in Florence, Margaret Strong, who also happens (?) to be a granddaughter of Rockefeller, but he has had no success. She "couldn't make up her mind" in Florence, and it was the same when he saw her again in New York, and I fear he has gone back to Jerusalem very unhappy. We have been here r 8 days, and even I, who have spent the last ro of them in bed with bronchitis, find it the most satisfactory experience of my life, perfect beauty in landscape and art. It isn't at first quite so exciting and overwhelming as Egypt, but of course it is Us, it is not exotic, but fulfills all our dreams and desires. I need not tell you that B.B. is tiring out the whole party with his passionate sight-seeing. He says he is travelling like an Old Man, that is to say going to bed in a comfortable hotel and reading about the place he is in. This is true of me, but only true of him at night, for he spends every morning in the museums, and every afternoon in excursions to places like Daphne and Eleusis and Marathon and Sounion. I had two excursions before I was stricken down-the most wonderful I ever had. The only thing that enrages me is that I did not come when I was young
enough to have walked eveywhere, for that is the real way to enjoy this incomparable land. I am writing this as much for the 'Ramus as for myself, and he joins me in unalterable and always-present devotion to you. Your lovely ring gives me continued pleasure, especially as it keeps you always in my thoughts, for I wear it day and night. Your too brief note did not say one word about yourself, which was almost unkind of you. Please tell us how you are. Your devoted Mary B.
Dearest Isabella,
Sparta May 13th, 1923
We have just had a line from M. Henraux, whom you were not well enough to see, saying that your servant gave a very bad report of your health. Of course we HOPE it was more an excuse for not being bothered with strangers than a real illness, but still it leaves us very anxious. I scarcely feel like writing you an account , of our travels, lest it should find you too pulled down to take an interest in our adventures. And then, after all, what is there to say about Greece? The Parthenon is, as a matter of fact, the most beautiful building in the world, the scenery is the most lovely, the art is the greatest; but all this is not news to anybody, to you last of all. One just comes here to realize all one's dreams and ideals, not to find anything new or startling, as in Egypt. B.B. says that the greatest benefit of this trip is to bring him back to Greek literature, and he has vowed never to let another day pass without refreshing his spirit at the source of sources. We had a divine week at Olympia, and now, after Corinth, Nauplia, Epidaurus, Mycenae, Nemea and Tyrins, we are at last at Sparta. It is a terrible journey, for the roads are in a shocking condition, and the hotel is of the most primitive sort. In fact, we have had to bring along a camion with a kitchen and cook and beds and tents, partly for Mistra, where we should have stayed if the Mother Superior had not been at death's door, and partly for Phygalia, where we go tomorrow. Our last trip is to be Delphi, and then we sail for Venice, and get home about the middle of June. We had an interesting encounter on the train to Olympia. It v1as no less a person than the still beautiful Eva Palmer on her way to a villa she is building on the Gulf of Corinth, just opposite to Parnassus. 1 She was dressed in russet silk of her own weaving, and had remarkable things on her feet which she said she had made herself, and her glorious bronze hair was wound over her brow like a coronet. What was most remarkable about her was that her face was the face of a contented and satisfied and happy woman, and, in fact, she confessed that she had found EXACTLY the life she cared most about. Very few people can say as much as that! It would appear
not to be due to her husband, a Greek poet of sorts, for the people we met in Athens say that they are very little together. He spends a lot of his time reading his poems to circles of adoring young ladies, who admire him extravagantly and stroke his long hair. She, of course, has dozens of bees in her bonnet, but their buzzing seems to make a harmonious sound. She madly believes in the GREEK RACE and ITS FUTURE, she is trying to resuscitate old Greek music, and she has a thousand more practical activities, building, planting, sowing, weaving, wine-making, etc. Her son, a handsome longhaired boy of I 3, joined her on the train, and she confessed that his education was beginning to be a great problem for her. We were to have gone to dine with her at her villa, but the road proved impossible for our heavy cars. Now I fear I have tired you with my chatter. In a sense you are WITH us on this trip, for we speak of you continually with the Kingsley Porters, and more still with each other. We all join in heartfelt hopes that you are not ill, and send you our admiring love. Your devoted Mary Berenson Âť 1. Eva Palmer (d. 1952), daughter of a New York millionaire, married Angelos Sikelianos
(1884-1951), Greek poet, and settled with him in Athens. She immersed herself in the study of ancient Greek culture, her chief interest being the revival of Greek drama .
[Athens] Dearest Isabella,
May
22, 1923
It was the greatest relief to get Mr. Carter's kind note of April 26th saying you were better! Thanks to him for writing it, and to you for having it written. What a miserable time you have had! But I daresay you often think, even in the midst of pain, that you have had a glorious life, full of everything the world can offer. Nothing has been wasted on you, for you have had the capacity of enjoyment, by no means the least among the gifts of the gods! I am back from our very rough trip, and realize that now I must leave donkey-riding and such amusements to my grandchildren, but I take real consolation in the thought that I had my fill of riding and exploring when I was young. The 'Ramus still enjoys it all, and stands it very well. He has now gone off with the Porters to the Convent of Hosios Lukas (8 hours on donkeys!) leaving my brother and me to follow comfortably by boat to Delphi, where they will join us. This reminds me, I have asked our bookseller to send you a little work on English Idioms which my brother has just written. It may amuse and interest you for a little while. With love and very, very heartfelt wishes for your health. I am your devoted Mary Berenson
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
June 14, 1923
How good of you to have sent me the catalogue of your MSS. 1 Thanks upon thanks! We landed six days ago in Venice and spent four of these there. Of course I went to Palazzo Barbaro, and regretted the days of yore. How wonderful it was when I stayed there with you some 25 years ago. And now I regret old Mrs. Dan Curtis even. In fact, there is nobody who haunts Venice that does not spoil the place for me, except Zina the widow of Fritz Hohenlohe who died a couple of months ago. It is heaven to be back with one's books and one's flowers. Here too the drawback is people. And I have become such a bear. I no longer need anybody except out of deep affection such as I have for you. With love B.B. Âť r. Morris Carter, A Choice of Manuscripts and Fine Bindings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Mu-
seum (Boston, 1922).
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
June 21, 1923
We are dreadfully distressed to think you have had so much illness to bear. Why can't it be divided up among your adorers, who would each be only too happy to take some of it for you? We hope the quiet summer will restore you again to vitality and the enjoyment of life. We are home again, but, with the music of Greece still echoing in our ears. I am sorry to say we find the sound of most Florentines' voices nearly unendurable! We ran into a great bande of them at Venice, who were entertaining Mrs. Keppel 1 and Anna De Koven, and even the sociable 'Ramus said "Never any more." But our most painful experience was at Palazzo Barbaro, without Ralph, and with a painted and dyed Lisa, looking like a hungry hawk, full of archness and spite. She also uttered such horrible wishes about crushing the Germans, etc. that B.B. fell speechless with disgust. Sylvia is in America, but poor Marjorie was there, and Lisa kept shouting, in face of the painful obviousness to the contrary-" Oh Marjorie's all right. I tell you, she's fine. She's all right." Did I write you we had seen Eva Palmer's husband at Delphi? We met him on the road, and not knowing who it was, put him down as a retired actor or a German Jew. Then he called and sat opposite a mirror, before which he arranged and re-arranged himself in a Pythian Apollo pose. He spoke a sonorous French, smelling strongly of garlic (metaphorically speaking) and had an invariable reply to any interrogation-delivered with roll-
660
ing eyes and chest thrown out-"CJest une question tr-r-r-es pr-r-r-o-fonde!" We all thought · him an unmitigated ass. Poor Eva! But they are seldom together: and it cannot be denied that in spite of her inspired spouse she is a happy and contented woman. The 'Ramus and I both send our warm love and heartfelt wishes for your recovery. Your devoted) Mary B. »I.
Alice Edmunds, wife of the Hon. George Keppel (1869-1947), was Edward VII's mistress.
Dearest Isabella,
[Palazzo Barbaro, Venice] July 29, '23
I have just arrived to spend a few days with the Cole Porters-Linda Thomas that was-who have taken this place for the summer. It was enchanting arriving into this milky, opalescent, soap-bubbly world early, early, being met by an Arab I knew on the Nile, and the gondolier of Casa Curtis. And I mind me of 26 years ago or is it just more or just less, when I stayed here in this apartment with you. I shall never get over that fortnight, and how you made me feel as if you had nothing in the world to think of but my happiness. Yes, it was wonderful, and if ever I sigh for anything in the past, it is for those days. It was pretty hot already at I Tatti, and from here I go to Badgastein to join Mary who will come from England. There we are to take a cure-but cures are for the strong. With ever so much love Devotedly B.B.
Dearest Isabella,
[Badgastein] Aug. 21st 1923
B.B. says that getting things out of Italy is generally accomplished by some "arrangement," which naturally cannot be carried out by means of letters. It is not that they want to keep works of art in Italy, but they intend to have a tax paid on their export. What is usually done is for some Gov't official to estimate the present value of the work of art (not what may have been paid for it) and accept, in the end, about 3 3 °/o of that estimated value for giving permission for it to go away. It is so unclear where the money goes, that it seems to be most successfully done when it is arranged without documentary evidence. B.B. says he will be going to Rome in the early part of next year, and will try to see it through for you, if you will let him know how much you are prepared to spend in paying the so-called tax. 1 He knows most of the people with whom the decision lies, and thinks he could get it through661
at least so he hopes, but in Italy nothing is ever certain. And he is not sure that the tax may not go up to as much as 50°/o or even 60°/o. When the time comes, it would be just as well to know what you originally paid for it: only you must remember that the lira is now worth less than a fourth of what it was then. The payment in dollars is the one to hold to. We are fighting the losing battle for health here, in this fresh, pretty resort, but expect to spend September in London and October in Paris, before going home. Our thoughts turn lovingly and anxiously to you every day, and we are always hoping to hear you are really better. Lovingly your devoted Mary Berenson » l. ISG was evidently trying to get an export license for her statue at the American Academy
(see BB to ISG, 15 April 1920).
Dear Mary,
Fenway Court September 6, 1923
I hope and pray that the statue is going to be got through, and I do not feel that I have many years to play with the thing. The processes I do not understand and leave them entirely to you and B.B. I paid about $10,000.- for it. Do you fancy I can really get it this year? The sooner, the better. I envy you being in London and Paris, and you will make up for it when you get back to Italy. My best love to both- Isabella
Dearest Isabella,
[London] Sept. 10, 1923
We are camped for a month at the gates of the British Museum, hoping to make a nodding acquaintance with the treasures engrimed there. Next month we shall move on to the Louvre (Hotel Beau-Site, Rue de Presbourg, Paris), and get home in November. BB had a trying and utterly unexpected experience giving evidence 1 against a false "Leonardo" before the American Consul General in Paris. He was severely cross-examined, one of the questions being "If you assisted Mrs. Gardner in for ming her collection, WHY did you not get her a Leonardo?" Why, indeed? When it got late, BB softly said "I do want my tea," and all the ladies in the audience murmured "Isn't he just too sweet?!" I have asked the publisher to send you a copy of my daughter's novel, Marching On. 2 If you don't care for it-but the 'Ramus says you will because it is a fine thing-it will at least be a token of my admiring friendship. Yours devotedly, Mary Berenson 662
Mrs. Harry]. Hahn of Junction City, Kan., placed her painting La Belle Ferronniere on the market . Duveen told a reporter that the picture was a copy of the Louvre painting (see BB to ISG, 7 January 1901). In 1923 in Paris, BB and other experts testified in a suit brought by Mrs . Hahn against Duveen for defamation of title. The trial, held later in New York, ended in a hung jury and Duveen decided to settle out of court. Recent examination of the copy has confirmed BB's opinion that it is a nineteenth-century work. »2. Ray Strachey's Marching On (1923), on woman suffrage. »I.
Dearest Isabella,
[London] Sept. 15, 1923
After three years I am again in London. Tailors, bootmakers, haberdashers absorb most of my energies, and what remains I give to the museums. They are too much for me. It is like trying to be in tune with the infinite. They may not be the best stocked museums in Europe. That they are the worst arranged there is none to dispute. That is to say the most fatiguing. The cockney gent who now misdirects the National Gallery has had the truly original idea of hanging pictures so low that to see them you have to lie flat on your belly. 1 It gives me a tummy ache. We are lucky in the weather which is enchanting. There is nobody in London, so I perform no society stunts. As a matter of fact when I am not at the fournisseurs or in museums I pass my time in bed reading Greek and other remoteness far from the mad Mussolini. Much love to you, dearest Isabella. Devotedly B.B. C. ]. Holmes (d. 1936), director of the National Gallery, was formerly Slade Professor at Oxford University. »I.
Beloved Isabella,
[Paris] Oct. 15, '23
Paris hath joys in its un-natural kind (to quote Wordsworth with variants) and I am enjoying being here. Of course I carefully avoid the French newspapers. My days are spent trying, but seldom succeeding, in seeing the art treasures, and manuscripts. Just now I am poring over Byzantine illuminations, and Carolingian and Ottonian and Romanesque, and early Arab. Mrs. Sears tead with us a day or two ago and we talked of you steadily. I am off in a few minutes to pronounce judgment on Manship's bust of Carey Thomas. It is sure to be marvellous, and my decision favourable. All the same I hate to be dragged in where living artists, and interests are concerned. I greatly prefer bedulling my rare reader with rubbish about painters too long dead to be affected by my drivel. Why, dearest Isabella, do we live so far apart, and, why are we both so immobile?!? 663
With so much love, now a vintage of 40 years standing,
devotedly
B.B.
Chez M. Stoclet Brussels Oct. 28, 1923
My dear Isabella,
We had a visit in Paris from Mrs. Sears, and she did not give a very good account of you. I do not suppose you can really imagine how much it distresses us to realize that you are so ill, and sometimes even distressed. I feel this may happen, must happen, to other people, but not to You. We keep hoping for better news every time an American mail ~comes in. We are now paying a visit to a very great Belgian collector, Adolphe Stoclet, who has been your rival at various times. 1 He cannot forgive you your Chinese bears, for instance, he wanted them so awfully!! But even without the Bears, he has a truly glorious collection of Byzantine and Italian Primitives, of enamels, of Chinese things, and the finest existing private collection of Egyptian things. But he was "left to himself," as the Quaker expression is, when he built this enormous house. It is made of all sorts of precious marbles, walls and floors and stairs, with innumerable columns, all cut square, and it looks like nothing on earth. The architect must have worked for the great Transatlantics, for the bedrooms are just like cabins, with curtained-off beds and wardrobes etc. set into the walls and all white. It makes us say
Evviva Fenway Court!
We shall be, I hope, back at Florence when this letter reaches you. I hope it has been preceded by my daughter's novel, Marching On, which I asked her publisher to send you. The 'Ramus joins me in love and devotion and endless, endless wishes for your better health. Very affectionately, Mary Berenson Adolph Stoclet (1861-1949), Belgian financier. "The Stoclets were dedicated collectors, but their taste stopped short at about the year 1420" (K. Clark, Another Part of the Wood [London, 1974], l 16). The Palais Stoclet is a famous art nouveau building. ÂťI.
Beloved Isabella,
[I Tatti] Nov. 17, '23
I hope this will find you in full convalescence from the chronic visitation of the public, and on the whole not much forspent. As for me I am a wreck. Trying to make good in two months for having stayed away for three whole years from London and Paris, was too much for me. I feel broken and stunned with fatigue. And there is so very much clamoring to be done. The piles of new books to be looked thro', masses
of photographs to be studied, letters to be written, articles that have been promised-in short I am expected to behave like an institution when I am not even a good for anything individual. 1 I say, what a Piero della Francesca they have got for the B.M.F.A.? Don't you envy them? I am reading Babbitt. 2 Have you? With devoted love B.B. » l. BB published the Madonna and Child and an Angel under the title "An Early Signorelli in
Boston," Art in America 14, no. 3 (1926 ): 105-15. The Boston Museum of Fine Arts considers »2. Sinclair Lewis's Babbitt was published in 1922. it School of Piero.
[I Tatti] Dearest Isabella,
Jan.
l, l
924
My first greeting of the New Year to you. I pray for both of us that this old habit of mine may last on for many years. How many good things and how much happiness I wish you, and for myself, how I wish I could see you, lots and lots. There is no company like you. We are having a snap of winter with some considerable number of degrees of frost, and snow sprinkled over the whole "optic plane." So it feels quite Bostony, and attains almost to the sights and temperature of the B. M. F. A., notably Mr. John Lodge's domain. 1 Isabella dear, I am getting on, and a frightful yearning for knowledge has seized me, and I begin to fear that I shall not live long enough to get even to the threshold. We spend our lives teaching, and never have time to learn. I am afraid we are giving up Rome, as the apartment we had hoped for is not available, and I cannot face hotels in the ssssssima city. 2 With love B.B. » r.
See BB to ISG, 17 February 1922.
My dear Isabella,
»2 .
"ssssssima ": santissima city.
[I Tatti] Jan. 15, 1924
We rejoice at the news of your going out for a drive. You have no idea how much it means to us to think you are better! I thought of enclosing, in this letter, the letter of a young Japanese art student, which contains a request that only you can grant. But it is a long letter and might bore you, so I will tell you briefly about it. He is a young professor of art from Tokyo, sent abroad to study the aesthetic relations an\! differences between Eastern and Western art. He is able and modest and hard-working, and we have really a high opinion of him. He has devoted 665
himself especially to Botticelli, and the Medici Society have accepted the book he has written. 1 He has made a special study of certain details, and has got a number of excellent and illuminating photographs. His greatest desire now is to have some details of the Chigi Botticelli in your collection, and I am sending you the photograph with 4 squares marked on it, enclosing the details he wants so eagerly to have. He had planned to go to America himself next month to occupy himself with the matter if possible, but the earthquake has taken away all the property he had and even reduced the university salary he received. He writes: "This is such a big trouble, but that picture is so important for my special studies I have become so bold as to ask you for your great help." The 'Ramus says that as the picture is near the window, the photos could probably be made without moving it, and he adds his entreaties to mine and the little Jap's, as he thinks the young man's work has real value and ought to be furthered in every possible way-so if your command "Let it be done" goes forth, and these details are made, let a further command send them across the ocean to us, and we will see that Yashiro gets them. Edward Forbes, 2 by the way, knows him and at one time talked of having him come to Harvard. And we beg second copies of the photographs for our library! On this request, and with our love and devotion, I will close. Your very affectionate, Mary Berenson ÂťI. Yukio Yashiro (b. 1890), Japanese art historian and museum director; Sandro Botticelli was published in 1925. Âť2. Edward Waldo Forbes (1873-1969) was director of the Fogg Art
Museum, 1909-44.
Dearest Isabella,
[I Tatti] May 29, 1924
We both feel anxious at not hearing from you for such a long time. 1 Please dictate a few lines telling us how you are, now that summer has come round again. We are rather overwhelmed with the tourists of the season, for the villa has now got to be one of the things people "do," when they come to Florence, and crowds of people come with letters from friends. But we have had delightful people staying with us, and shall have, I think, all summer, as we have taken a house at Vallombrosa. Harriet Lanier is staying here now, next week come Sir Robert and Lady Witt, 2 and then Edith Wharton and her sister-in-law, Mrs. Cadwalader Jones. 3 We had my little grandson, Christopher Strachey, with us all winter, and B.B. got very fond of him, altho' on principle he is rather like Charles Lamb, who, when asked how he liked children, replied-"Boiled."
666
But I won't bore you with our news. This is really only a line in enquiry after your most precious and dearly loved self. Yours devotedly- The BB 's [MB's writing.] » r. ISG's health had begun to fade. She died on 17 July.
»2. Sir Robert Clermont Witt (1872-1952), art collector and founder of the Witt Reference Library, London, and his wife, Mary Helene. »3. Mary Cadwalader (Rawle) Jones (1850-1935) was married to Edith Wharton's brother Frederick. Their daughter was Beatrix (Jones) Farrand.
Dear B.B.'s,
Fenway Court June l l, 1924
My news is uninteresting, but very good. I am well and living the quiet summer life of Boston. Flowers come in-I am looking at two peonies now that were brought to-day; and I am making a doll, that was made on purpose. Smoke cigarettes for me. People seem to go out of town very late, or very near; they come in to see me often. I am as well as usual, and in the afternoon come down in the Macknight Room, which I fancy for a summer room, it being so low down it must be cool; but I might really be in the fiery furnace for the matter of that, everything is cool. I am sure there are some people divorced that I might tell you about, but I don't know it. Divorce is really on the rampage; America is worse than ever, and so far the summer is cold. My love to both of you. Do come over. Affectionately, Isabella
Dear Mr. Berenson,
Briarwood Monument Beach, Massachusetts September 14, 1924
Your wonderful letter which you wrote on receiving the news that Mrs. Gardner had left us deserved a more prompt acknowledgement on my part. I was grateful for it and also was not unmindful of your request that I tell you something of her last days but I came directly from Fenway Court to take part in the vacations of my young people who left me little leisure for any writing but what was absolutely necessary. It seems hardly possible that nearly two months should have already passed since that wonderful personality was taken from our midst. She was wonderful and unusual to the very end. As you say, one knew that her life here was drawing to a close and yet in a way she seen1ed better this spring than last year. You could almost see the spirit strengthening as her body grew more frail, so frail that one wondered how long it could remain and then one would hear of some unusual undertaking as on Monday (the day before she was taken with severe pain
which was the beginning of her last illness) I went to see her and found her very well and much interested because the day before she had spent an hour and a half at the Art Museum. I came down to the country with no thought of anxiety on her behalf, but the next evening I received word that she had been out both morning and afternoon and had received friends but after these had left she had a very severe attack of pain and the Doctor thought her condition serious. I motored at once to Boston and arrived there about eleven o'clock and found she was not then suffering. She lived for ten days after that and though her vitality was so wonderful it seemed at times as if she might completely rally yet we hardly expected it. She was ready to die and anxious to die and found comfort in the services which her friends Father Powell and Father Burton held, with great devotion. She was able to speak till within some hours of the end, but even when she did not I am sure she knew what was going on around her and it was as she would have wished. The last few hours she slept, her breath growing more gentle till it stopped almost as silently as a petal from a flower falling to the ground. She never lost interest in what was going on, nor in her friends and what concerned them and gave of herself abundantly to the end. She had always told me what arrangements she wished for her funeral and had thought them out with the same wonderful attention to detail that marked anything she undertook and it was a satisfaction to us all that they could be carried out as she wished. I shall always be thankful that I was able to be with her during the last days for I did not leave after the first summons but took up my abode there. She knew this and that she was not alone. It seems strange to go to Fenway Court and lonely. Bolgi told me a few days ago that he often thought he heard her calling him, but her people work as they feel she would have wanted them to do and the place must always remain live for that was the idea in the original conception and in the execution of the idea, a living message of the beauty in art to each generation. Much as we shall miss her presence we can not mourn for her for she had lived her life here to such a wonderful completion and her greatest gifts to those who loved her were spiritual gifts and these we may still have. Thank you again for writing to me and I shall surely hope to see you sometime either in my home or yours. Very sincerely yours, Olga G. Monks
668
~mitted J3ettei6
N.D. [1887] BB sends ISG manuscripts of his essays and stories. 8 March 1896 BB encloses a bill for insurance. 14 November 1897 ISG thanks BB for his letter on the Colonna Raphael, and wishes he were coming to Paris where she is spending her time with the couturier Worth. 21 August 1898 In answer to a missing letter about a picture by Piero della Francesca, BB writes that he doesn't know of it (picture not identified). 18 October [1898] ISG writes that she has been ill with peritonitis. 13 March 1899 BB sends bill for insurance and comments on weather. 17 April 1899 BB writes of a visit from "Fairchild, a nice and beautiful yout h ." 21 July 1899 BB asks for a decision on the Titian at £160,000. 6 November [1899] ISG asks that the Schongauer be sent to Paris because she can never forgive Colnaghi for the Crivelli that she could not get for two years. 6 March [1900] ISG asks what is in the cases just arrived from Paris. 7 April 1900 This letter introduces The Annunciation attributed by BB to Fiorenza di Lorenzo, information repeated in his letter of 5 May l 900. 15 June [1900] ISG asks that The Annunciation go to Paris. 20 June [1900] ISG asks for a photo of her Crivelli. 3 July 1900 BB agrees that there is a photo of the Crivelli that he may have given to Mr. Rushford for his book on Crivelli. The photograph was made after the Venetian exhibition at the New Gallery, London, 1894-95. 5 May 1901 BB writes ISG that the Bristol Velasquez will run at least to £34,000, not the £25,000 he estimated. He reassures her of Senda's affection for her and fears for Jephson's health.
28 May 1901 BB urges ISG to buy a picture by Bonfigli (not identified). 24July 1901 ISG sends ÂŁ5,000 for the two pictures. 3 November 1901 BB writes that a friend in Paris has been offered a version of the Chigi Botticelli for 3 50, ooo francs and says it is hideous, so it is well to exhibit the real one. 28 April 1902 ISG regrets that she will not buy the Costa since she wants only a Raphael Madonna and "a few such." 25 September 1902 BB asks for a photograph of the Mabuse for Professor Wauters of Brussels and doubts that a Raphael Madonna is to be had. [November 1902] ISG sends ÂŁ r r, ooo for the Dur er. 20 August 1903 ISG introduces Potter and asks that he rneet Cavenaghi. [March 1904] BB thanks ISG for her telegram on their departure. 30 July 1904 MB apologizes for her mistake in previous letter (missing)probably that ISG had taken on a companion. 18 May 1905 MB writes that Cannon and BB were not going to Alaska. 23 March 1906 ISG asks where BB will be in case she is able to be in Europe during the summer and fall. 25 July 1906 BB writes that he will meet ISG in London after St. Moritz and expects her in Florence in October. 31 August 1906 BB will go to Cernobbio and Nervi before meeting ISG in Milan on r r September. 23 November 1906 ISG writes that she is glad to hear from MB since she feared she was ill. A deposit has gone to BB 's account. 14 December 1906 MB writes regretting ISG's departure and wishes her Merry Christmas. The Berensons are returning to I Tatti and hope to have five months of quiet work. Easter Sunday 1908 MB returns from England and BB from Rome. They are about to depart for Naples, Sicily, and Calabria with Carlo Placci and two nephews. Allan Marquand reported (erroneously) that Richard Norton was appointed buyer for the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. 1o January 191 o BB writes a letter of introduction for the singer Reinhold von Wahrlich. 13 July 1913 BB in answer to ISG's letter (missing) says that he still loves her, that he has been ill, and that he wished her letters had more content. 15 November 1913 MB writes that they sail on 3 December. 21 February 1914 ISG thanks BB for getting the manuscript pages for her. She has heard that Mrs. Prince is not well. 11 June 1914 ISG writes instructions for shipping the stele. 28 July 1914 ISG writes about payment for the "Gothic things." 24 August 1914 BB writes in answer to the above letters of r r June and 28 July. 15 December [1914] ISG writes again about shipping. 5 October 1918 BB writes that MB is better and that he is leaving for Paris,
and he asks if ISG received his latest book (.Essays in the Study of Sienese Painting, New York, 1918). 5 October 1919 BB writes that he is sorry not to be coming to the United States but that he must get back to work at I Tatti, as he has been away so long. December 1920 BB writes from the Copley Plaza that they will visit ISG the next day. 11 January 1921 MB writes a letter from New York about their social calendar, mostly repeated in other letters. 5 February 1921 BB thanks ISG for photographs and informs ISG that Walter Lippmann and Elsie de Wolfe are coming to see her. He returns to Boston on 12 February. 10 February 1921 More from BB on the letter of 5 February 1921 as to their itinerary. 6 March 1921 MB continues the saga of their journey. BB has been asked to dine with Paul Sachs's class. 10 March 1921 MB writes that they will bring the Lippmanns and Carl Hamilton with them on Monday. 14 May 1921 BB is sending three volumes on sculpture at Chartres to ISG. 4 June 1921 BB asks for photos of ISG's Tintoretto portraits for Baron D. von Hedeln. 3 June 1922 Both Berensons feel let down and ill after their trip to Egypt. 11 January 1923 Letter from MB introducing Col. Ronald Storrs. 12 December 1923 Christmas greetings from I Tatti. N.D. ISG writes she is too busy to answer their letters. N.D. Letter fragment: BB writes that he is wandering in the villages of Germany and calls attention to Justi's article mentioning ISG's Mabuse.
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Aldegrever, Heinrich (active ca. l 5 50), German Andersen, Andreas (1869-1902), American Andersen, Hendrick (1872-1940), American Andrea del Sarto (1486-1530), Florentine Angelico, Fra (Guido di Pietro) (active 1417-55), Florentine Antonello da Messina (Antonello di Giovanni degli Antoni) (ca. 1430-79), Venetian Antoniazzo (di Benedetto Aquilio) Romano (doc. 1460-1508), Roman Bacchiacca (Francesco di Ubertini Verdi) (1495-1557), Florentine Bakst, Leon (1866-1924), Russian Baldassare d'Este (active second half l 5th c. ), Ferrarese Baldovinetti, Alessio (1425-99), Florentine Bandinelli, Baccio (Bartolommeo Michelangelo de' Brandini) (1493-1560), Florentine Barna da Siena (active ca. 1350), Sienese Bartolozzi, Francesco (1727-1815), Italian Basaiti, Marco (ca. 1470-after 1530), Venetian Bassano, Jacopo (dal Ponte) (ca. 1510-92), Venetian Bastianini, Giovanni ( l 8 3o-68), Italian Beaux, Cecilia (1863-1942), American Beham, Hans Sebald (1500-50), German Bellano, Bartolommeo (ca. 1434-96/97), Paduan Bellini, Gentile (ca. 1429-1507), Venetian Bellini, Giovanni (ca. 1430-1516), Venetian Benedetto da Maiano (1442-97), Florentine Benvenuto di Giovanni (di Meo del Guasta) (1436-ca. 1518), Sienese Bergognone, Ambrogio (da Fossano) (active ca. 1481-ca. 1523), Lombard
Bermejo, Bartolome (d. after 1495), Spanish Bezad, Kamat al-Din (active 15th c.), Persian Bianco, Simone (recorded 1512-53), Venetian Bicci di Lorenzo (1373-1452), Florentine Bissolo, Francesco (active 1492-1554), Venetian Boccati, Giovanni (active ca. 1463-80), Umbrian Baldini, Giovanni (1845-1931), Italian Boltraffio, Giovanni Antonio (1467-1516), Milanese Bonfigli, Benedetto (ca. 1420-96), Umbrian Bonifazio Veronese (Bonifazio de' Pitati) (1487-1553), Venetian Bonsignori, Francesco (ca. 1455/60-1519), Veronese Bordone, Paris ( 1500-71), Venetian Botticelli, Sandro (Alessandro di Mariano Filipepi) (1444/45-1510), Florentine Botticini, Francesco (ca. 1446-97), Florentine Bouts, Albert (ca. 1460-1549), Flemish Bouts, Dirck (ca. 1415-75), Dutch Bramantino (Bartolommeo Suardi) (ca. 1460-ca. 1536), Milanese Bronzino, Agnola (di Cosimo di Mariano) (1503-72), Florentine Bulgarini, Bartolommeo (active ca. 1337-78), Sienese (formerly called "Lorenzetti, Ugo lino") Burne-Jones, Sir Edward Coley (1833-98), English Capriola, Domenico (1494-1528), Venetian Cariani (Giovanni Busi) (active 1509-47), Venetian Carota, Giovanni Francesco (ca. 1480-1555/58), Veronese Carpaccio, Vittore (Scarpazza) (ca. 1460/65-1526), Venetian Castagna, Andrea del (ca. 1419-57), Florentine Castagnola (active late 19th c.), Italian Catena, Vincenzo di Biagio (ca. 1480-1531), Venetian Cavazzola, Paolo (Morando) (1486-1522), Veronese Cellini, Benvenuto (1500-71), Florentine Cicognara, Antonio (recorded 1480-1500), Ferrarese Cima da Conegliano, Giovanni Battista (1459/60-1517/18), Venetian Cimabue (Cenni di Pepo) (recorded 1272-1302), Florentine Cleve, Joos van (ca. 1485-1540/41), Flemish Clouet, Jean (1485/90-ca. 1541), French Constable, John (1776-1837), English Corneille de Lyon (ca. 1500/10-ca. 1574), French Corot, Jean-Baptiste-Camille (1796-1875), French Correggio (Antonio Allegri) (1489/94-1534), Parmese Cossa, Francesco del (ca. 1435-ca. 1477), Ferrarese Costa, Lorenzo (ca. 1460-1535), Ferrarese Costanzo da Ferrara (active last quarter 15th c.), Ferrarese Courbet, Gustave (1819-77), French
Cox, Allyn (1896-1982), American Crivelli, Carlo (active 1457-ca. 1495), Venetian Curtis, Ralph Wormeley (1854-1922), American Cushing, Howard Gardiner (1869-1916), American Daddi, Bernardo (active 1312-48), Florentine David, Gerard (ca. 1460-r 523), Flemish Degas, Hilaire-Germain-Edgar (1834-1917), French Denner, Balthasar (1685-1749), German Desiderio da Settignano (ca. 1430-64), Florentine Domenico Veneziano (ca. 1400-61), Florentine Donatello (Donato dei Bardi) ( r 3 86?- r 466), Florentine Durer, Albrecht (1471-1528), German Eyck, Jan van (active 1422-41), Flemish Fadl, Abdallah ibn al- (active 13th c.), Arabian Falconetto, Gian Maria (1458-1543), Veronese Farinati, Paolo (r 524-1606), Veronese Fiorentino, Pier Francesco (active 1474-97), Florentine Fiorenzo di Lorenzo (ca. 1440-1522/25), Umbrian Flinck, Govaert (r6r 5-60), Dutch Foppa, Vincenzo (r427/30-r5r5/r6), Lombard Fouquet, Jean (1420-80), French Fragonard, Jean-Honore (1732-1806), French Francia (Francesco Raibolini) (ca. r 450-r 5 r 7 Ir 8), Bolognese Francia, Giacomo (ca. 1486-1557), Bolognese Franciabigio (Francesco di Cristofano) (1482/83-1525), Florentine Gaddi, Agnolo (active 1369-96), Florentine Gainsborough, Thomas (1727-88), English Garofalo (Benvenuto Tisi) (1481-1559), Ferrarese Gentile da Fabriano (active 1408-27), Marchigian Ghirlandaio, Ridolfo (1483-1561), Florentine Giambono, Michele (active 1420-62), Venetian Giorgione (Giorgio da Castelfranco) (active ca. r 500-ro), Venetian Giottino (Giotto di Maestro di Stefano) (active 1324-69), Florentine Giotto (di Bondone) (ca. 1266/67-1337), Florentine Giovanni di Paolo (1403 ?-82/83 ?), Sienese Girolamo da Santacroce (active r 516-56?), Venetian Girolamo dai Libri (1474-1555), Veronese Gonnelli, Giovanni Francesco ("Cecco di Gambassi") (1603-64), Tuscan Goya, Francisco de ( r 746-r 828), Spanish Gozzoli, Benozzo (di Lese di Sandro) (1420-97), Florentine Greco, El (Domenikos Theotok6poulos) (r54r-r6r4), Spanish Greuze, Jean-Baptiste (1725-1805), French Guardi, Francesco (1712-93), Venetian Hals, Frans (1581/85-1666), Dutch
Helleu, Paul-Cesar (1859-1927), French Holbein, Hans, the Younger (1497/98-1543), German Hooch, Pieter de (1629-ca. 1684), Dutch Jacobello del Fiore (active 1394-1439), Venetian Jacopino del Conte (ca. 1510-98), Florentine Korin, Ogata (1658-1716), Japanese Kronberg, Louis (1872-1965), American La Farge, John (1835-1910), American Lanzani, Polidoro (ca. 1515-65), Venetian Laurana, Francesco (ca. 1430-1502?), Neapolitan Lely, Sir Peter (van der Faes) (1618-80), Dutch Lenbach, Franz von (1836-1904), German Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519), Florentine/Milanese Leonello, Antonio (da Crevalcore) (active 1490-before 1525), Ferrarese Liberale da Verona (ca. 1445-1526), Veronese Lippi, Filippino (1457/ 58-1504), Florentine Lippi, Fra Filippo (ca. 1406-69), Florentine Longhi, Pietro ( 1702-8 5), Venetian Lorenzetti, Ambrogio (active by 1319-48?), Sienese "Lorenzetti, Ugo lino" (see Bulgarini, Bartolommeo) Lorenzo di Credi (ca. 1458-1537), Florentine Lorrain, Claude (Claude Gellee) (1600-82), French Lotto, Lorenzo (ca. 1480-1556), Venetian Mabuse (Jan Gossaert van Maubeuge) (ca. 1478/88-1532), Flemish Manet, Edouard (1832-83), French Manship, Paul (1885-1966), American Mantegna, Andrea ( 14 3 1-1506), Pad uan Marco da Ravenna (Marco Dente) (d. 1527), Emilian Martini, Simone (di Martino) (1283/85-1344), Sienese Masaccio (Tommaso di Giovanni) (1401-28), Florentine Masolino da Panicale (Tommaso di Cristofano) (1383/84-ca. 1435), Florentine Master of the Bambino Vis po (active first half 15th c.), Florentine Master of the Castello Nativity (active third quarter 15th c.), Florentine Master of The Death of Mary (active first third 16th c.), Netherlandish Master ofFlemalle (Robert Campin) (ca. 1378-1444), Flemish Master of the Gardner Annunciation (Piermatteo d' Amelia) (ca . 1450-1503), Umbrian Master of the Lathrop Tondo (active early 16th c.), Lucchese/Florentine Master of The Life of the Virgin (Meister des Lebens Maria) (active ca. 146090), German Matisse, Henri (1869-1954), French Mazo, Juan Bautista Martinez del (ca. 1612/16-67), Spanish Memling, Hans (ca. 1430/ 40-94), Flemish
Memmi, Lippo (Filippo di Memmo Filipucci) (active 1317-47), Sienese Meunier, Constantin (1831-1905), Belgian Mezzastris, Pierantonio (1430-1506?), Umbrian Michelangelo Buonarroti (1475-1564), Florentine Michelina da Besozzo (1388-after 1450), Milanese Millet, Jean-Fran~ois (1814-75), French Minelli, Giovanni (ca. 1460-1527), Paduan Mino da Fiesole (1429-84), Florentine Mor (Anthonis Mor van Dashorst) (ca. 1519-76/77), Dutch Morone, Domenico (ca. l 442-after l 5 l 7), Veronese Morone, Francesco (ca. 1471-1529), Veronese Moroni, Giovanni Battista (ca. l 523-78), Brescian/Bergamesque Muller, Johann Gotthard von (1747-1830), German Neroccio di Landi (1447-1500), Sienese Obrist, Hermann (1863-1927), German Orcagna (Andrea di Cione) (active 1344-68), Florentine Orley, Bernart van (1492?-1541), Flemish Ortolano, L' (Giovanni Battista Benvenuti) (before 1488-after l 526), Ferrarese Palladio, Antonio (1508-80), Venetian Palmezzano, Marco (1456/63-1539), Umbrian Perry, Lilla Cabot (ca. 1848-1933), American Perugino (Pietro Vannucci) (ca. 1450-1523), Umbrian Peruzzi, Baldassare (1481-1536), Sienese/Roman Pesellino (Francesco di Stefano) (ca. 1422-57), Florentine Piermatteo d' Amelia (see Master of the Gardner Annunciation) Piero della Francesca (Piero de' Franceschi) (ca. 1416-92), Umbrian Piero di Cosimo (Piero di Lorenzo) ( l 462-152 l ?) , Florentine Pintoricchio (Bernardino di Betto di Biagio) (ca. 1454-1513), Umbrian Piot, Rene (1869-1934), French Pisanello (Antonio Pisani) (ca. 1395-1455/56), Veronese Pisano, Niccolo (ca. 1220-78/87), Tuscan Pollaiuolo, Piero del (ca. 1441-96), Florentine Pontormo, Jacopo da (Jacopo Carrucci) (1494-1556/ 57), Florentine Puvis de Chavannes, Pierre (1824-98), French Raffaellino del Garbo (Raffaelo dei Carli) (1466-1526), Florentine Raimondi, Marcantonio (ca. 1480-1534), Bolognese Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio) (1483-1520), Umbrian Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn (1606-69), Dutch Renoir, Pierre-Auguste (1841-1919), French Reynolds, Sir Joshua (1723-92), English Ribera, Jose (1588-1652), Spanish Robbia, Andrea della (1435-1525), Florentine Robbia, Giovanni della (1469-1529), Florentine
Robbia, Luca della (1400-82), Florentine Roberti d'Ercole, (active 1479-96), Ferrarese Rodin, Auguste (1840-1917), French Romanino, Girolamo (1487-ca. l 560), Brescian/Venetian Romney, George (1734-1802), English Rossellino, Antonio (1427-79), Florentine Rubens, Peter Paul ( l 577-l 640), Flemish Ruskin, John (1819-1900), English Saint-Gaudens, Augustus (1848-1907), American Sanchez-Coello, Alonso (153 l/32-88), Spanish Sano di Pietro (1406-81), Sienese Sargent, John Singer (1856-1925), American Sassetta (Stefano di Giovanni) (1392?-1450), Sienese Savoldo, Giovanni Girolamo (1480/85-1548), Brescian/Venetian Scaletti, Leonardo (active 1458-95), Ferrarese Schongauer, Martin (ca. 1450-91), German Scorel, Jan Van (1495-1562), Dutch Sebastiano del Piombo (Sebastiano Luciani) (ca. 1485-1547), Venetian/Roman Seghers, Hercules (ca. 1589/90-ca. 1635), Dutch Sellaio, Jacopo del (1441/42-93), Florentine Signorelli, Luca (active 1470-1523), Umbrian Smith, Joseph Lindon (1863-1950), American Sodoma (Giovanni Antonio Bazzi) (1477-1549), Vercellese Sorollo y Bastida, Joaquin (1863-1923), Spanish Spagna (Giovanni di Pietro) (mentioned 1470-1528), Umbrian Sperandio, Savelli (143 l-95), Mantuan Tamagni, Vincenzo (1492-ca. 1530), Sienese Tarbell, Edmund Charles (1862-1938), American Ter Borch, Gerard (1617-81), Dutch Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista (1696-1770), Venetian Tintoretto (Jacopo Robusti) (1518-94), Venetian Titian (Tiziano Vecellio) (ca. 1488-1576), Venetian Torbido, Francesco (called 11 Moro) (ca. 1482/83-1562?), Veronese/Venetian Tura, Cosimo (ca. 1430-95), Ferrarese Turner, Joseph _M allo rd William ( l 77 5-l 8 5 l), English Uccello, Paolo (Paolo di Dono) (ca. l 397-14 7 5), Florentine Van Dyck, Anthony (1599-1641), Flemish Vanni, Andrea (ca. 1332-1413/14), Sienese Vasari, Giorgio (1511-74), Florentine Velasquez, Diego Rodriguez de Silva (1599-1660), Spanish Vermeer, Johannes (1632-75), Dutch Veronese, Paolo (Paolo Caliari) (ca. 1528-88), Venetian Verrocchio, Andrea del (ca. 1435-88), Florentine
Vigee-Lebrun, Elisabeth (1755-1842), French Vignola, Giacomo Barozzi da ( l 507-7 3), Bolognese/Roman Viti, Timoteo (1469-1523), Bolognese Watteau, Jean-Antoine (1684-1721), French Weyden, Rogier van der (1399/1400-64), Flemish Whistler, Jan1es Abbot McNeill (1834-1903), American Zenale, Bernardino (ca. 1450/60-1526), Lombard Zoppo, Marco (143 3-78), Bolognese Zorn, Anders Leonard (1860-1920), Swedish Zuccaro, Taddeo ( l 529-66), Roman Zurbaran, Francisco de (1598-1664), Spanish
Abbey Theatre (Dublin), 493, 494n . Abbott, Herbert, 489 Abbott, Lyman, 489, 5 l l Abdy, Sir William art sale, 487, 488n . Abraham and Melchiz edek (Roberti d'Ercole), 281 Abruzzi, 214, 362, 367, 378 Accademia (Florence), 5 l9n . Accademia (Venice), 69n . Accademia Carrara (Bergamo), 40-4 l Acheson, Archibald, viscount, 6o8n . Acheson, Lady Mildred, 607, 6o8n . Acosta, Rita de Alba de, 43 7n . Acton, Arthur Mario, 633 Acton, Sir Harold, 633n . Adams, Brooks, 516 Adams, Evelyn Davis, 516 Adams, Henry Brooks, 344n., 428, 429, 43on ., 431, 457, 480, 511, 516n ., 62rn. The Education of H enry Adams, 429, 43on . Mont-Saint-Michel and Chartres, 504 Adams, John Quincy, 43on. Adoration of the Lamb (van Eyck), 18, 27, 422 Adoration of the Magi (David), 91, lOO Adoration of the Shepherds (El Greco), 339, 340-341, 343, 344-345, 353 Adoration of the Shepherds, The (L'Ortolano), 246n. Aeschylus, 124 Agamemnon, 165
A gn ew & Son, Thomas (London), l 52153, 154, 175, 181, 184, 185, 198 , 231, 236, 243 , 259n ., 309 , 372n ., 42 1, 422, 481 , 595n. A g ony in the Garden (Botticelli), 612 A gricultural goddess figure (5 ro B. c.) , 6 50 A g rippina , 74 Aide, Hamilton, 202 Aix-les-Bains, 497, 498 Aksakoff, Sergei Years of Childhood, 604 Alaska, 365, 368 Alba, duke of, 634 Alba Madonna (Raphael), 318, 3 l9n. Albani Polyptych altarpiece (Perugino), 179180, 191, 192, 224, 226, 290 Albe, due d', 612 Albergo Italia (Bergamo), 41 Alberti, Count, 305 Alberto Aringhieri, Knight of Malta (Benvenuto di Giovanni), 178, l79n ., l 84 Aldegrever, Heinrich, 65, 66, 68, 69 . S ee also Beham: Portrait of a Man Aldrich, Chester, 623 Aldrich, Senator Nelson W, 460, 46rn. Aldrich, Thomas Bailey, 342n., 344 Judith of Bethulfa, 342 Alexander, prince of Thurn and Taxis, 366n., 398 Alexander, Victor, 63n. Alexander VI, Pope, 277n. Alhambra Palace, 612
681
Allegory of the Art of Painting, The (Vermeer), 86, 87n., 88 Allerton, William, 506, 509 Alnwick Castle, 61, 64, 593 Alnwick Collection, l 48 Altamira Collection, 70 Altamira family, 76 Altamura, 146-147 Altamura, Italy, 398 Alte Pinakothek (Munich), 27-28, 91, 202n., 4oon., 647 Altman, Benjamin, 432, 457, 469, 500 Altman Collection, 457n., 508 Altman dish, 457 Altman's Titian, 496-497n . Altoviti, Bindo, 142, l43n. Alzano Madonna (Bellini), 40 Ambassadors, The (Holbein), 87, 88n. American Academy (Rome), 616, 617n., 662n. American Consul General, Paris, 662
Amico di Sandro Young Man with a Red Cap. See Sandro Botticelli: Young Man with a Red Cap Andersen, Andreas, 137, l38n . Andersen, Hendrick, 137, l38n ., 635, 636n. Anderson of Rome (photographer), 193, 222, 226 Andrea del Sarto, 249, 294 Andre, Mme. Edouard, 141-142, 144-145, l8ln., 228 Andre, Mme. Edouard, Collection, 528 Andrew, A. Piatt, 591, 592n. Anet, Claude, 477, 480, 486 Angelico, Fra, 13, 94, 159, 190, 230, 265, 292, 419 Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin, 164, 165, 167, 168, 169, 203' 206, 230, 370, 515 Dormition of the Virgin, 3 3o King of Belgium's, 450, 45 rn . Angus, Richard B., 505n .
Angus, Richard B., Collection (Montreal), 505 Anna Van Bergen, Marquise de Veere (after Mabuse), 6on. Annunciation (Bicci di Lorenzo), 264-265, 266, 267, 269, 270, 271, 272, 273, 277 Annunciation (Fiorenzo di Lorenzo). See
Piermatteo d' Amelia Annunciation (Gaddi). See Bicci di Lorenzo: Annunciation
682
Annunciation (Piermatteo d' Amelia), 18 5n. Annunciation (van der Weyden), 3 19-320,
403 Ansidei altarpiece (Raphael), 276 Anstruther-Thomson, C., 99 Antonello da Messina, 420 Bust of a Young Man, 3 3o Condottiere, 39 Saint Sebastian, 40 Appleton, Helen, 222 Appleton, Randolph (Budd), 222 Appleton, Sybil, 222 Apsley House (London), 358n. Apthorp, William F., 313 Arabian Nights, 66, 120, 333, 336, 412
Aristophanes Pluto, 212 Aristotle, 14
Arndt, Ernst Moritz, 18, 19n. Arnold, Matthew, 7 Arona, Italy, 383, 384n. Art in America, 517, 53rn., 604, 653, 665n. Arundel, Thomas Howard, earl of, 34 Ascension of Saint Louis with Two Angels, The (Lorenzo di Credi), 28 5, 286 Ashburnham, earl of, 32on. Assumption (Botticini), 259 Assumption of the Virgin, The (fifteenth century, Russia), 657
Astor, Ava Lowle Willing (Mrs. John Jacob), 437, 466 Athens, Greece, 657, 658 Aucassin et Nicolette, 21-2 3 Aumale, Henri, due d', 58, 232 Austen Collection (Kent), 94, 95n. Automata (al-Jazari, Egypt, 1354), 507n., 5 I 3, 514n 路 Aztec art, 5 I 5
Bacchanal (Bellini and Titian). See Feast of the Gods (Bellini and Titian) Bacchanal, The (Titian), 595, 596n.
Bacchiacca Lady with a Nosegay, 235, 237, 246, 247, 248, 250, 251, 260, 262, 263, 264, 295 Bacchus and Ariadne (Titian), 27, 3 1 Bacciocchi, Conte Mario, 632 Bache, Jules, 65 rn. Bach, Johann Sebastian, 198, 24 7 Backhouse, Edmund, 482n. China under the Empress Dowager: Being
the Life and Times of Tzu Hsi Compiled from State Papers and the Private Diary of the Controller of the Household, 48 I, 482n. Badgastein, Germany, 66 I, 662 Bad Kissingen, Germany, 647, 648 Bagni di Lucca, Italy, 3 I 8 Bain, Mr., 430, 46I Bakst, Leon, 587, 588n. Balbi Children, The (Van Dyck), 407, 408, 4IO, 4I 3
Baldovinetti, Alessio, I45, 637 Madonna, I3I Baldwin, Florence, 226n., 337, 363, 47I, 472, 473, 478, 489-490
Baldwin, Dr. William Wilberforce, 98, 99n., !26, 3 I 8, 365, 49I Balfour, Prime Minister Arthur James , 229n. Ballet Russe, 588n. Balzac (Rodin), I42 Bandinelli, Baccio Self Portrait, I63n. Bankes Collection (Kingston Lacy, Dorset), 70, 76, 78
Bankes family, I99n. Barbi, Alice, I 98 Barbizon School, 505 Bardini, Stefano, IOI, I02n., I35, I4I, I57, I67, I72, 23 I
Bardini Museum (Florence), I05, I08 blue wall color, 207, 2IO, 229, 230-23 I, 233, 234, 235 Barker, Dr. 624 Barna da Siena, 432 Bar~ey, Natalie, 586
Baron Thyssen Collection, 45 In. Barry, William The New Antigone, I 7 Bartolozzi, Francesco, I 66 Basaiti, Marco, 329 Pietd, 29 5, 296n. Virgin and Child with Saint Libera le, 3 30 Basel, Switzerland, 25 Bassano, Jacopo Head of a Monk, 338 Battle of the Centaurs and Lapiths (Fiero di Cosimo), 92, 93n., 297, 298, 299, 300 Baudelaire, Pierre Charles, 20 Poemes en Prose, I7 Bayreuth, Germany, I 8, 20, 23, 25, 92, 9394
Bearded Man in Black (Moroni), 40, 4I, 43, 44
Bearn, countess de, 403 Beam, Count Jean de, 405n. Beatty, Admiral Lord, 622n. Beauchamp, Miss, 396 Beauport (Gloucester, Massachusetts), 506n. Beauvais, Prince, 634 Beaux, Cecelia, 625 portraits, 622 Becque, Henri Franc;oise, 200 Beethoven, Lugwig van, 67, 93, I22 Beham, Hans Sebald Portrait of a Man, 69, 7I, 76-77. See also Heinrich Aldegrever Belgium, I 8, 502 Bellano, Bartolommeo, IOI The Entombment of Christ. See Giovanni Minelli: The Entombment of Christ Pietd. See Giovanni Minelli: The Entombment of Christ Belle Ferronniere, La (Hahn's), 662, 663n. Belle Ferronnie're, La (Leonardo), 244 Belle ]ardiniere (Raphael), 97 Bellini, Gentile, 4 76 pen drawing (A Turkish Artist). See Costanzo da Ferrara Bellini, Giovanni, xxiv, 4I, 65n., 77, 8I, IOO, I48, 286, 329, 53 I, 637. See also Christ Bearing the Cross Alzano Madonna, 40 Bacchanal. See Feast of the Gods Feast of the Gods (with Titian), xxiv, 585, 59I, 592, 593, 595, 596, 597, 599, 600, 6oI' 602, 626, 649 Lo chis Madonna, 40 Madonna and Child, 586, 626, 627n., 628, 63I, 632, (536, 637 madonnas, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49 Saint Francis in Ecstasy, 497, 498
Saint Jerome between Saint Christopher and Saint Augustine, 637, 638n. Venus, or a Lady at Her Toilet, 594, 595n., 597, 600
Belmont, Mrs. Perry. See Alva Smith Belmont, Oliver Hazard Perry, 423n . Benedetto da Maiano, 39on. Madonna and Child (terra-cotta), I67n., I68
Bend, Edvard, 6I2, 6I3n. Benson, Father Robert Hugh, 470
Benson, Mrs. Robert, 528 Benson, R. and E., Collection (London and Sussex), II711., 23rn., 259 Benvenuto di Giovanni Alberto Ari11,~hieri, Knight of Malta, I78, I7911., I84 Berkeley Castle (Gloucestershire, England), I02, I0311., I04 Berenson, Albert (BB 's father), 503 Berenson, Bernard as advisor to art collectors, 297 on American women, 24 7 art collection of, 632, 636, 637 on art critics, 3 3 8 on art dealers, IOI, I05, 109, 262, 293, 302, 303-307, 332, 446, 448, 450, 45I, 596 art expertise of, 2 I I attitude toward Jews, 2I attribution mistakes of, xxiii-xxiv on Boston, 587, 617, 645 on Boston Museum of Fine Arts, 360 bribe offered to, 206
Catalogue of a Collection of Paintings and Some Art Objects: Italian Paintings (The John G. Johnson Collection), 499 catalogue of paintings of, 63 7 as celebrity, 646, 65I, 652, 666
The Central Italian Painters of the Rennaissance, xxi, 6I, 62n. 78, II3, II6, I72, 1
I 80, 214, 22 I, 3 3 8 Cimabue article, 653 commissions from selling artworks, 3 5, 36, I82, 6I6-6I7 as connoisseur, xvii, xxi, xxiv-xxv, 4, 35 as conversationalist, xxv, xxvi delight of nature, xxi
Drawings of the Florentine Painters of the Renaissance, xxv, 6I, 62n., 78, I57, 230, 236, 26I-262, 286-287, 288, 289, 297, 302, 3I2, 3I3, 3I8-3I9n., 328, 348 on early German art, 64 7 early love of art, I 3 education of, xx, 4 Enthroned Madonna and Child article, 63 5
Essays in the Study of Sienese Painting, 588n. 604 J
on exporting Italian art, 77, 83, 84-85, 90-9I, IOI family of, 324-325 fear of discredit, xxii, 36 first trip to Europe, 4 on Flemish painting, 648
The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance, xxi, 4I, 50, I58, I96, 2I6, 234 interest in French early medieval sculpture, 6I4, 6I8 friendships of, 639 on Isabella Stewart Gardner, xx11-xx111, 303, 337, 66I Isabella Stewart Gardner on, 327, 330 on Gardner Collection, 45, 47, 4811., 49, 56, 60, 61, 68, 75, 87, I20, I51-152, I66, I8I-I82, 199, 20I, 206, 2I3, 2I9, 237, 242, 265, 267-268, 27I-272, 279, 288, 290, 294, 296, 299, 303, 3I6, 3I8, 333, 343, 403, 404, 4I2, 416, 440, 445, 447, 458, 516, 519, 521, 524, 590, 592, 594, 601, 635, 653 on German painting, 648 on Germany, 64 7 on getting artworks to United States of America for culture, 323 health of, 85-86, 87, IOO, IIO, I22, 127, 157, 170, 186, I93, I94, I95, 256, 263, 264, 278, 298, 300-301, 302, 308, 309, 31I, 3I2, 3I3, 3I4, 316, 338, 378, 379, 382, 387, 399, 473, 476, 478, 48I, 482, 483-484, 485, 489, 492, 497, 498, 50I, 605, 607, 6I l, 6I8, 624 on his fallibility, I 84 on homosexuality, 254-255 Italian Pictures of the Renaissance, 213n. on Italians, 73, 132, 208, 494-495 on Italy, 257, 30I-302, 485, 602 onJapan, 351 at leisure, 336 lists of, 415, 64911. on literature, 6-7
Lorenzo Lotto: An Essay in Constructive Art Criticism, 39, 99, 3 I6 love affairs of, 48 3-484 marriage to Mary Pearsall Smith Costelloe, 223, 225, 227, 236, 237-238, 243 interest in Medieval art, 635, 636, 638 on men, 452 myth of, xxvi
North Italian Painters of the Renaissance, xxi, 246n., 346, 34 7, 348, 3 50, 3 56, 360, 363, 37I-372, 377, 390, 392, 395 on Oriental art, 4 70, 498 Oriental art collection of, 242, 5 3 I on owners of artworks, l 14
Painting in America: The Fifteenth Century, 499n. on Paris, 529
The Passionate Sightseer, 28n. photograph collection of artworks, xv11, 337-338 on picture market, 209, 219 Pictures in the Collection of P. A. B. Wide-
ner at Lynnwood Hall, Elkins Park , Pennsylvania, 588n. on Prado reorganization, 6 l l, 6 l 2 on prices of artworks, 76-77, 403 as reformed character, 649, 6 50 relationship with Mary Pearsall Smith Costelloe Berenson, xxi-xxii, 37, 618 religious conversions of, xx-xxi, 78 on rivalry among art collectors, l 34 rootlessness of, xxi, 602 A Sienese Painter of the Franciscan Legend, 462, 463n.
Sketch for a Self Portrait, xxi, xxiv-xxv slander against, 154, 327-330, 596-597 on smuggling artworks, 8 5, 106, 109, ll2 , ll4, 129, 133, 237 spelling of first name, xvi in.
The Study of Criticism of Italian Art, 25 l, 499n ., 599 Sunset and Twilight, xxvn., xxvin. on traveling, 5 on United States of America, 3 l 8, 322, 325, 332, 333, 359
The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance , xxi, 38, 87, 99, 113, 21rn. Venetian Painting in America: The Fifteenth Century, 531, 588n. on Venice, 637-638 on women, 16, 247, 373-374, 383, 441 , 502 working habits of, 130, 131, 136, 162, 165, 199, 200, 216, 230, 242, 247, 250251, 254, 256, 258, 265, 278, 283, 286, 287, 296, 297, 336, 348, 351-352, 353, 358, 362, 368, 371, 376, 392, 394, 395, 396, 397, 494, 500, 614, 664-665 on World War I, 531, 587, 601, 646 on writing, 6, 9, 14, 287 writing style of, xviii Berenson, Bessie. See Elizabeth Berenson Berenson, Elizabeth (Bessie, BB's sister), 256, 262, 324-325, 484, 494, 655, 656 Berenson, Judith Mickelshanski (BB's mother) , 256, 258, 259n., 262, 264, 321, 324, 416, 503 Berenson, Mary Pearsall Smith Costelloe, xxi-xxii, 35, 36, 99, 107, 125, 14811., 206, 223, 225, 227, 236, 247, 252, 254,
255, 264, 265, 269, 297, 302, 313, 318, 320, 322, 325, 336, 347, 350, 361, 362, 365, 367, 368, 369, 372, 376, 377, 383, 387, 388, 389, 393, 397, 400, 401, 402, 410, 41 l, 414, 417, 421-422, 423, 425, 429, 439, 441, 444, 449, 450, 45 l, 454, 462, 464, 465, 466, 470, 476, 477, 482, 485, 487, 490, 491, 492, 502, 604, 605, 618, 628-629, 636, 638 family of, 401 on Feast of the Gods (Bellini and Titian), 594, 595-596 on Fenway Court, 527 on Isabella Stewart Gardner, 242 health of, 333, 335, 336, 345, 378, 394, 396, 399, 401, 407, 473, 481, 497, 498, 605, 606, 607, 608-609, 613, 614, 615, 624, 632, 647, 657 lectures by, 427, 428, 433, 623 nervous breakdown of, 605, 606, 607, 610, 611, 613, 614, 615 relationship with daughters, 649 ruby from Isabella Stewart Gardner, 620, 631, 641, 650, 658 on United States of America, 418 work of, 348 on World War I, 608, 609, 612, 648-649 writing style of, xviii Berenson, Rachel (BB's sister), 325n., 494, 495n . Berenson, Senda (BB's sister), 93, 116, II7, 129, 133, 139, 141, 202, 205, 206, 209, 210, 213, 220, 223' 225, 228, 229, 23 3, 253, 254, 320, 321, 325, 348, 354, 355, 359, 360, 416, 453, 464, 480, 482, 509, 5 l l engagement of, 487, 489
l l l, 147, 215, 234, 352, 455,
13, 186, 216, 236, 353, 463, l
Berenson and the Connoisseurship of Italian Painting (National Gallery of Art), xxzv n . Berenson Archive: An Inv en tory of Correspondence, The (Mariano), 25rn. Berenson's doctor. See Baldwin, Dr. William Wilberforce Beresford, Admiral Lord Charles, 3 87n. Beresford, Lady, 3 87 Bergamo, Italy, 40-41 Bergognone, Ambrogio The Madonna Suckling the Child, 40 Berlin, Germany, 18, 19, 21, 152 art in, 650 Berlin Museum, 190
685
Berlin Photographic Co. (New York), 507n. Berlioz, Hector, 93 Bermejo, Bartolome Santa Engracia, 34on., 390 Bernard Berenson: The Making of a Connoisseur (Samuels), xxn., xxvii Bernard Berenson: The Making of a Legend (Samuels), xxvii Bernhardt, Sarah, IO-I I, 125n., 374 Berry, Walter Van Rensselaer, 492, 493n., 587, 603' 63 3' 634
Beruete, Aureliano de, 267, 268n . Beverly Farms, Mass., 320 Beyle, Marie Henri [pseud. Stendhal], r6 Chartreuse de Parme, r6, 3 l Le Rouge et le Nair, 3 I Bezad, Kamat al-Din Persian miniatures, 494 Bianco, Simone bronze bust, 432, 43 5, 439, 441, 446, 448, 457, 459
Biblioteca Ambrosiana (Milan), 26 Bicci di Lorenzo Annunciation, 264-265, 266, 267, 269, 270, 271' 272, 273' 277 Bigelow, William Sturgis, 66, 259n., 261
Biltmore (Asheville, North Carolina), 3 I 5 Bindo Altoviti (Cellini), 142, 143, 144, 145, 146, 150, 152, 155, 156, 157, 203, 206
Bing, Marcel (Paris), 5IO, 5rr, 512, 513, 517
Birnbaum, Martin, 5 IO, 5 I I, 5 r4 Birth of Venus (Botticelli), 6or Bissolo, Francesco, 597, 600 Bland, J. 0. P. China under the Empress Dowager, 48 I, 482n.
Bliss, Miss, 417 Blue Boy, The (Gainsborough), 50, 5 r-52, 53, 54-55, 56n., 413 Blumenthal, George, House (N. Y.), 619, 62on. Boccati, Giovanni, 272, 637 Bocher, Ferdinand, 4 Bode, Wilhelm von, 47, 48n., 78, I r9, 170, r7r, 203, 204-205, 207, 328, 450 Rembrandt, 200
Boito, Arrigo Mefistofele, 467 Boldini, Giovanni, 416, 4r7n. Bolgi (Teobaldo Travi), 603, 668 Bologna, Italy, 26, 212
686
Bolognese String Quartet, 122 Bolsheviks, 63 8 Boltraffio, Giovanni Antonio Portrait of a Youth, 243, 244, 246, 24 7, 249 Bonaparte, Napoleon (Napoleon I), 70 Bonfigli, Benedetto, 256, 257, 260, 262, 264, 265, 267, 63 7
Madonna and Angels, 507 Bonifazio Veronese, 2 7, 3 r, I 20 Rich Man's Repast, 27 Sacra Conversazione, 4r, 269 Boni, Giacomo, 385, 386n. Bonomi-Cereda Collection (Milan), 40 Bonsignori, Francesco Portrait Bust of a Gonzaga, 39 Bordone, Paris Christ among the Doctors, 263, 264, 265, 267, 268, 269-270, 271, 273, 275, 278, 296 Fisherman and Doge, 263 Borghese Gallery (Rome), 86, r82n. Borgia Apartments, Vatican, 276, 277n., 385
Boris Godunojf (Modest Mussorgsky), 508 Boston, Massachusetts, r 8, 68 Bernard Berenson on, 587, 617, 645 building laws, 214 opera house, 439, 460 during World War I, 605 Boston Museum of Fine Arts, xxiii, 44, 65, 66-67, 68-69, 70, 74, 77, 79, 80, 92, lIO, 133, 136, 241, 242, 249, 252, 253, 259n., 261, 29rn., 296n., 315, 321, 323, 324, 335, 338, 341, 349, 354, 355, 356, 357, 358, 359, 360, 361, 367, 368, 369, 371, 372, 374, 375, 376, 389, 392, 4IO, 411, 457, 459, 467, 469, 485, 499, 500, 501, 5rrn., 519, 585, 586, 587, 622n., 645n., 646n., 652n., 655, 665, 668 Bernard Berenson on, 360
Boston Museum of Fine Arts murals (Sargent), 586, 593 Boston Public Library, 324 Boston Red Sox, 491 r9r6 World Series, 589 Boston Symphony Orchestra, 418, 586, 648n.
Botticelli, Sandro, 7, 20, 78, 136, 216-217, 219, 259, 309, 486, 507, 519, 624, 666 Agony in the Garden, 612 Birth of Venus, 60 r Calumny, 39
Chigi Madonna, 174-176, 179, 180, 186, 217, 220, 231, 233, 234, 263, 264, 266, 270, 271, 275, 277, 279, 281, 292666 Giuliano dei Medici, 40, 507, 5 I7, 621 Magnificat, 175 Portrait of a Youth, 621 The Redeemer, 40 Story of Lucretia, 487, 488n. The Story of Virginia, 40 Three Miracles of Saint Zenobius, 487, 192, 236, 272, 293,
193, 260, 273, 296,
195, 261, 274, 403,
488n.
Tragedy of Lucretia, 3 5, 39, r 76, 294 Virgin and Child, 3 38 Widener's, 428 Young Man in a Red Cap, 3 30 Botticini, Francesco Assumption, 259 The Madonna and Child with Little Saint john, 259, 260, 261, 262, 264, 265, 266, 268-269
Three Archangels, 259 Bourbon del Monte, Countess. See Jane Campbell Bourget, Minnie, 195, 530, 649 Bourget, Paul-Charles-Joseph, 8-9, ran ., 195, 226, 530, 649 "Edel," 12 Mensonges, 8-9, ro, 12 Bouts, Albert, 422 Bouts, Dirck, 91 justice of Otto III, 63
Boy in a Scarlet Cap (Lorenzo di Credi), 508, 509n.
Boyce, Neith. See Neith Hapgood Boyer, Reverend Francis Buckner, 400-401 Bradley, Katherine Harris [pseud. Michael Field], 15, 17n., 419 Callirrhoe, r 5-16 Bradley, Mrs., 621 Brahms, Johannes, 198 Brancaccio, Prince, 358, 384, 385, 386, 388, 390
Brauer, ? ?, 303-304, 398 Brazza, ? ?, 383 Brera Gallery (Milan), 27 Briand, Aristide, 63 3 Brides-les-Bains, France, 502 Bridges, Robert Nero, 15 Bridgwater House (London), 450 Bristol, Lord, 250, 267
British Museum, 466, 4 77, 662 Bronze bust (Bianco), 432, 435, 439, 441, 446
Bronzino, Agnolo, 145, 146n., 235, 238, 259. See also A Lady in Black and White Brooke, Sir Charles Johnson, raja of Sarawak, 209n. Brooke, Lady (Margaret Alice Lily de Windt, rani of Sarawak), 208, 209n. Brookline. See Green Hill (Brookline, Massachusetts) Brooks, Phillips, xx Brooks, Romaine, 475 Brasses, Charles de, 3 r Brown, Horatio, 501 Browning, Elizabeth Barrett, r 6 Browning, Robert, 15, 17n., 31 Brownlow, Lord, 60, 9 5 Brussels, Belgium, r 8 Brussels tapestries, 242 Bryn Mawr College, 330, 418, 423, 424, 426, 623, 624
Buffalo, New York, 329 Bulgarini, Bartolommeo The Madonna Enthroned, with Saints and Angels, 491 Bullard, Francis, 363, 468 Bullitt, Anne Reed (Mrs. William Christian), 621, 656 Bullitt, William Christian, 62 r, 6 56 Buonamici, Giuseppe, 122, 243 Buonaparte, Eliza, 632 Burgundy, France, 367 Burial of Count Orgaz, The (El Greco), 339, 34on.
Burlington Club (London), 3 38 Burlington House (London), 13, 413-414 Burne-Jones, Edward, 208, 637 Burr, Isaac Tucker, 508 Burroughs, Bryson, 426, 438, 619 Burton, Alfred E., 7, 8n. Burton, Father, 668 Burton, Gertrude Hitz, 7, 8n. Burtt, Margaret L., 482, 483n. Bust of a Man (Romanino), 41 Bust of a Young Girl (Marietta Strozzi), 448, 457, 458n., 460, 462-463, 465
Bust of a Young Man (Antonello da Messina), 33-34
Bust of Carey Thomas (Manship), 663 Bust of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. (Manship), 622
Byard, Theodore, 222
Byron, Lord George Gordon Noel, 3 12, 318
Caen Sposalizio (Perugino), 42-43 Caetani, Prince Roffredo, 367, 368n. Cagnola, Don Guido, 190, l9rn., 228, 638, 650, 65 l Cagnola, Donna, 650, 651 Cairo Museum, 645 Candriano, Princess, Donna Maria, 374n. Calabria, Eleanor-Maria-Vittoria, Countess Ruffo di, 347 Calabria, Prince Ruffo di, 374n. Calumet and Hecla, 527, 530, 53 l Calumny (Botticelli), 39 Camastra, Octave, duke of, l 39, 225, 226n. Cambridge, England, 147 Cameron, Elizabeth (Mrs. James Donald), 344, 345, 346, 499, 653 Cameron, Senator James Donald, 344n. Campbell, Jane, 96, 97n., 3 59 Campbell, Mrs. Patrick. See Beatrice Stella Tanner Candelabra Madonna, The (Raphael), 92, 93 Candle-Clock, The (miniature), 506, 507n., 513 Candriano, Don Giuseppe, Prince, 374n. Canfield, Mrs. Richard, 402 Canfield, Richard, 402n . Cannon, Henry White, 287, 365, 416n. , 517 Cappoli, Carlo, 250, 25rn. Caprarola. See Palazzo Farnese Caprioli, Domenico Cardinal Grimani, 165 Gattamelata, 165 Caraman-Chimay, princess de. See Countess Marie-Ana tole-Louise-Eliza beth Greffulhe Cardinal Grimani (Caprioli), 165 Cariani, Giovanni Portrait of a Woman, 40 Portrait of Giovanni Benedetto da Caravaggio, 40 Woman Playing the Lute and Shepherd Asleep, 40 Carli, Raffaello dei. See Raffaellino del Garbo Carlisle, Lord, 62, 6 3, 249, 26 l Carlsbad, 497, 498, 501 Carnarvon, Lord, 643 Carnastra, Rose, 634
688
Caroto, Giovanni Francesco Holy Family, 2 lo Carpaccio, Vittore, 142, 211, 212, 213 Carr, Jervey, 501 Carter, Howard, 643, 644 Carter, John R., 607, 608 Carter, Morris, xxiiin., xxvii, 58 5, 628, 629, 651, 652n., 659 A Choice of Manuscripts and Fine Bindings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, 66on. Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court, 652n. Cartwright, Julia Isabella d'Este, 315, 317 Casa Albani, 3 l 8 Casa Gropallo, 383 Casanova, Giacomo Memoires, 333, 336 Castagna, Andrea del David, 398 The Portrait of a Man, 403-404, 405, 406, 407-408, 409, 410, 4II, 412, 415 , 446, 508 Castagnola (painter), 136 Castiglione (Raphael), II 8, l 19 Castiglione d'Olona, 228-229 Castiglione d'Olona frescoes (Masolino da Panicale), 650 Castiglione Fiorentino, 292 Castle Howard, 40 l Catena, Vincenzo, 23 5 D elivery of the K eys to Saint Peter, 41, 269 Supper at Emmaus, 40 Catskills, N ew York, 367-368 Cattaneo, Marches a Nicola, 401, 402n. Cattaneo, Marchese Giovanni Battista, 402n . Cattaneo Van Dycks, 401, 402n.. Cavalcaselle, Giovanni Battista, xxi, 232, 233n. Cavazzolo, Paolo Portrait of a Woman, 40 Cavenaghi, 75, 77, Sr, 83, 209, 250, 275, 287, 291, 292-293, 294, 295, 296, 304, 305, 627 Cavendish-Bentinck, Lady Ottoline (Morrill), 135, 136n., 27rn. Cavendish-Bentinck, Lord Morven, 63 3 Caze, Baroness Gabrielle La, 636, 646 Cefalu Cathedral, 30 Cellamare Palace Collection (Naples), 249
Cellini, Benvenuto, 457 Autobiography, r42 Bindo Altoviti, r42, r43, r44, r45, r46, r50, r52, r55, r56, r57, 203, 206 Ganymede . See Ganymede Cesnola, conte di, Emanuele Pietro Paolo Marian Luigi Palma, 3 54 Chadbourne, Emily, 426 Chadwick, Admiral, 33 8 Chalfin, Paul, 354, 355, 368, 369, 399-400 Chamberlain Collection, 74n. Chambery, France, 367 Chanler, Margaret Terry (Mrs. Winthrop), 63 I, 632 Autumn in the Valley, 632n. Chanler, Robert, 437 Chanler family, 63 r Chapeau de Paille (Rubens), 146 Charles IV (Goya), 90 Charpentier, Gustave Louise, 4r7, 4r8n. Charteris, Francis, earl of Wemyss, r 5 r Chartres, France, 6 r 6 Cherry, Lance, 482 Chez Tortoni (Manet), 586 Chicago, 326, 327, 3 57 Chicago Art Institute, 228n. Chigi, Prince, r63, r74-r75, r9r, 234, 235n., 28r Chigi Madonna (Botticelli), r74-r76, r79, r8o, r86, r92, r93, r95, 2r7, 220, 23r, 233, 234, 236, 260, 26r, 263, 264, 266, 270, 27r, 272, 273, 274, 275, 277, 279, 28r, 292-293, 296, 403, 666 Chigi velvet hangings, 267-268, 270, 272 Childers, Molly Osgood. See Molly Osgood Childers, Robert Erskine, 224-225n., 4r7, 653 Child Jesus Disputing in the Temple, The (Giovanni di Paolo), 42r, 422, 424, 425 Chinese art, 520, 523, 525, 53r, 587. See also Oriental art Chinese stele, 475n. Chinese terra-cottas, 4 77 Choate, Sarah C., 370, 37rn., 372 Choice of Manuscripts and Fine Bindings in the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, A (Carter), 66on. Choir stalls (sixteenth-century Northern Italian), r93, r94-r95, 199-200, 203, 206, 207, 3 r4
Chou (or Chow) bears. See Han bears Christ among the Doctors (Bordone), 263, 264, 265, 267, 268, 269-270, 27r, 273, 275, 278, 296 Christ Bearing the Cross, 65, 66-67, 68-69, 70, 7r, 72, 73, 74, 77, 79, 8o-8r, 82, 83, 84, 85, 86, 87, 88-90, 98, ro5-ro6, ro8, ro9, rro-rrr, rr2, rr3, r14, rr6, r24, 128, r29, r35-r36, r57, 328, 653, 654 Christ Bearing the Cross (Veronese), 23 Christ between Saints Peter and James, 649, 65r, 653 Christie's (London), 68n., 96n., ro4, r8o, r8r Robinson sale, 6rn., 299, 3oon. Christina of Denmark, duchess of Milan (Holbein), 445 Christina of Sweden, Queen, 232, 23 3n. Christ in the Tomb (Perugino), 564 Christ mort, Le (Ecole fiamande), 382 Cicognara, Antonio A Prayer Before a Tomb, 414n., 4r5, 52rn., 523-524, 525 Cima da Conegliano, Giovanni Battista, IOO, r87 Madonna and Child, Sr, 83, 87, r20 Vanderlip's, 623 Cimabue, 653 Christ between Saints Peter and James. See Christ between Saints Peter and James Clark, Francine, 627n. Clark, Kenneth, xxiii Another Part of the Wood, 664n. Clark, Sterling, 627n. Clark, Senator William, 429, 43on. Clark Art Institute (Williamstown, Massachusetts), 6on. Clarke, Sir Caspar Purdon, 360 Clemenceau, Georges, 622n., 633, 635 Cleve, Joos van Sain.te Famille, 3 82 Cleveland, 329 Cleveland Museum of Art, 25on. Clews, Henry, 437 Fifty Years of Wall Street, 437n. Clouet, Jean, 40 Le Dauphin Franfois, 4on., 58, 6on. Cockran, William Bourke, 325, 326n. Codman, Ogden, 630, 63 r The Decoration of Houses, 63on. Colle, Italy, 127-128
Colnaghi, P. & D., and Co. (London), xxiii, 36, 43n., 62n., 76, 82, r r I, r 17, I20-I2I, 123, 124, 130, 133, r54n., 158, r59n ., r66n ., 177, r8r, 192, 193, 195, 204, 205, 206, 219, 221, 222n., 230, 233, 234, 235, 236, 251, 260, 261, 263, 264, 266, 270, 271, 272, 273, 274, 275, 277, 278, 279, 280, 281, 401, 445n., 476n., 497 Colonna, Prince Marcantonio, 93 Colonna altarpiece, See Raphael: Madonna and Child Enthroned with Saints Catherine, Peter, Cecilia, Paul and the Infant Saint John the Bavtist Colony Club (New York), 427, 428, 433, 6r3n. Colvin, Sidney, 466 Combes, Dr., of Lausanne, 492 Concert, The (Vermeer), xix, 8 r
Condamine, count de La, 2 5 5 Condottiere (Antonello da Messina), 39 Conestabile collection Madonna (Raphael),
fl Giorno, 26 Leda, ro3 Venus. See Girl Taking a Thorn from Her Foot Cossa, Francesco del, 286, 400, 4r.~ Petrarch and Laura, 4 r 6
Costa, Lorenzo Madonna, 286, 287 Costantini, David, 304, 305, 3ro, 311, 326 Costantini, Emilio, IOI, ro2, ro5, ro6, ro8-ro9, 127, 128, 132, r58n ., 159, 160, 161, 170, 171, 177, 251, 277n., 287, 301' 302, 303-307, 308, 309, 3 I0-
3 II
Costanzo da Ferrara, 402n., 406, 409 Costelloe, Frank, xxi, 37, 206n., 223, 225, 227
Costelloe, Karin, 332, 333, 352, 384n., 385, 387, 388, 396, 397, 398, 399, 400, 401, 407, 409-4ro, 417, 418, 419, 423, 437, 455, 485, 488, 493, 518, 526 marriage to Adrian Stephen, 527-528,
529
232, 276, 279
Connaught, duke of (Prince Arthur William Patrick Albert), 630 Conservation, of artworks, 205, 209, 245-
Costelloe, Mary. See Mary Pearsall Smith Costelloe Berenson Costelloe, Rachel (Ray), 332, 333, 352, 396,
246, 261, 268-269, 291, 295, 296, 516, 517, 519, 596, 627, 640, 653 Constable, John, 39 Constant de Rebecque, Benjamin, r6, r7n. Cook, Sir Herbert Frederick, 183, 184, 340, 359, 36on. , 441, 443, 465, 466 Coolidge, Archibald Cary, 613, 614n . Coolidge, Joseph Randolph, 374 Coolidge, J. Templeman, 376 Cooper, Lady Diana, 229n.
418, 423, 434, 435, 436, 438, 467, 468, 476, 485, 487, 493, 518 Marching On, 662, 663n., 664 marriage to Oliver Strachey, 488, 489n . pregnancies of, 495, 496n., 590 Costessy Hall (Norwich), 258 Cottage Door, The, (Gainsborough), 56n. Cottenet, Rawlins L., 198, 623
Cooper, Edith Emma [pseud. Michael Field), r 5, r7n., 419 Callirrhoe, l 5- l 6 Cooper Hewitt, Lucy Work, 423, 424n.,
Coulton, George Gordon
425, 492, 493-494, 497, 498, 506, 517 Cooper Hewitt, Peter, 424n. Cooper Hewitt, Sarah, 621, 622n. Coppoli, Carlo, 250, 25on., 304-305 Coquelin (Benoit Constance), 141, r42n.
Corcoran
Gallery
(Washington,
D. C.),
43on.
Corneille de Lyon, 4on. Corot, Jean-Baptiste-Camille, xix, 200 Correggio, xx iv, 26, ro3, ro9, l II, I2I, 123, 286, 415 Danae, 103
II 8,
Cotting School for Handicapped Children, 21 In . From St. Francis to Dante: Translations from the Chronicle of the Franciscan Salimbene (i221-1288), 394 Count Alborghetti and His Sons (Moroni), 44, 45n. Count Tommaso Inghirami (Raphael), r I 8120, I2I, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126-127, 128-129, 130, 132-133, 137, 138, 140, I 54, I 59, 296, 427 Countess of Altamira and Her Daughter, The (Goya), 459, 460, 461, 465 Courbet, Gustave, 91 Cowper, Lord, 204, 405n. Cox, Allyn, 600 Cox, Kenyon, 600
Cracow, Poland, 379 Cracroft, Mary, 24 7, 4 79 Craig, Edward Gordon, 414 Cram, Ralph Adams, 504 Crawford, F. Marion, xviii Crawshay, Mary, 386, 389, 402, 405, 439, 465, 466, 476, 480, 486, 492 Crawshay, Robert, 3 86n. Crespi Collection (Milan), 507n., 517n. Cristofaro Madruzzo (Titian), 3 88 Crivelli, Carlo, 91, 219, 272, 422 The Madonna and Child Enthroned, 40,
Curzon, Lady Irene, 646n. Cushing, Ethel Cochrane (Mrs. Howard), 354, 624 Cushing, Grafton, 417, 509 Cushing, Howard, 137, 138n., 354, 499, 509 Cust, Henry John Cockyne, 229, 642, 656 Cutting, Bayard, 62rn., 64on. Cutting, Sybil. See Lady Sybil Scott Cyrano de Bergerac (Rostand), 141 Czernin Collection (Vienna), 86, 87n. Czernin family, 143
102n.
Pieta with Saint John and the Magdalen, 291' 293' 294
Saint George and the Dragon, 102, 103, 105, 106, 109, l l I, I 17, 120, 121, 124, l 58, 177, 203, 206, 224, 272, 274, 275 Crowe,]. A., 232, 233n. Crowning with Thorns (Titian), 91 Crucifixion (El Greco), 338 Crucifixion (Giottino), 42, 43-44, 45 Cvucifixion (Piero della Francesca), 649 Cunard, Sir Bache, 437n. Cunard, Lady (Maude "Emerald" Burke), 437, 438, 453, 456, 466, 475 Cupid and Psyche (Sellaio), 500 Cupid on a Tortoise (sixteenth-century Venetian), 426, 427n. Curel, Franc;oise de, 200 Cure, The, 475, 476, 478, 485, 486, 489, 497, 498, 501, 502, 633, 635, 638, 647, 648, 661 Curtis, Ariana, 644, 660 Curtis, Daniel, 74-75, 77 Curtis, Frances G., 598 Curtis, Lisa (Lizette), 283, 284n ., 449, 450, 452, 456, 4 78, 488, 492, 497, 499, 500, 501, 502, 515, 518, 519, 530, 591, 597, 604, 6II, 618, 629, 630, 644, 660 Curtis, Marjorie, 519, 630, 644, 661 Curtis, Mrs. Daniel, 500, 501 Curtis, Ralph, Jr. (Bino), 519, 630, 644 Curtis, Ralph, Sr. (Raph), xx, 74-75, 77, 186, 187, 266, 283, 284n., 345, 358, 359, 438, 449, 450, 452, 456, 475, 476, 478, 480, 483, 484, 485, 488, 489, 490, 492, 495, 497, 499, 500, 501, 502, 5 I 5, 5 I 8, 5 l 9, 530, 539, 54 3, 4 59, 60 3n 路 , 604, 611, 613, 618, 629, 630, 643, 660 death of, 586, 644, 645n. Curtis, Sylvia, 519, 630, 644, 660
Dahlgren, Elizabeth Drexel, 636n. Daimio screens, 362 Danae (Correggio), 103 Dana, Mrs. Richard Henry, 625 Dana, Richard Henry, 62 5, 626n. D'Annunzio, Gabriele, 54, 168, 173, 174, 345, 346, 353, 375, 475 La citta morta, 124, 125n ., 252 Il fuoco, 45, 208 Le vergini delle rocce, 44, 45, 4 7 Dante Alighieri, 15, 38 5, 66on. Divina Commedia, 31 Dante Circle, ix Darnley, Lord, 55 Dartington Hall, 613n. Daudet, Alphonse Les Rois en exil, 23-24 Dauphin Fran(ois, Le (Clouet), 4on ., 58, 6on.
David (Castagno), 398 David, Gerard
Adoration of the Magi, 91, 1oo Davis, Mr. (of Boston), 344 Davis, Theodore, 35, 4rn., 42, 134, 135136, 137, 139, 141, 143, 151, 153, 173174, 175, 196-197, 213, 245, 246, 287, 3orn., 303-304, 305, 306, 310-311, 312, 321, 322, 323, 324, 329, 330, 469-470 Deacon, Audrey, 336-337 Deacon, Dorothy (Princess Radziwill), 471, 472, 473n ., 474, 478, 484, 493, 495 Deacon, Edith, 473, 474, 493 Deacon, Gladys. See Marlborough, duchess of Deacon, Mrs. Edward Parker. See Florence Baldwin Deanery, The (Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania), 514
Debussy, Claude, 4 79 Decoration of Houses, The (Wharton and Codman), 63011. De Cosse-Brissac, Comtesse Charlotte, 457 Degas, Edgar, 416, 441, 586 Portrait of Madame Cai1jeli11, 331, 332, 333,
Cattamelata, 165 Saint Cecilia, 13 Donnelly, Ignatius Atlantis: The Antediluvian World, 652 Donovan Collection (Rokeby, Yorkshire),
334, 357, 362, 370, 439, 440, 441, 443, 454, 455, 461 de Koven, Anna (Mrs. Reginald), 633, 635,
Don Quichotte (Jules Massanet), 508 Dorchester House (England), 67, 6811 . Doria Pamphili, Prince Alfonso, 337, 363,
641' 660
Delaborde, H. Marc-Antoine Raimondi, 248, 24911. Delacroix, Eugene, xix De Lamar, Alice, 622, 623, 632, 634, 635 Delivery of the Keys to Saint Peter (Catena), 41' 269
del Monte, Miss, 426 Demotte, G. Joseph (Paris), 524, 525n., 527, 528, 530, 618
Denner, Balthasar, 2 5 Departure for Cythera (Watteau), 28 Deposition, The (Memling), 612 de Pougy, Diane, 474 Dermot, Jessie. See Maxine Elliot Desart, earl of, 62rn ., 639 Desborough, Lady, l20n. Desiderio da Settignano, 141, 159, 170, 171 bust of Marietta Strozzi. See Bust of a Young Girl Detroit, 326 Dewar, Miss, 623 de Wolfe, Elsie (Lady Mendl), 242, 339, 34on. , 343, 357n . , 359, 365, 377, 382n., 409, 426, 431, 453, 455, 468, 470, 471, 473, 475, 478, 507, 606, 611, 613, 627, 630, 63 l, 633
Dexter, Catherine, 452 Dexter, Mrs. Josephine Moore, 452, 453 Diaghilev, Sergey, 588n. Diary of an Art Dealer (Gimpel), xxiin. Diaz, Narcisse Virgilio, xix Dibblee, Benjamin Harris, 161 Dickinson, Goldsworthy Lowes, 631-63 3 Dictionary of American Authors, 99 Dioscurides De materia medica, 5 l 3 Dolmetsch, Arnold, 73 Domenico Veneziano A Young Lady of Fashion . See Master of the Castello Nativity : A Young Lady of Fashion Donatello, 141
64
47rn., 472, 478
Doria Pamphili Collection (Rome), 86 Dorio family, 208 Dormition and Assumption of the Virgin (Fra Angelico), 164, 165, 167, 168, 169, 203, 206, 230, 370, 515
Dormition of the Vfrgin (Master of the Bambino Vispo), 330 Dostoyevski, Fyodor, 498 Douglas, Mrs ., 400 Douglas, Robert Langton, xxii, 230, 48811 . Douvay, ? ?, 200 Douwes, G., 8rn. Dowdeswell, Walter, 223-224 Dowdeswell & Dowdeswell (London), 223, 266, 390, 422
Drago, prince del, 195n. Draper, Tuckerman, 621, 622n ., 623 Dresden, Germany, 20, 23 Dreyfus, Alfred, l 88 Dreyfus, Gustave, ro6, ro7n., 1 IO, 394, 441 Drummond, Sir George A., 505n. Drummond, Sir George A., Collection, 505
Duff-Gordon, Caroline (Lina), 125, l26n. The Story of Assisi, 214, 215n . Duino (Trieste, Italy), 366 Duke of Olivarez , The (Velasquez), 63 Dumbarton Oaks (Washington, D.C.) , 77n.
Dunham, Dows, 646 Dunham, Mrs. Dows, 646 Dunne, Finley Peter, 363 Dunne, Mrs. (Gayley), 63 3 Durand-Ruel (Paris), 79, 80, 90 Durer, Albrecht, 68, l 89, 298-299, 3 l 6, 64 7 Holtzschuer, 299 Imhoff, 299 Man in a Fur Coat , 299, 300, 301, 302, 307, 327-328, 329
Portrait of a Clergyman , 139, 140-141, 143, 144, 154
Duse, Eleonora, 168, 174, 208, 252, 3 l 5
Duveen Brothers, 56n., 12on., 32on., 402-404, 405n., 406, 407, 408, 412, 415, 416, 442, 446, 447, 448, 460, 485, 496n., 5orn., 517n., 615n., 621, 649n., 65rn., 654n. Duveen, Sir Joseph, xxiin., xxiii, xxv, 242, 344, 411, 44rn ., 452, 454, 62on., 653, 663n. Dwight, Sally, 380, 3 8 l, 3 82 Dwight, Theodore, 3 80, 38 I, 382
390, 409, 457, 585, l IO, 619,
Earl of Arundel (Rubens), 58, 59, 60, I 13114, l 16, 120, 121, 122, 123, 203, 206 Eastern Point (Gloucester, Massachusetts), 241 Eastlake, Sir Charles, l 6 5 Ecce Homo (Gentile da Fabriano), 77 Edel, Leon Henry James: The Treacherous Years, 636 Edinburgh, Scotland, 63 Edward VII, King, 291, 296, 298, 66rn . Edward VI as a Child (Holbein), 95-96, 98, IOO, I07, I09, lll-112, 118, 166 Egypt, 497, 638, 639, 640-641, 642-643, 644-645, 646, 653, 655-656, 657, 658 Egyptian Museum (Cairo), 306 Ehrich Galleries (New York), 436, 623 Elcho, Lady (Mary Wyndham), 229, 492 Elcho, Lord, 229n. Elgin, Lord, 63 Eliot, Charles William, 449n . Eliot, George Mill on the Floss, l l, 13n. Elliot, Maxine, 43 8 Elliott, John, 2 l 6n., 2 l 8, 622 Elliott, Maud Howe, 2 I 5-2 I 6, 2 l 8, 622 Elmhirst, Leonard, 613n. Emerson, Ralph Waldo, I 2, 309 Emmet, Jane (Mrs. Wilfred von Glehn), 438 Emo, Count Carlo, IIO, lI6, 117, 133, 154 Emperor and Galilean (Ibsen), 19-20 Engadine Valley, Switzerland, 8 5 England, l 8, 64, 264, 368, 58 5 art museums of, 663 Enthroned Madonna and Child (thirteenth century, Byzantine) (Kahn's), 635, 63 6t1. Enthroned Madonna and Child (thirteenth century, Byzantine) (Mellon's ), 635, 63611. Entombment of Christ, The (Minelli), IOI, I05, ro6n., 123, 127, 129 , 248, 251
Ephrussi, Charles, 141, 142n.
Episodes from the Story of Criselda (Pesellino), 40 Erskine, H. W., Collection (Pitlochrie, Scotland), 3 50 Este, Isabella d', 286 Exchange rates, (1897), 84n. Exporting ofltalian artworks, 90, r 2 r, 207, 209, 277, 288, 289-290, 661-662 Bernard Berenson on, 77, 83, 84-85, 9091, IOI Eyck, Jan van, 166 Adoration of the Lamb, 18, 27, 422 Eyre, ? ?, 254, 255 Fadl, Abdallah ibn al-
Two Miniatures of Medicinal Plants, 5 r 3 Fairbanks, Arthur, 4IO, 411-412 Fairchild, Blair, 157-158, 160, 161, 162, 170, 17rn., 174, 179, 205, 374n. Fairchild, Sallie (Satie), l77n., 373, 374n. Fairchild family, 168, 170, 171 Faldo, Mme., 4IO Family Croup (Hals), 507 Farinati, Paolo, 23 Farrand, Beatrix Jones, 5 rrn., 667n. Farrand, Max, 5 l l n. Faustino, Jane S., 471 Fearon, Walter P., 626, 628 Feast of the Cods (Bellini and Titian), xx iv , 585, 591-592, 593-595, 596, 597, 599, 600, 601, 602, 618, 649 Federal taxes. See United States of America: federal taxes Femmes au bard de la mer (Puvis de Chavannes), l 2 Fenollosa, Ernest, 3 3 5 Fens, The, 361 Fenway Court, xx, xx ii, 27on., 279, 280, 282, 298, 307, 308, 312, 313, 314, 322, 348, 358, 361, 369, 376, 395, 414, 417, 418, 421, 428, 437, 439, 457, 460, 462, 464, 512, 513, 515, 523, 536, 590, 602, 627, 639, 654, 664, 668. See also Gardner Museum Mary Berenson on, 527 building of, 2IO, 211, 229, 230, 241, 442 Chinese Loggia, 52y1., 59rn. Early Italian Room, 530 East Cloister on the Courtyard, 59 l n. expenses of, 527 Gothic Room, 622n.
Macknight Room, 585, 602, 667 Music Room, 242, 313n., 433, 434, 467, 523n., 527, 59rn. public openings, 241, 313, 330, 362, 364, 365, 369, 58 5, 652 Spanish Chapel, 523n. Spanish Cloister, 523n., 525n., 59rn. Tapestry Room, 242, 523n., 59rn. Ferdinand I, King, 3 57n.
Feschi, Cardinal, l 2 l Fete Champetre (Giorgione), 27, 3 l 7 Fielding-Hall, Harold The Soul of a People, 392, 394 Fielding, Percy, 272n. Field, Michael. See Katherine Harris Brad-
ley and Edith Emma Cooper Finding of Moses (Veronese), 23 Fiorentino , Pier Francesco, l 29 Madonna Adoring Child with Two Angels,
300 Madonna against a Rose Hedge , 300 Fiorenzo di Lorenzo, 22 l, 226, 290 Annunciation. See Piermatteo d' Amelia Christ in the Tomb. See Perugino: Christ in the Tomb Fischer, ? ?, 429, 430, 43 l Fisherman and Doge (Bordone), 263
Fisher, Richard , 3 55 Fish, Marion Graves Anthon, 397 Fish, Stuyvesant, 397n. Fitch, Clyde, 426n. The Blue Mouse, 426 Fitzhenry, Mr., 283-284, 390, 391, 396
Flaubert, Gustave, 8 l Fletcher, Horace, 369, 37on., 37 l Fletcher, Jefferson B ., 619, 62on. Flexner, Dr. Simon, 506, 507n., 509, 608 Flinck, Govaert The Obelisk, 200, 2orn., 203, 204-205, 206, 207 Florence, Italy, l 14, 134, 157, 160, 162, 207,
367, 370, 395
during World War I, 532, 587 Fogg Art Museum (Harvard University), 506n., 666n. Football, 652
Foppa, Vincenzo The Three Crucifixes, 40 Forbes, Edward Waldo, 666 Forgery, of artworks, 292, 304-307, 326 Forli Titian. See Juana of Austria with a Young Child
Fouquet, Jean, 3 39 Fowles, Edward, xxii Fox, Thomas, 360-361 Fragonard, Jean-Honore The Swing, 403, 405n. Fragonard room, 388 Frames, for artworks, 128,
30, 275 Franc / dollar exchange rate (1897), 84n. France, Anatole. See Jacques-Anatolel
Franc;ois Thibault France, 366, 367, 368 Francesco di Giorgio Martini, 637 Francia, ? ?, l 79, 286 Francia , ? ? enamel, 647 Franciabigio, 249 Francia, Francesco [Raibolini], l 76-177 Pietd, 248-249
Francia, Giacomo, 39 Freer, Charles Lang, 326, 329, 516, 531, 532 Freer Gallery of Art, 326n. French, Mrs. Barton, 618 French art, 367 Bernard Berenson on Medieval sculpture, 614, 618 French Madonna (oak), 314 French primitifs, 340 French stone statue (ca. 1200), 616, 617n. Frick, Helen Clay, 619, 620 Frick, Henry Clay, 62n., 388n., 401, 405, 407, 415, 445, 448, 452, 48rn., 497n., 62on. Frick Collection (New York), xxiv, 62n., 88n., 388n., 427n., 619, 649n. Friedsam, Michael, 476n. Fromentin, Eugene-Samuel-Auguste, 19 Fry, Roger, 360, 386, 400, 410, 414, 450
Gaddi, Agnolo Annunciation. See Bicci di Lorenzo Gaetani, Roffredo, 4 71 Gagliardi (Florence), 206 Gainsborough, Thomas, 39, 102 The Blue Boy, 50, 5 l-52, 53, 54-5 5, 56n.,
413 The Cottage Door, 56n.
Galleria dell' Accademia (Florence), 259, 370
Galleria Nazionale dell' Umbria (Fiorenzo), 221-222
Galleria Sangiorgi (Rome), 43n., 206 Gallery of the Accademia (Turin), 248-249
Galton, Sir Francis Hereditary Genius, 528 Ganay, Marquis de, 405n. Ganymede, 426, 427n. Gardner, Catherine, 354, 370, 37rn., 372, 373, 400-40I Gardner, Eliza, xviii Gardner, Esther Burnett, 370, 37rn ., 372 Gardner, George Peabody, 183, 185, 186, I87, 188, 192, 207, 218n ., 354, 37rn ., 586, 599, 6I3n .
Gardner, George Peabody, Jr., 613 n. Gardner, Isabella Stewart, 609 as art collector, xvii, xix, xxiii, 35, 36, 37, I20
on art dealers, IOI, I05, I IO, 296, 448 as art patron, xix on Bernard Berenson, 327, 330 Bernard Berenson on, xxii-xxiii, 303, 3 37, 661
Bernard Berenson on collection of, 45, 47, 48n., 151-152, 213, 237, 279, 288, 333, 343, 44 7, 458, 594, 6oI,
56, 60, 61, 68, 75, 87, 120, 166, I8I-I82, I99, 201 , 206, 242, 265, 266-268, 271-272, 290, 294, 296, 299, 303' 3 16, 403, 404, 412, 416, 440, 445, 5 I6, 519, 52 I, 524, 590, 592, 635, 653 Mary Berenson on, 242 as book collector, xix, 43 4
building of Altamura carnage house, 392, 393n., 398-399n.
as celebrity, 652 A Choice of Books, 391, 392, 401 death of, 586, 667-668 on Ella (maid), 6IO on exhibiting of artworks, 2I r, 362 family background, xviii financial situation of, 2I5, 217-2I8, 2I9, 220, '270, 319, 320-32I, 327 health of, I05, 123, 124, 126, 127, 129, r30-I3I, I32, 155, 157, 197, 246, 263 , 271, 273, 380, 419, 476, 477, 478, 487, 488, 586, 588, 600, 6I4-615, 632, 658, 659, 660, 664, 665, 667n . on Italians, Ir 7 lifestyle of, xviii-xix, 3, 357 love of violets, 254 marriage to John (Jack) Gardner, xviii Oriental art collection, 242 paintings wanted by, 43, 20I, 251, 260, 267, 297, 298, 300, 312, 3 I 5, 317
planning collection, 59, 66, 76, 79, I 17, 237
on prices of artworks, 79 provenance of art collection, 199, 201, 203, 206, 292
religious convictions of, 33 I on rivalry among art collectors, 141 on smuggling artworks, IOI, I05, IIO, I I I, 20 5, 2 I I, 2 3 3 stroke of, 585, 6rrn., 62on ., 652n . will of, 586 on World War I, 587, 588, 605, 6IO writing style of, xviii, xxvii Gardner, John (Jack) L., xviii, xix, 36, 63, 96, IOI, II6, I20-I2I, 122, 123, 125, 126, I27, 128, I 30, I3 8, 140, I 50, I 53, I54, I55, 160, r64n., 217, 328, 478n. Gardner, Julia, xviii Gardner, Olga Eliza . See Mrs. George H.
Monks Gardner, William Amory, r8n. Gardner family, 260, 6 IO Gardner Museum, xviii, xx, xx111, xxw , 36-37, 213, 214, 366n ., 506n., 509n ., 586, 617n., 652n. See also Fenway
Court Garofalo (Benvenuto Tisi) Nativity. See L'Ortolano: Th e Adoration of the Shepherds
Garrett, Alice Warder (Mrs. John Work), 587, 588n., 622, 624, 625 Garrett, John Work, 43 rn ., 588n ., 625 Garrick, Mlle., 387 Garrowby Hall (Yorkshire), 466n. Gattamelata, (Capriola), I65 Gattamelata (Donatello), 165 Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 42-43, 145, I 8 I, 267, 399, 428 Chronique des Arts, I 67 Gazzada, Italy, r90-I9I Gellee, Claude. See Claude Lorrain Gemaldegalerie (Dresden), 25, 27 Genoa, Italy, 19I Gentile da Fabriano, 507 Ecce Homo, 77
George, Lloyd, 6 3 5 George, Mrs. Charles Henry, 507, 508n. German Exhibition (New York, 1909), 433 Germany, I8, I52, 368, 376, 502, 646-647 anti-German feelings, 660 Bernard Berenson on, 64 7 post-World War I, 648, 650, 651, 652
Getty, J. Paul, Museum (Malibu, California), 197n. Ghika, Princess, 99 Ghirlandaio, Ridolfo, 22 I, 259 Mansi Altarpiece, 330 The Portrait of a Young Man, I 52-153 Giambono, Michele, 637 Gimpel, E., and Wildenstein (New York),
432n. Gimpel, Rene, xxiin., 441, 448, 458, 459, 46on., 628, 629, 631, 635, 638 Giorgione, 13, 68-69, 77, 94, 97, 101, 103, 148, 149, 163, 165, 178 Altman's. See Titian: Altman's Fite Champetre, 27, 3 I 7
Moses in the Trial by Fire, 3 I Palazzo Loschi. See Christ Bearing the Cross La Tempesta, 24, 25n., 27, 69, 70, 71, 76 Giorno, Il (Correggio), 26 Giottino
Crucifixion, 42, 43-44, 45 Giotto, 13, 265, 412
The Pentecost, 202n. Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple, 202, 204-205, 206, 272, 288, 289, 296 Giovanelli family, 69, 70, 7 I, 72, 73, 76, 78 Giovanni di Paolo
The Child Jesus Disputing in the Temple, 421, 422, 424, 425 Girgenti (Agrigento), Italy, 127, 128n.
Girl Taking a Thorn from Her Foot, 103, 10411., 105, 107, Girolamo dai Libri
l
12, 203, 206, 414
Sai11t John Reading, 41 Girolamo da Santacroce, 594 Giuliano dei Medici (Botticelli), 40, 507, 517, 621 Gladstone, William, 3 36, 400 Glaenzer, Eugene, and Co. (New York and Paris), 33 l, 339, 340, 341, 343, 354 Glasgow Art Gallery, l 48 Glehn, Wilfred von / de, 438 Glinka, Mikhail Ivanovich A L1fefor a Czar, 21, 2311. Gluck, Alma, 506, 50711. Gluck, Christoph Willibald, 93, 95 Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 312
Faust, 2 l Golden Um, 146, 148, 348, 398-39911 . Goldman, Henry, 6 l 9, 62011 . Goldschmidt, Leopold, 299, 459
Goldschmidt Collection, 46on. Goloubew, Nathalie de, 475 Goloubew, Victor, 475, 517, 520, 523, 525 Goncourt, Edmond-Louis-Antoine Huot de, 7, 8n., 24 journals of, 24 Goncourt, Jules-Alfred Huot de, 7, 8n . , 24 journals of, 24 Gonnelli, Giovanni Francesco ("Cecco di Garn bassi "), 370 Gorky, Maxim
Reminiscences of Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy, 621' 622 Goya, Francisco de, 50 5 Charles J"V, 90
The Countess of Altamira and Her Daughter, 459, 460, 461, 465
Queen Marie-Louise, 90 Gozzoli, Benozzo, 94, 142, 22 l A Miracle of Saint Zenobius, 403-404, 405, 406 National Gallery altarpiece, 403 Grafton Gallery (London) "Manet and Post-Impressionism"
ex-
hibit, 464 Granada, Spain, 612 Grassi (restorer), 304 Gray, John Chipman, 319, 320, 451 death of, 5 32 Gray, Nina Lyman (Mrs. John Chipman), 451, 532 Grazioli, Duchess Nicoletta, 93, 98, I 39, 170, 186, 207, 225, 266, 272, 359, 367 Greco, El, 335, 338 Adoration of the Shepherds, 339, 340-341, 343, 344-345, 353
The Burial of Count Orgaz, 339, 34on. Crucifixio11, 338 Head of a Monk, 338, 341 Saint Ferdinand, 341 Sai11t Louis, King of France, 33 8 Widener's, 456 Greece, 28, 30, 64, 368, 652, 653 culture, revival of, 658-659 literature of, 658 Parthenon, 658 Greece-Turkey war, 655n., 657 Greene, Belle da Costa, 462-464, 482, 483, 484n., 504, 508, 519, 628 Green Hill (Brookline, Massachusetts), 52, 83, 131, 132, 137, 138, 145, 173, 179, 198-199, 201, 256, 296, 298, 322,
32311 ., 334, 348, 365, 366, 369, 376, 443-444, 448 farming of, 342 garden of, 335, 346 selling of, 585, 612, 61311.
Greffulhe, Countess Marie-AnatoleLouise-Elizabeth, 367, 423 Gregory, Augusta, Lady, 494n. G repp1,. ;:>. ;:>., 2 6 9 Greuze, Jean-Baptiste, 90 Grey, Earl, 407n. Grey, Lady de, 228 Grimaldi, Clelia, 402n. Grimaldi, Filippo, 402n. Grimaldi, Marches a Elena, 402n. Griswold, Frank, 425, 426n., 623 Griswold, Josephine, 425, 426n., 492, 508, 620, 621, 623, 633, 635
Gronau, Georg Titian, 326, 335-336 Gropallo, Donna Laura, 186, 191, 228, 252, 332
Gropallo, Marchese Luigi, 208, 209n., 228, 252, 266, 3 32
Groton School (Groton, Massachusetts), 494
Grucioli, ? ?, 3 58 Guardi, Francesco, 237 Venice across the Basin of San Marco, 43-44, 45-46, 48, 49 Guild, Curtis, 417, 418n.
Guinness, Mrs. Benjamin, 437 Gutekunst, Otto, xxiii Guthrey, Murray, 486
Haggard, Rider She, 99 Hahn, Mrs. Harry J., 663n. Hainauer Collection, 404, 405n. Hale, Senator Eugene, 429, 43on. Halifax, earl of, 466n. Hals, Frans, 13, 427 Family Group, 507 Man Holding a Branch, 40 Hamilton, Carl W., 586, 595n., 615, 621, 622, 623' 624, 625, 626, 632, 634, 63 5, 641, 649, 651, 653, 654 Han bears, 510, 511, 512, 513, 516, 517, 519, 664
Hand, Learned, xxvi Hanover Gallery, l l 1- l
Hapgood, Hutchins, 392, 393n., 395, 620, 622
Hapgood, Neith, 392, 393n., 395, 414, 622 Hapgood, Norman, 393n ., 414 Harding, Warren G., 625 Hargous, Robert, 122, 213 Harkness, E., 107n . Harriman, Florence J. "Daisy" Hurst (Mrs. J. Borden), 613, 624 Harriman, J. Borden, 6 l 3n. Harrison, Ethel, 344, 352, 357n., 373, 395 Harrison, Jane Ellen, 423-424 Harvard Center for Renaissance Studies, XVII
Harvard University, 14, 159, 160, 161, 338, 449, 486n., 507, 645n.
Haslemere (Friday's Hill), 254, 258, 289, 301, 320, 618
Haughton, Percy, 430 Hawthorne, Nathaniel, l 2, l 5 The Scarlet Letter, 4 7 Head, Addison, 24 7n. Head, Anna, 247n., 322, 333, 340 Head of a Goddess (archaistic Greco-Roman), 195
Head of a Monk (El Greco), 338, 341 Hearne, Lafcadio japan: An Attempt at an Interpretation, 373, 374
Heine, Heinrich, l l, l 3n., 3 l 8 Helleu, Paul-Cesar, 416, 417n. Hendy, Philip, xiiin., 5 l9n. Henraux, Lucien L., 347, 350, 398, 419, 658 Henry, Prince, 283, 284n. Herbert, Belle, 607 Hermitage (Leningrad), 19rn., 276, 279, 318, 319n.
Herrick, Robert, lo 5 Hewett, Mr., 96 Hewitt, Eleanor G., 621, 622n. Hewitt, Lucy, 456, 492, 625, 633, 634 Higgins, Eugene, 634, 636n. Higginson, Francis Lee (Peter), 366 Higginson, Mrs. Henry, 389, 586 Hildesheim, Germany, l 52 Hind, Lewis, 625 Hinton, Mrs., 396 Hipwell, Dr., 629 Hirsch, Jacob, 65on. Hispanic Society of America (New York), 621
l2
Hitopadesia,
l
34, 13 5n.
Hodgson, Dr. Richard, 396 Hoe, Robert, 195 Hohenlohe, Prince Federigo (Fritz), 501, 614, 660
Hohenlohe, Zina, 660 Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen, Prince, 626, 627n. Hohenzollern, Willhelm. See William II, Emperor of Germany Holbein, Hans, the Younger, 25, 87, 101, 102,
89, 258, 316, 448 The Ambassadors, 87, 88n. I
Christina of Denmark, duchess of Milan, 445 Edward VI as a Child, 95-96, 98, roo, 107, 109, II I - l 12, II 8, 166 Lady Butts, 166, 167, 168-169, 171, 172, 177, 179, 205
Merchant Hermann Wedigh of Cologne, 107, III, II2, II7, II8, I2I, 123, 124, 125, 127, 128, 135, 136, 137, 138, 144, 166
Norfolk. See Christina of Denmark, duchess of Milan Portrait of Henry VIII, 321 Sir William Butts, 166, 167, 168-169, 171, 172, 177, 179, 205
Thomas More, 87-88, 90, 91, 96, 107, 166 Holford, Captain George Lindsay, 67, 69,
Hotel Cavour (Milan), 382, 383 House, Colonel Edward Mandell, 612 Houses, 401 Howard family, 426 Howe, Julia Ward (Mrs. Samuel G.), 421 Howells, William Dean, 12, r3n., 20 Venetian Life, 26, 28n . Hunter, Mary Smyth (Mrs. Charles), 630 Huntington, Archer, 432, 43 5, 457n., 526, 527n., 623 Huntington, Collis P., 457n. Huntington, Henry E., 457n. Huntington, Mrs. Archer, 526, 527n. Huntington, Mrs. C. P. See Arabella Duval Yarrington Huntington, Archer, Collection, 436 Huntington Library and Art Gallery (San Marino, California), 56n., 457n. Huth, Henry, 88 Huyler, 426, 655, 656n. Huysmans, Joris-Karl En Route, 40 Hyde, James Hazen, 387, 449 Hyde Collection (Glens Falls, New York), I 53n. Hydraulic Device, An, 506, 507n ., 513 Hyslop, Professor, 396n.
70
Hollyer, Frederick, 327 Holmes, C. J ., 663 Holtzschuer portrait (Diirer), 299 Holy Family (Caroto), 210 Holy Family (Signorelli), 142 Holy Family with Saints John and Margaret, The (Lippi), 249, 25on., -304, 3 r 5 Homer, 71, 73, 8r, r 12, 309 Iliad, 78 Hooch, Pieter de, 86 A Woman Sewing with a Serving Girl and a Child, 8r, 83-84 Hooper, Edward William, 66 Hoover, Herbert, 603 Hope (Puvis de Chavannes), 12 Hope Collection (Deepdene), 147, 149, 150, 151-152, 153, 154, 155, 156, 157, 159
Horne, Herbert P., 125, l26n., 146, 216217, 298
Horner, Lady Francis Jane Graham, 465, 466
Horner, Sir John Francis Fortescue, 465n. Horne, Sir William Van, 50 5 Hosios Lukas, convent of, 659
Ibsen, Henrik, I 24 Emperor and Galilean, 19-20 Naar vi dftJde vaagner (When We Dead Awaken), 201 Ideal Female Head from a Funerary Monument (fourth century B. c., Greek), 469 Iffiey, England, 401, 402, 465, 490, 492 Ignatius of Loyola. See Loyola, Ignatius Ilchester, earl of, 38 8 Imhoff portrait (Diirer), 299 Import duties on art works, U.S., 80, 82, 83, 84, 9r, 128, 144, 158, 203, 214, 233, 241, 327, 328, 341, 423, 424, 425n., 442, 447, 449, 453, 460, 46rn ., 522 .
Industrial School for Crippled and Deformed Children, 2 r r Inghirami, Count, I I 9 Inghirami family, II8-r19, l20n., 130, 132 Institut de France, 142n. Isabella d'Este, 49-50, 51, 52, 54, 57, 203, 206
Isabella of Spain, 612 . Isabella Stewart Gardner (Sargent), xix, 40, 41, 586
Isabella Stewart Gardner and Fenway Court (Carter), xxvii Italy, 25-26, 332, 390, 395, 646-647 Bernard Berenson on, 257, 301-302, 48 5, 602 during World War I, 532, 591, 605 World War I involvement by, 53 l I Tatti. See Villa I Tatti Ivory Madonna, 301, 302, 307-308, 309, 310-311, 312
Justice of Otto III (Bouts), 63 Juvenal, 345
Kahn, Adelaide (Mrs. Otto), 433, 434n., 507, 622 Kahn, Otto, 43411 ., 507, 517, 63 5, 636n. Kahn Collection (New York), 619 Kahn's Enthroned Madonna and Child, 63 5, 636n.
Jaccaci, August, 327, 335, 336 Jacopino del Conte, 42n. Jacque, Charles Emile, xix Jaleo, El (Sargent), 59rn. James, Alice Runnells, 625, 62611. James, Henry, xix, 12, 208, 394n . , 63611. James, Miss, 104 James, William, xixn., 394, 396n., 417, 433, 605, 626 James, William, Jr., 625, 626n. Japan, 340 Bernard Berenson on, 3 5 l culture of, 334, 364 Japanese art, 334 Jarves Collection, 5 l l Jephson, Arthur Jeremy Monteney, 202, 235, 236, 237, 238, 243, 244, 246-247, 248, 249, 250, 252, 253, 254-255, 256, 258, 259, 262, 265, 269, 303, 308, 316, 317, 318, 321, 322, 333, 340 Jerusalem, 655 Jervesses, the, 345 Joachim, Joseph, 3 59, 36on., 362, 363 Johns, Clayton, l 87 Johnson, Evangeline, 619, .62on., 632, 634 Johnson, John G., 287n., 29rn., 330-331, 421 Johnson, Robert Wood, 62011. Johnson, John G., Collection, xxllln., 244n., 287n., 330, 427, 447, 499, 500 installation of, 3 30 Johnston, Sir Alan, 466 Johnston, Lady Nettie, 466 Jones, Beatrix. See Beatrix Farrand Jones, Frederick, 667n. Jones, Mary Cadwalader Rawle, 666, 66711 . Juana of Austria with a Young Child (SanchezCoello), 48-49, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57-58, 59-60, 61, 62, 82, 83, 86, 87, 90, 91, 93, 103, 128, 129-130, 147 Justice (Veronese), 361
Kaiser-Friedrich Museum (Berlin), 77, 35811., 40511., 65on. Kann, Rodolphe, I ro, 142, 212 Kann, Rodolphe, Collection, 32on ., 402404, 405, 408, 415 Karlsruhe, Germany, 93 Kay Kaus Captured by the Divs (Firdausi, Persia, mid-fifteenth century), 514n. Keats, John, 3 l, 73, 78 "Ode to Autumn," 99 "Saint Agnes' Eve," I 16 Kelekian (gallery), 6 I 6 Kentaro Kaneko, Viscount, 3 34, 3 37 Keppel, Alice (Mrs. George), 660, 66rn . Kerensky, Aleksandr Feodorovich, 6 I 2, 613n.
Kevorkian (gallery) (New York), 496n. Keyserling, Count Hermann, 496, 497n ., 654 King of Belgium's Fra Angelico, 450, 45 rn. Kingsley, Mary St. Leger [pseud. Lucas Malet], 16, 17n. Mrs. Lorimer, 16, 17n. Kingston Lacy (Dorset), 70, 76, 78, 199 Kitty Wink, 369 Kleinberger, F., Galleries (Paris and New York), 458, 459n., 461 Kneisel, Franz, 467n. Kneisel Quartette, 467 Knoedler Gallery (New York), 88n., 368, 38811 ., 401, 48rn. Knoedler, M., & Co., 5orn. Koester, D. M., Sm . Kolchak, Aleksandr, 632n. Kraus, Father, 208 Kreisler, Fritz, 34 7, 506 Kress, Samuel H., l39n. Kress Collection, 62on., 649n. Kronberg, Louis,. 586 Kunstchronik, 203-204 Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna), 27, 87n., 595n., 597, 600
Labouchere, Dora, 48 l Labouchere, Henry Du Pre, 353, 383, 481 Ladenburg, Mrs. Adolf (Emily Stevens), 212, 213, 215 Lady Bi1tts (Holbein), 166, 167, 168-169, 171, 172, 177, 179, 205 Lady in Black and White, A, 145, l46n., 147, 149, 151, 159 Lady Milner (Romney), 73-74 Lady Siddof1s as the Tragic Muse (Reynolds). See Mrs. Siddons as the Tragic Muse Lady with a Nosegay (Bacchiacca), 235, 237, 246, 247, 248, 250, 251, 260, 262, 263, 264, 295 Lady with a Rose, A (Van Dyck), 57, 73, 74, 75, 76, 78, 79, 80, 82 Lady with a Turban (Torbido), 5on. La Farge, John, 349 La Fayette, Comtesse Marie-Madeleine de La Princesse de Cleves, 226 Laganes, marques de, 70 Lake District, England, l 48 Lamb, Charles, 8 l, 666 Lambert, Baron Leon, 346n. Lambert, Baroness Lucie, 345, 34611., 347, 422 Lambon (French ambassador), 217 Lamentation over the Dead Christ, The (della Robbia), 210, 2II, 212, 213 Landi, Camilla, 94 Lang, Benjamin, 440, 44rn. Lange, Julius Hendrik Die menschliche Gestalt in der Geschich.te der Kunst . .. , 394, 395n. Lanier, Harriet Bishop (Mrs. James F. D.), 507, 509, 625, 633, 634, 666 Lansdowne, marquess of, 75n., 80, 8 l, 200, 356 Lanzani, Polidoro incorrect attribution of Isabella d'Este to, 49-50, 5 l, 52, 54, 57 Last Supper (Leonardo), 26 Laurana, Francesco, 141 Lawrie & Co. (London), 266 Leda (Correggio), 103 Lee, Vernon (Violet Paget), xx11, 3o, 3 2n., 99, l 54, 632 Leganes, marques de, 76 Leggett, Mrs., 646 Lehman, Herbert, 6on. Lehman, Robert, 46on. Lehman Collection, 46on., 619 Lehr, Harry, 586, 636n. 700
Lehr, Mrs. Harry, 634 Leishman, Martha, 3 87n. Leland, Frederick R., Collection (London), l l I
Lel y, Sir Peter, 102 Lemaitre, Jules, 6-7, 8 Contemporains, 6-7, 8n. Serenus: Histoire d'un martyr, contes d'autrefois et d'aujourd'hui, Sn. Lenbach, Franz von, 91 Leonardo da Vinci, I 5 l, 173, 2 l 6, 244, 28 5, 321, 379, 403, 410, 434 La Belle Ferronniere, 244 Davis's, 135-136, 137, 139, 141, 143, 151, 196, 329, 330 drawings, 60, 62 Hahn v. Duveen, 662, 663n. Last Supper, 26 The Madonna with Saint Anne, 244 Portrait of a Young Lady, 26 Leonello, Antonio Uberto de Sacrati, His Wife, and Son Tommaso, 400 Leo X (Raphael), l 18-119, 127 Lermolieff-Schwarze. See Giovanni Morelli Leslie, Sir John, 3 86n., 402n. Leslie, Leonie Jerome, Lady, 402, 4 76, 496 Leslie, Shane, 402n. Leusser, Dr., 64 7 Lewes House (Sussex), 355n., 417n. Lewis, Sir George, 254, 255n., 329 Lewis, Sinclair Babbitt, 665 Life of Mary (Meister des Leben Maria), 91 Linnaeus, Carolus, l 2 Lionello d'Este (Pisanello), 40 Lippi, Filippino, 43, 44, 164, 196, 309, 653 The Holy Family with Saints John and Margaret, 249, 25on., 304, 315 Madonna and Child, 65 I Lippi, Fra Filippo, 94, 164, 649 Saint Lawrence Enthroned with Saints and Donors, 500, 5orn. Lippincott, J. B., and Co., 21, 23 Lippmann, Fay Albertson (Mrs. Walter), 621, 627, 633, 635, 640 Lippmann, Walter, xxvi, 619, 62on., 621, 626, 627, 63 3' 63 5, 640 Public Opinion, 639, 649 Lira/dollar exchange rate (1897), 84n. Little, Lena, 185, 354, 355 Lochis Madonna (Bellini), 40 Lodge, Anna Cabot Mills Davis, 43 l
Lodge, George Cabot, 43 l Lodge, John Ellington, 43 l, 643, 644n., 665 Lodge, Senator Henry Cabot, 43 l Loeffier, Charles Martin, 3 34, 3 5 3, 440 Pagan Poem, 414, 415 Loeser, Charles, xx, xxii, l3I, 133 Lombarda, du ca di Guardia, 34 7n. Lombardy, 192, 193 London, 13, 241, 242, 331, 357, 379, 388, 394, 402, 465 London Times, 280 Longfellow, Henry Wadsworth, l 2 Longhi, Pietro, 41 Lorenzetti, Ambrogio Madonna, 355, 358 Lorenzetti, U golino. See Bartolommeo Bulgarini Lorenzo di Credi The Ascension of Saint Louis with Two Angels, 285, 286 Boy in a Scarlet Cap, 508, 509n. Lorilard, Pierre, 426n . Loring, General Charles Greely, 66, 6768n., 77, 84 Lorrain, Claude (Claude Gellee), 200, 401 Los chi family, 106, 107, 109, r r 2, r 24. Lotto, Lorenzo, xxi, 40-41, 100, 187, 237, 272, 316-317, 318 Louis XVIII, 70, 76 Louvre Museum (Paris), I 8, 28, 39, 49, 72, 77, 121, 131, 133, 164, 170, 244, 248, 290, 338, 341, 381, 382, 389n ., 440, 524 Lowell, Percival, 3 5 I Loyola, Ignatius, 589 Lubbock, Percy, 622n . Lubersac, Jean, marquis de, 225, 226n. Lucas, Baroness, 407n. Lucretius, 99, 122, 126 Ludres, marquise de, 492 Lydig, Mrs. Philip, 449, 457, 468, 493 Lydig, Philip, 436, 437 Lydig, Rita, 529
Mabuse Portrait of Anna Van Bergen, 60 McComb, A. K. The Selected Letters of Bernard Berenso n, 586n.
McCormick family, 326 Mackay, Clarence, 649 Mackay, Clarence, Collection New York), 621n.
(Ros lyn,
Macknight, Dodge, 602n. MacLagen, William Dalryple, Archbishop ofYork, 134, 135n. MacVeagh, Franklin, 455 Madame Auguste Manet (Manet), 440, 441442, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447, 448, 449, 453, 454, 456, 460, 461 Madonna (Baldovinetti), l 3 l Madonna (Costa), 286, 287 Madonna (della Robbia), 373 Madonna (Lorenzetti), 355, 365 Madonna (Mino da Fiesole), 173-174 Madonna (Morone), 41 Madonna (Perugino), 289-291, 292-293, 294, 295, 296, 298 Madonna (Raphael), l 19, 120n. Madonna (Sano di Pietro), 3 57 Madonna (Schongauer). See The Virgin and Child Madonna (Titian), 91 lvfadonna Adoring Child with Two Angels (Fiorentino), 300 Madonna against a Rose Hedge (Fiorentino), 300 Madonna, Alba (Raphael), 318, 319n . Madonna and Angels (Bonfigli), 507 Madonna and Child (Bellini), 586, 626, 627n ., 628, 63 I, 632, 636-637 Madonna and Child (Benedetto da Maiano), 167n ., 168 Madonna and Child (Cima), 81, 83, 87, 120 Madonna and Child (Lippi), 65 l l\lladonna and Child (Mantegna), 40 Madonna and Child (Memling), 612 Madonna and Child (Pintoricchio), 275-276, 277n ., 279, 280, 281, 282, 283, 284, 296, 309 Madonna and Child (Raphael), 450, 45 rn . Madonna and Child (Rossellino), 459, 460 Madonna and Child (Tura), 40, 371 Madonna and Child (after Verrocchio), 649 Madonna and Child (Zurbarin), 2on. Madonna and Child and an Angel, 665 Madonna and Child Enthroned (Crivelli), 40, 102n . Madonna and Child Enthroned, with Saints Catherine, Peter, Cecilia, Paul , and the Infant Saint John the Baptist (Raphael), 97, 98n., 276, 281, 282 Madonna and Child with Four Saints, The (Martini), 172, 173, 174, 175, 207, 209210, 216 Madonna and Child with Little Saint John, 701
The (Botticini), 259, 260, 261, 262, 264, 265, 266, 268-269 Madonna, Chigi (Botticelli). See Chigi Madonna Madonna, Conestabile (Raphael), 232, 276, 279 Madonna Enthroned, with Saints and Angels, The (Bulgarini), 491 Madonna, French (oak), 314 Madonna, Ivory. See Ivory Madonna Madonna of the Cherries (Titian), 428 Madonna of the Cuccina Family (Veronese), 23
Madonna, Sistine (Raphael) See Sistine Madonna Madonna Suckling the Child (Bergognone), 40 Madonna with Saint Anne (Leonardo), 244 Madrid, Spain, 20, 241 Maeterlinck, Maurice-Polydore-MarieBernard, l 24 Soeur Beatrice, 289 Le Temple enseveli, 297 La Vie des abeilles, 266, 267n. Magnificat (Botticelli), 175 Malet, Lucas. See Mary St. Leger Kingsley Manet, Edouard, 441, 464n . Chez Tortoni, 586 Madame Auguste Manet, 440, 441-442, 443, 444, 445, 446, 447, 448 , 449, 453, 454, 456, 460, 461 Manetti (dealer), 292 Man Holding a Branch (Hals), 40 Man in a Fur Coat (Diirer), 299, 300, 301, 302, 307, 327-328, 329 Manon Lescaut, 12, 13n. Manship, Paul, 622n ., 625, 638, 655 Bust of Carey Thomas, 663 Bust ofjohn D. Rockefeller, Sr., 622 Mansi Altarpiece (Ghirlandaio), 330 Mantegna, Andrea, 286 Madonna and Child, 40 Sacra Conversazione, 195, 196, 197, 200, 205 , 210, 211, 212, 213n., 215 Mantz, Paul, 12, 13n. Manucci, Niccolo Storia do Mogor, 412 Marbury, Elizabeth (Bessie), 340, 3 57n., 359, 382n., 409, 426, 431, 437, 453, 455, 468, 470, 471, 473, 478, 502, 613 Marche of Ancona, Italy, 272 Marchese Balbi (Van Dyck), 388
702
Mariano, Elizabeth "Nicky," xx11, xxzv, 25rn., 497n., 64on., 644, 645n., 649 The Berenson Archive: An Inventory of Correspondence, 25 ln. Forty Years with Berenson, 645n. Marini (gallery), 212, 222 Marlborough, duchess of (Gladys Deacon), 226n., 336-337, 353, 359, 363, 364, 395, 402, 410, 419, 423, 424, 425, 471, 472, 473n., 483, 493, 495, 636n., 655 marriage to duke of Marlborough, 633, 636 Marlborough, duke of, 655 marriage to Gladys Deacon, 633, 634 Marlowe, Christopher, 14 Marshall, John, 417 Martial, 345 Martini, Simone, l 57, 179, 419 The Madonna and Child with Four Saints, 172, 173, 174, 175, 207, 209-210, 216 Mary Berenson: A Self Portrait from Her Diaries and Letters (Strachey and Samuels), xxiiin. Mary of Guise (Mor), 3 50-3 5 l Mary, princess of Thurn and Taxis, 398, 501 Masaccio, 94, 246, 401 A Young Man in a Scarlet Turban, l 58, 159-160, 161, 169, 170 Masolino da Panicale, 229 Castiglione d'Olona frescoes, 650 Mason, Lawrence, 254, 255, 623 Massachusetts Horticultural Show, 349, 364 Massimo, 191 Massori, Al., l 2 l Master of Flemalle (Robert Campin), 387 Master of the Castello Nativity Nativity, 519n. A Young Lady of Fashion, 519 Master of The Death of Mary, 382 Master of the Gardner Annunciation. See Piermatteo d' Amelia Master of the Lathrop Tonda, 196, 197 Matisse, Henri, 454-45 5, 456 Maupassant, Guy de Maingauche, 31, 32n. Sur l'eau, 3 l, 32n. Maurel, Victor, 416 Mazo, Juan Bautista del, 267 Medici Society, 666 Meister des Leben Maria Life of Mary, 9 r
Melba, Dame Nellie, 393 Mellon, Andrew William, 3 I 9n. , 40 5n ., 588n., 649n.
Mellon Collection, 62 In . Mellon's Enthroned Madonna and Child, 63 5, 636n.
Memling, Hans The Deposition, 6I2 Madonna and Child, 6I2 Saint Sebastien, the Resurrection, and Ascension, 290, 38I Saint Ursula Shrine, I 8 Seven Joys of Mary, 27-28 Memmi, Lippo, I72 Memories of Duveen Brothers (Fowles), xxii Mendl, Sir Charles, 34on. Mendl, Lady. See Elsie de Wolfe Mercatelli, ? ?, 255 Merchant Hermann Wedigh of Cologne (Holbein), 107, III, II2, II7, II8, I2I, I23, I24, 125, I27, 128, I35, 136, I37, I38, I44, I66 Mercier, Cardinal, 622n.
Meredith, George, 3 I Merry del Val, Cardinal, 385, 386n . Metropolitan Museum (Egypt), 643 Metropolitan Museum of Art, The (New York), xxiv, 42n., 63, 98n., ro7n., 202n., 233n., 246n., 28In., 284n ., 3orn., 32on., 339, 340, 34I, 343, 345, 354n., 36on., 366n., 373, 386, 392, 4I7n., 426, 427n., 43on., 432n., 438, 442, 457n., 46on., 476n., 487, 488n. , 497n., 5orn., 506, 6I9, 62on. , 645n ., 65rn. Meunier, Constantin, 508 Meyer-Riefstahl, ? ?, 509 Michelangelo Buonarroti, 97, I63, I96, I97, I98, 285, 298, 403, 4I3 drawings, 60, 62, 230, 236 Michelangelo (Sebastiano del Piombo), I67, I72, 203, 206, 282, 284-285n., 294295, 300
Michelino da Besozza, 330 Milanesi, Gaetano, 43 3, 434n . Milan, Italy, 26, 3 82, 3 8 3 Miles, Nelson Appleton, 4I7, 4I8n . Mill, The (Rembrandt), 75, 78, 79, 80, 8 I, I49, 200, 206, 3 56, 486, 490
Milliken, Richard Alfred "The Groves of Blarney," 348 Milton, John, I4, 78, 432
Minelli, Giovanni The Entombm ent of Christ, IOI, 105, ro6n ., I23, I27 , I29, 248, 25 I Minghetti, Donna Laura, I 3 5-I 36, I 39 Mino da Fiesole, I 79 Madonna, I73-I74 Relief Portrait of a Woman, I70 , 17I, 172, 173, 203, 206 Vanderlip's, 623 Miracle of Saint Zenobius, A (Gozzoli), 403404, 40 5, 406
Monks , Olga Eliza Gardner (Mrs. George H .), 217, 218n., 667-668 Monreale Cathedral (Palermo), 29 Monroe, Colonel, 92 Montagu, Charles, 634, 636n. Montebello, Countess Stanislas de, MarieStani (Cambaceres), 99 Monte Cassino, 394 Monte Oliveto Maggiore, 78, l 88, l 89 Montesquiou-Fezensac, Comte Robert de , 187, 188, 344, 345, 347, 375, 423, 472
Montreal, 504-505 Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, 505n. Moor, Emanuel, l 22 Moore, Mrs., 266 Mor, Anthonis Mary of Guise, 3 50-3 5 I Queen Mary of England, 258 , 259, 260, 261, 262, 264, 265-266, 321, 350
Morelli, Giovanni [pseud. Ivan LermolieffSchwarze], xxi, lI9, 135, 136n ., 174, 235, 292, 433, 600 Morgan, Anne, 43 l, 478, 502, 63 l Morgan, J. Pierpont, 98n. , 276, 281, 282, 283-284, 289, 316, 32on., 354, 360, 365, 373, 388, 398, 400, 402-403, 404, 405, 408 , 409, 410, 411n ., 412, 415, 416, 426, 427, 43 In., 450, 452, 469, 500, 5orn., 508, 512, 628 Morgan, J. Pierpont, Jr., 32on. Morgan, Pierpont, Library, 426, 462, 463 Morgan's Castagno portrait, 508 Morgan's Raphael, 469
Morley, John, Viscount Blackburn Life of Gladstone, 336, 337n. Morone, Domenico, 428
Morone, Francesco Madonna, 41
Moroni, Count, 41 Moroni, Giovanni Battista, 40-4 l , 3 l 7
703
Bearded Man in Black, 40, 41, 43, 44 Count Alborghetti and His Sons, 44, 45n . Morrell, Lady Ottoline. See Lady Ottoline Cavendish-Ben tin ck Morrell, Philip, 272n. Morris, May, 455-456 Morris, William, 7, 33 rn ., 455, 456n. Morris & Co.,,456n . Morse, Marion Steedman, 346 Morse, Rollins, 346n. Mortimer, Stanley, 206, 363, 425, 623 Mosaics (Sicily), 29, 3on. Moses in the Trial by Fire (Giorgione), 3 l Moulton, Ellen Louise Chandler, ro Mozart, Wolfgang Amadeus , 67, 73, 93 "Mr. Dooley." See Finley Peter Dunne Mrs. Gardner in White (Sargent), 652, 655,
657 Mrs. Jack (Tharp), xxvii Mrs. Lorimer (Malet), 16, 17n. Mrs . Siddons as the Tragic Muse (Reynolds), 50, 53, 56n. Muck, Karl, 648 Muller, Johann Gotthard von, 146 Munich, Germany, 67, 93 Muntz, Eugene, l 8 l Murat, Princess Marie, 187 Murray, Fairfax, 330, 33rn., 594 Murri, Dr., 186 Musee Cernuschi (Paris), 517, 520, 523 Musee Jacquemart-Andre (Paris), l 8 rn. Musee Royaux des Beaux-Arts (Brussels), 65n . Museo dell' Opera del Duomo (Orvieto), 172 Museo Egizio (Turin), 3 82n. Museo Nazionale (Naples), 30 Museum of Fine Arts (Sao Paulo), 388n. Music Lesson , The (Ter Borch), 149-150, 153, 155, 156 Mussolini, Benito, 663 Naples, 3 56, 368, 394 Nathurst, Louise, 449, 615 Nation, The, 330 Na ti on al Art-Collections
Fund,
372n.,
445n. National Gallery (London), 13, 18, 27, 32, 47, 57, 75n., 87, 92, 93n., 96, 97-98, 146, 165, 202n., 221, 249t1., 259, 276, 299, 300, 33on., 372, 373, 388n., 401, 402n ., 407n ., 445n ., 653, 663n.
National Gallery altarpiece (Gozzoli), 403 National Gallery of Art (Washington, D.C .), xxiv, 75n., 96, ro2n., l 13n ., 120n., 139n., 398n., 405n ., 517n., 595n ., 62rn., 636n ., 649n. Exhibition: "Berenson and the Connoisseurship of Italian Painting," xxivn. National Gallery of Canada (Ottawa), 40 National Trust, Ickworth House, Bury Saint Edmunds, 253n. Nativity (Master of the Castello Nativity), 519n. Nativity (L'Ortolano), 246n. Nativity with Saints Michael, John the Baptist, Jerome, and George, The (Perugino), 176 Navegero and Beazzano (Raphael), 118 Neroccio di Landi, 637 Nervi, Italy, 228, 252, 383 Netherlands, 19 New Berlin Museum, 3 58 New England, 8, 61 New Gallery (London), 3 57 Newman, John Henry Cardinal, 12 Newnham College, Cambridge, 409-410, 424n . Newport, Rhode Island, 15 l New York, 325 Nickerson, Mrs. Ellen, 370, 37rn., 373374, 434, 467, 468 Noailles, Countess Ann Elisabeth Mathieu de, Princesse Brancovan, 243 Norfolk, duke of, 445n. Norfolk family, 426 Norfolk Holbein. See Christina of Denmark, duchess of Milan Northampton, Massachusetts, 325 Northumberland, duke of, 329, 593, 595n. Norton, Charles Eliot, xix, 3, 163n ., 165, 195n., 285n., 363, 468 Norton, Elizabeth, 165n. Norton, Grace, 314 Norton, Richard, xx, 37, 195n., 21rn., 215, 329, 434, 467, 468, 596, 617n. Noseda, Aldo, 57, 193, 229, 269 Notre-Dame-de-la-Couldre reliefs (Parthenay, France, mid-twelfth century), 524, 525n., 528-529, 614, 618, 620 Novelli, Ermete, 4 l 7 Obelisk, The (Flinck), 200, 2orn., 203, 204205, 206, 207 Oberammergau, Germany, 479
Obrist, Hermann, 91 0' Connell, William Henry Cardinal, 4 l 7, 419 Okabe-Kakuya, 342, 344 Okakura, Yoshisaburo, 467 Okakura-Kakuzo, xxiii, 242, 335, 342, 343n., 344, 349, 350, 351, 354, 355, 360, 369, 373, 374, 421, 467n., 478, 490, 491, 506, 593 The Book of Tea, 342n. "A Night-thought," 349-3 50 "Night-thoughts in Fenway Court," 369-370 Old Masters Gallery (London), 28 l, - 282, 413 Oldofredi, Count Giulo-Luigi, 383, 384n. Olivares, Gaspar de Guzman, 70 Olmsted, Frederick Law, 36rn. O'Neil, Nance, 342 Opera del Duomo (Orvieto), 209, 2IOn. Orcagna (Andrea di Cione), l 3 Oriental art, 334, 335, 470, 476, 477-478, 479, 499, 509-5IO, 511, 515, 516, 517, 53on. See also Chinese art Bernard Berenson on, 242, 53 l Origo, Marchesa Iris, xxvn., xxvin., 639, 64on. Orleans Collection, 75, 233, 284, 295 Orleans Gallery, 232 Orley, Bernart van, 60 Ortolano, L' The Adoration of the Shepherds, 246n . Osgood, Molly (Molly Childers), 224, 227-228, 236, 237, 238, 244, 247, 248, 417, 622n., 653 Osuna, dukes of, 57, 76 Ouida. See Marie-Louise de la Ramee Oxford University, 13-14, 663n.
Page, Dr., 629 Paget, Alberta Victoria Sarah Caroline. See Lady Windsor Page, Thomas Nelson, 342, 344 Paget, Violet. See Vernon Lee Painting Chinese, 53 l, 587 Dutch, 20, 185 Flemish, loo, 648 French eighteenth-century, 504 German, 68, 189, 648 Itali an, 20, l 7 4, l 80
Sienese, 338, 421 Spanish, 20 Tuscan, 40-41 Venetian, 20, 23, 24, 500, 501 Paintings, condition of. See Conservation, of artworks Palazzo Antinori (Florence), l7on. Palazzo Barbaro (Venice), 75n., 82, 179, 183, 63on., 633, 634, 660, 661 Palazzo Contarini (Venice), l22n. Palazzo Corsini (Rome), 97 Palazzo Doria (Rome), 67, 68n., 3 58n . Palazzo Farnese (Caprarola), 3 59, 362, 489490, 493 Palazzo Giovanelli (Venice), 2 7, 69 Palazzo Loschi (Vicenza), 66, 67n., 89, I09, 157 Palazzo Strozzi (Florence), 398n. Palazzo Vecchio (Florence), 3 l Palermo, Italy, 29 Palestine, 643, 645 Pallavicini, Princess, 93, 96, 186, 187, 188, 225, 266, 344, 347 Palmer, Bertha Honore, 228, 344, 3 86, 43 8, 439
Palmer, Courtlandt, 625, 626n. Palmer, Potter, 228n. Palmezzano, Marco, 623 Panciatichi Collection, 219, 23 l Panin, Ivan Nikolaevich, IO Panshanger Raphael. See The Small Cowper Madonna Papafava, Count Francesco, 135, 384n. Papafava, Countess Maria, 383, 384n . Paris, 8, 13, 241, 242, 343, 384, 387, 465, 585, 595, 663 Bernard Berenson on, 529 Parke-Bernet (New York), 42n. Parma, duke of, 48 l Partanna, princesse de, duchesse de Florida, 357n . Pasolini dall'Onda, Countess, 93, 98-99, 140, 225-226, 3 53n. Pater, Walter Horatio, 7, 8n., 24, 162, 208, 433 essay on Giorgione, 24 Marius the Epicurian, 7, 8n . Studies in the History of the Renaissance, 8n. Patridge, William Ordway, IO Paulucci de' Calboli, Marquis Fabrizio, 4849, 86 . See also Juana of Austria with a Young Child
Peabody, George Lee, 474 Pennsylvania Museum (Philadelphia), 625n . Pentecost, The (Giotto), 202n. Peplophoros, 616, 617n., 661, 662 Pepoli family, 243, 244n. Perkins, Frederick Mason, 355, 358, 439n. Perkins, Lucy May Alcott, 438, 439n., 442443, 473, 474, 492-493
Photographs, of artworks, 87, 192, 200, 237, 259, 290
Villa I Tatti collection, xvii, 337-338 Pichetto, Stephen, 627, 63 5, 640 Piedmont, 367 Piermatteo d' Amelia, 185, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218-219, 220, 221, 222, 225, 245, 296, 3 19, 506
Perkins, Mrs . Charles Bruen, 491 Perry, Lilla Cabot, 601 Perry, Rachel. See Rachel Berenson Perry, Ralph Barton, 325n., 494, 495n. Perry, Ralph Barton, Jr., 494, 495n. Perry, Thomas Sargeant, 4, 6, 12, I 5, 389 Persian jug, II7-II 8 Persian miniatures (Bezad), 494 Persian miniatures, 4 77, 480, 482, 48 3, 486-
Annunciation, I 8 5n. Piero della Francesca, r 3 r Crucifixion, 649 Madonna and Child and an Angel. See Madonna and Child and an Angel Piero di Cosimo Battle of the Centaurs and Lapiths, 92, 93n.,
487, 495, 509, 510-511, 512-513, 514.
Pietd (Bellano). See Giovanni Minelli : The Entombment of Christ Pietd (Francia), 248-249 Pietd (Raphael), 231-233, 235, 237, 245,
See also specific title Persian plate (Kashan, ca. I 2 Io), 496 Perugia, Italy, 399 Perugino, 178, 221, 231, 312, 389, 647 Albani Polyptych altarpiece, I 79-180, I 9 I, I 92, 224, 226, 290
Caen Sposalizio, 42-43 Christ in the Tomb, 564 Madonna, 289-291, 292-293, 294, 295, 296, 298
The Nativity with Saints Michael, John the Baptist, Jerome , and George, 176 Saint Sebastian, 191-192 Peruzzi, Baldassare, I 78 Pesdlino (Francesco di Stefano), 94, IOI, 109
Cassani, 105, ro6, ro8, 123, 159, 294 Episodes from the Story of Griselda, 40 The Triumphs of Fame, Time, and Eternity, 95 The Triumphs of Love, Chastity, and Death, 95 Peters, 516 Peto, Harold, 603 Petrarch and Laura [tomb] (Cossa), 416 Petrie, Sir Flinders, 641 Petronius, I 22 Philadelphia Museum of Art, 287n., 33on. , 338n. Philae at Aswan (Egypt), 643, 644n. Philip IV, King of Spain (Velasquez), 67, 68n., 69-70, 71, 72, 74, 75-76, 78, 121, 3 54, 3 56, 3 58, 360, 361, 362, 48 I Phillips, Claude, 357, 490, 49rn.
706
297, 298, 299, 300 Pietd (Basaiti), 295, 296n.
246, 248, 260, 262, 263, 296 Pietd (Savoldo), r 87 Pietd (van der Weyden), 612
Pietd with Saint John and the Magdalen (Crivelli), 291, 293, 294 Pinchot, Cordelia Bryce (Mrs. Gifford), 623' 624
Pinchot, Gifford, 624n. Pindar, 99, 129, I 30 Pintoricchio, 178, 184, 221, 290, 450, 45rn. Madonna and Child, 275-276, 277n., 279, 280, 28 I, 282, 28 3, 284, 296, 309 Pio, Prince, 492
Piot, Rene Villa I Tatti frescoes, 48 r Piper, Mrs., 396n . Pisanello (Antonio Pisano), 39, 426, 427n. Lionello d'Este, 40 Pisano, Niccolo, 494 Pitti Palace, u8-119, 12on., 132-133, 427
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 330 Pius XI, Pope, 643 Pius X, Pope, 386n. Placci, Carlo, 35-36, 93, 94, 99, 107, 135, 136, 196, 332, 367, 424, 494
141, 198, 345, 371, 432,
168, 200, 347, 383, 443,
170, 225, 350, 390, 475,
171, 244, 352, 398, 476,
186, 266, 359, 399, 479,
187, 269, 360, 419, 481,
195, 283, 362, 420, 492,
Platt Collection, 621 Poldi-Pezzoli Museum (Milan), 26, 586 Polignac, duchesse de, 84 Polignac, Winaretta, princesse de, 63 8 Pollaiuolo, Antonio, 398 A Woman in Green and Crimson. See Fiero Pollaiuolo: A Woman in Green and Crimson. Pollaiuolo, Fiero, 221, 289 A Woman in Green and Crimson, 404, 40 5, 406, 407-408, 41 I, 412, 439, 440, 446, 448, 454, 457, 5 I 5 Pomposa monastery, 222 Pontormo, Jacopo da, 282 Pope Innocent X (Velasquez), 67, 68n., 358, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 390, 395-396, 456, 460, 461, 469 Porter, Arthur Kingsley, 640, 647, 651, 652, 654, 656, 657, 659 Porter, Cole, 634, 661 Porter, Linda Thomas (Mrs. Cole), 634, 661 Porter, Lucy (Mrs . Arthur Kinglsey), 647, 651, 652, 654, 656, 659 Portland, duchess of, 134 Portland, duke of, 134 Porto-Riche, Georges de, 200 Portrait Bust of a Gonzaga (Bonsignori), 39 Portrait of a Cardinal (Raphael), 1I8 Portrait of a Clergyman (Diirer), 139, 140141, 143, 144, 154
Portrait of a Doctor of Laws from the University of Salamanca (Zurbarin), 436, 457, 623n.
Portrait of a Man (Beham), 69, 71, 76-77. See also Heinrich Aldegrever Portrait of a Man (Castagno), 403-404, 405, 406, 407-408, 409, 410, 411, 412, 415, 446
Portrait Portrait Portrait Portrait Portrait Portrait Portrait
of a Man (Tintoretto), 42 of Anna Van Bergen (Mabuse), 60 of a Woman (Cariani), 40 of a Woman (Cavazzolo), 40 of a Young Artist, 61-62, 63, 64 of a Young Lady (Leonardo), 26 of a Young Man, A (Ghirlandaio),
152-153
Portrait of a Youth (Boltraffio), 243, 244, 246, 247, 249
Portrait of a Youth (Botticelli), 621 Portrait of Benedetto Varchi (Titian), 42 Portrait of Bernard Berenson (Ross), 45 I, 464
Portrait of Bernard Berenson (Rothenstein), 412
Portrait of Charles V (Titian), 91 Portrait of Charles William Eliot (Ross), 449 Portrait of Elena Grimaldi (Van Dyck), 427, 43on.
Portrait of Francesco d'Este (van der Weyden), 475, 476n.
Portrait of Giovanni Benedetto da Caravaggio (Cariani), 40 Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici, 365, 366 Portrait of Gretchen and Rachel Warren (Sargent), 622n. Portrait of Henry VII (Holbein), 321 Portrait ofJames VI, 180 Portrait of]. B. Potter (Ross), 359n ., 363 Portrait of Madame Gaujelin (Degas), 33 r, 332, 333, 334, 357, 362, 370, 439, 440, 441, 443, 454, 455, 461 Portrait of Santayana (Ross), 449 Portrait of Woodrow Wilson (Tarbell), 622
Portrait of Zacharias T/endramin (Tintoretto), 48, 49 Portugal, 359, 362, 363
Post, Chandler Rathfon, 597, 598n. A History of Spanish Painting, 598n. Potter, John Briggs, 137, 138n ., 295, 296, 309, 319-320, 321, 322, 328, 343, 354, 355, 359n., 400, 451, 485 Pound / dollar exchange rate (1897), 84n. Powell, Father, 668 Prado (Madrid), 258, 299, 380, 592
Bernard Berenson invited to reorganize, 611,612
Prang, Louis, 655, 656n. Prayer Before a Tomb, A (Cicognara), 414n., 415, 521n., 523-524, 525 Pre-Raphaelites, 13, 15n.
Presentation of the Infant Jesus in the Temple (Giotto), 202, 204-205, 206, 272, 288, 289, 296
Prevost d'Exiles, Abbe Antoine-Franc;ois Historie du Chevalier des Grieux et de Manon Lescaut, 12, 13n . Prichard, Matthew Stewart, 241, 353, 354, 355, 357, 358, 359, 368, 372, 376, 381, 400, 417, 443, 444, 449, 456, 624, 654 Prides Crossing (Massachusetts), 59, 61, 63, 145
Priestly, Flora, 653 Primoli, Count Giuseppe Napoleone, 96, 141
Prince Baltasar Carlos and a Dwarf (VeLisquez), 249, 25011., 253, 261 Prince Baltasar Carlos and Dog (Velasquez), 250, 251, 252, 253, 257, 260, 263, 264, 266, 267, 268n., 270, 272, 273, 274 Prince, Claire, 5 l 8 Prince, Fanny (Mrs. Morton), 506, 5 l 4, 517, 518, 521, 522, 526 Prince, Morton, 396, 507, 509, 5 l 4, 5 l 7, 519, 521-522, 526 The Dissociation of a Personality, 394, 407 The Unconscious, 52 l Pritchett, Henry Smith, 342 Proctor, George, 253, 25411., 334, 353, 354, 355, 380, 381, 395, 482, 48311., 485, 6ro Proctor, George's mother, 3 80, 3 8 l Puccini, Giacomo La Boheme, 253 Purdy, Richard, 492 Putnam, George Palmer, 59711. Putnam, Mary Lowell, 3 54n. -Putnam, Mrs. James Lowell, 3 54 Putnam's Sons, G. P., 87 Pu vis de Chavannes, Pierre, l 2, l 311. Fem1nes au bard de la 1ner, 12 Hope, 12 Sleep, 12
Queen Marie-Louise (Goya), 90 Queen Mary of E11gland (Mor), 258, 259, 260, 26 l, 262, 264, 26 5-266, 32 l, 3 50
Racine, Jean Baptiste Brita1111iws, l 5, l 711. Radziwill, Prince Antoni "Aba," 4 7 l, 4 72, 47311., 474, 478 Radziwill, IVlarie Branicki, 471-472, 47311. Radziwill, Princess. Sec Dorothy Deacon Radziwill family, 474, 495 Raffaellino de! Garbo, 309-3 IO, 3 l l, 3 l 2
Saints Stephen, Apo/Ionia and Cencsi11s, 486, 487
Tobias, Archangel Raphael and Saint Catherine, 486, 487 Raffaello Riario, Cardinal Sa11so11i (bust), 390 Raimondi, Marcantonio, 248 Ramee, Marie-Louise de la [pseud. Ouida], 30, 3211.
Ra111eses II (ca. 1290 B.c.), 381, 38211 . 'Ramus, 3 3411.
708
Ramus, Petrus, 334n. Rankin, William, 250, 25rn., 355, 358 Rape of Europa (drawing) (Van Dyck), 61 Rape of Europa (Titian), 55-56, 57, 59, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 72, 75, 76, 87, 99, 113, 116, 120, 142, 181-182, l86n., 187, 217, 278, 294, 326, 327, 335-336, 388 Raphael, 103, ro4n., 107, 117, 118, 142, 143, 152-153, 154, 166, 184, 185, 198, 201, 243, 244, 261, 276, 279, 285, 286, 290, 373, 379, 410, 413, 414n. Alba Madonna, 318, 3 l9n. Ansidei, 276 Belle Jardiniere, 97 The Candelabra Madomia, 92, 93 Castiglione, 118, 119 Colonna altarpiece. See Mado1111a and Child Enthroned, with Saints Catherine, Peter, Cecilia, Paul, and the Infant Saint John the Baptist Conestabile Madonna, 232, 276, 279 copy of Caen Sposalizio, 43 Count To1n111aso Inghirami, l 18-120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126-127, 128-129, 130, 132-133, 137, 138, 140, 154, 159, 296, 427 Leo X, 118-119, 127 Mado1111a, l 19, 12011. The Madonna and Child, 450, 45l11. The Madonna and Child Enthroned, with Saints Catherine, Peter, Cecilia, Paul and the Infant Saint John the Baptist, 97, 9811., 276, 28 l, 282 madonnas, 25 l, 260, 267, 297, 298, 300, 312, 315, 316, 317, 351, 365, 403 Morgan's, 469 Nave,~ero and Beazzano, l 18 Panshanger. See The SI/la/I Co11Jper Madonna Pietd, 231-233, 235, 237, 245, 246, 248, 260, 262, 263, 296 Portrait of a Cardinal, l l 8 Portrait of Ci11lia110 de' Medici, 365, 366 Saint Sebastian, 40 Sistine Madonna, 415 The S1nall Cowper Madonna, 204, 403, 405n., 413 Sposalizio, 97 Stanza, 97 Three Graces, 232 Rath, Georg von, 204
Ravensdale, Baroness. See Lady Irene Curzon Reconciliation of Romans and Sabines (Sellaio), 330
Redeemer, The (Botticelli), 40 Reese, Andrea, 209, 210, 211 Reinach, Salomon, 73, 74n., 3 89, 457 Reinhardt, Henry, & Son (New York), 63 1 Reisner, George Andrew, 644, 6451路1., 646 Reisner, Mary Putnam Bronson, 644, 645n . Reju, Gabrielle Charlotte [pseud. Rejane], 141, 142n., 358
Relief Portrait of a Woman (Mino da Fiesole), 170, 171, 172, 173, 203, 206 Rembelinski, Count, 394, 395n., 398, 452, 453, 460
Rembrandt Harmensz van Rijn, 18, 97, 140, 141, 144, 147, 153, 155, 156, 157, 201, 204, 205, 261, 505. See also Govaert Flinck: The Obelisk; Portrait of a Young Artist Hope sale, 328 The Mill, 75, 78, 79, 80, 81, 149, 200, 206, 3 56, 486, 490 Self Portrait, ix, 47-48, 49, 52, 120 Self Portrait (Ilchester), 388 The Storm on the Sea of Galilee, 149, 150, 153, 155, 156 Rendel, Ellie, 43 5, 436 Renoir, Pierre-Auguste, 459 Reole, La (house portal) (France, twelfth century), 524, 525 Restoration, of artworks. See Conservation, of artworks Reynolds, Sir Joshua, 39, 102 Mrs . Siddons as the Tragic Muse, 50, 53, 56n.
Widener's, 457 Rhenhardt, Henry, 627n . Rhinelander, Frederick W., 3 54 Ribera, Jose de, 389 Richardson, Mr., 622 Rich Man's Repast (Bonifazio), 27 Richter, Jean-Paul, 4rn., 45, 77n., 265, 269, 289, 293, 294 Richter, Mrs. Jean-Paul, 41 Richter, J.-P., Collection (London), 202n. Ringling Museum (Sarasota, Florida), 68n. Ripley, Mrs., 423, 424, 433, 470, 492 Ripon, Constance Gladys, marchioness of, 466
Riviera, 484, 502
Robbia, Giovanni della, 370-371 The Lamentation over the Dead Christ, 2 IO, 2Il, 2I2, 2I3 Robbia, Luca della bust of Marietta Strozzi. See Bust of a Young Girl Madonna, 373 Robert, Fernand, I06, III, lI5, I22, I55, I56, I57, I74, I94, I95, 203, 206, 209, 246, 25 I, 260, 26I, 262, 263, 27I, 272, 273, 278, 28I, 39on ., 522, 523, 525,527 Roberti, d'Ercole Abraham and Melchizedek, 28 r Robinson, Corrine Roosevelt (Mrs. Douglas), 508 Robinson, Douglas, 508n. Robinson, Edward, 24I, 335, 35I, 353354n ., 357, 367, 368, 369, 37I, 372, 426, 449, 468, 506, 508 Robinson sale (Christie's London), 6rn ., 299, 3oon. Rockefeller, John D., ? ?, 655, 657 Rockefeller, John D., Jr., 62 I, 649n. Rockefeller, John D., Sr., 622 Rockefeller Institute, 608 Rodin, Auguste Balzac, I42 Rohan, Herminie, duchesse de, I 87, I 88, I94, 225, 228, 266 Rohan, Murat, 225 Rokeby, Yorkshire, England, 64, 372 Rokkaku Shisui, 342, 344 Romanino, Girolamo Bust of a Man, 4I Rome, 3 59, 362, 368, 3 8 5, 63 8 Romney, George, 76, 77, 78, 79, 586 Lady Milner, 73-74 Ronalds, Bertha Perry, 426, 47I Ronalds, Laurie, 492 Ronalds, P. Lorillard, 4 7 I Roosevelt, Theodore, 133, 268, 429, 43on . , 43I,474 Roque Island, Maine, 62, 63, I 50 Rosenberg, Leonce (Paris), 506, 507, 5 I 3 Rosenheim, Maurice, 390, 39I, 394, 396 Rosenheim, Otto, 465, 466, 469 Ross, Denman, 343, 344n., 345, 358, 359, 36I, 363, 369, 39I, 395, 398, 399, 400, 449-450, 456, 50I' 502, 506, 507, 509, 510, 5I2, 5I3, 5I4, 5I6, 52I, 524, 594, 598, 6I5, 6I6 I922 exhibition, 654-655
Portrait of Bernard Berenson, 45 I, 464 Portrait of Charles William Eliot, 449 Portrait of]. B . Potter, 359n ., 363 Portrait of Santayana, 449 A Theory of Pure Design, 399, 4oon . Ross, Frances Waldo, 343, 344n., 345 Ross, Henry, 235n ., 236 Ross, Janet Duff-Gordon, 234, 23 5n ., 236, 392, 438 The Fourth Generation, 633, 636n . Ross Collection (Montreal), 505 Rossellino, Antonio, 458n. Madonna and Child, 459, 460 Rossetti, Dante Gabriel, xix Rothenstein, William, 410, 4II, 4I4, 492 Portrait of Bernard Berenson, 4I2 Rothschild, Baron Gustave de, 344n . Rothschild, Lucie. See Baroness Lucie Lambert Rothschild, Maurice de, 492 Rothschild family, I42-I43, I68-I69, I8o, 206, 26I, 332, 345 Round Table Club (New York), 344 Royal Chapel (Granada), 6I2 Rubens, Peter Paul, I9, 23, 97, 284, 502, 647 Chapeau de Paille, I46 Earl of Arundel, 58, 59, 60, II 3-I 14, I I6, I20, I2I, I22, I23, 203, 206 Rudini, Antonio Starabba, marquis of, 345 Rudini, Carlo di, 345n ., 353 Rudini, Carlotta di, 3 53, 392 Rudini, Dora di, 345, 353n ., 47I Rudini, Lea di, 345 Rudini family, 359, 383 Rupe Atenea (rock of Athena), 420 Ruskin, John engravings, 468 Russell, Bertrand, I48n., 340, 507, 5I8 Russia, 340 Russian Ballet, 475, 502, 59I Russo-Japanese War, 334, 3 39 Russoli, Franco La raccolta Berenson, 637n. Rustin Fighting with Suhrab (Firdausi, Persia, mid-fifteenth century), 514n . Rutherford, A. H., 627n . Ryan, T. F., 46on .
Sacher-Masoch, Leopold von, 6 Don Juan of Kolomea, 6, 8n., 9 710
Sacra Conversaz ione (Bonifazio), 4I, 269 Sacra Conversazione (Mantegna), I95, I96, I97, 200, 205, 210, 2II, 2I2, 2I3n., 2I5 Sacred and Profane Love (Titian), I 82-I 84, I85-I86, I88, 206 Sagan, princess de . See Jeanne Marguerite Seilliere Saint-Gaudens, Augustus, 370, 429 Saint Andrews, Scotland, I 5 I Saint Cecilia (Donatello), I 3 Sainte Famille (Cleve), 382 Saint Ferdinand (El Greco), 34I Saint Francis in Ecstasy (Bellini), 497, 498 Saint George and the Dragon (Crivelli), 102, I03, I05, I06, I09, III, II7, I20, I2I, I24, I 58, I77, 203, 206, 224, 272, 274, 275 Saint George and the Dragon (Uccello), I 8 I Saint Jerome between Saint Christopher and Saint Augustine (Bellini), 637, 638n. Saint John Reading (Girolamo), 4I Saint Lawrence Enthroned with Saints and Donors (Lippi), 500, 5orn. Saint Louis, King of France (El Greco), 3 38 Saint Mark's Cathedral (Venice), 29 Saint Paul (Gimpel's Gothic statue), 628, 630, 63 I, 635, 638 Saint Sebastian (Messina), 40 Saint Sebastian (Perugino), I9I-I92 Saint Sebastian (Raphael), 40 Saint Sebastien, 38I-382 Saint Sebastien, the Resurrection, and Ascension (Memling), 290, 38 I Saints Stephen, Apollonia and Genesius (Raffaellino del Garbo), 486, 487 Saint Ursula Shrine (Memling), I 8 Salsomaggiore, 6 33, 6 3 5, 6 3 8 Samuels, Ernest, xxn., xxvii Samuels, Jane, xxiiin. Samuel, Stewart M., I I I Sanchez-Coello, Alonso Juana of Austria with a Young Child, 48-49, 5I, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57-58, 59-60, 6I , 62, 82, 83, 86, 87, 90, 9I, 93, 103, I28, I29-I30, I47 San Gimignano, Volterra, I25, I29 San Lorenzo, Florence, I 59, I70 San Moritz, Switzerland, 36, 92, 93, I86, I 88, 225, 228, 242, 262, 265, 266, 268, 339, 343, 344, 345, 347, 367, 368, 38I, 42I, 423, 425, 492 Sano di Pietro Madonna, 3 57
Santa Brigitta (bust), IOI, I05, I09, I IO, I23, 127, 129 Santa En(<.;racia (Bermejo), 34on ., 390 Santa Maria degli Angeli, 22 I Santa Maria (Madonna) dell' Orto, I 87 Santa Maria Maggiore (Rome), 268 Santayana, George, xx, 352, 427, 432, 449fl 路, 45 I, 490, 49 I, 499, 500, 608, 6I3, 639 The Last Puritan: A Memoir in the Form of a Novel, 639, 64on. San Toma, Toledo, Spain, 339 San Vivaldo, 370 Sardou, Victorien La Tosca, IO-II, 13n. Sargent, Henrietta (Hetty), 366 Sargent, John Singer, 37, 335, 36rn., 386, 417~1., 438n., 601, 622, 63on. Boston Museum of Fine Arts murals, 586, 593 death of, 586 Isabella Stewart Gardner, xix, 40, 41, 586 ElJaleo, 59rn. Mrs. Gardner in White, 652, 655, 657 Portrait of Gretchen and Rachel Warren, 622n.
Sassetta, 462, 463n., 637 Sassoon, Aline, Lady, 344, 345, 346n., 347, 397n., 451-452, 453 Sassoon, Sir Edward, 344n., 345 Savoldo, Giovanni Girolamo Pieta, 187 Sazanov, Sergey Dmitriyevich, 632 Scaletti, Leonardo, 414n., 521 Prayer before a Tomb. See Antonio Cicognara: A Prayer before a Tomb Scarlet Letter, The (Hawthorne), 47 Scarlet Letter, The (opera), 48 Scarpa Collection (Motta di Livenza), 4950, 206 Schickler, Baron Arthur de Martinvast, Collection (Normandy), 621 Schlichting, baron de, 389 Schonborn Collection (Vienna), 107 Schongauer, Martin
Madonna. See The Virgin and Child "Schoolmaster of Boulak" (Fifth Dynasty, Egyptian), 440 School of Wisdom, 654n. Schubert, Franz, 198 Sciarra-Colonna Collection (Rome), 366n. Scotland, 60, 61, 63-64, 145, 148-149, 150-151
Scott, Geoffrey, 622n., 639, 64on. Scott, Lady Sybil, 621, 639, 64on. "Scribe of the Louvre." See Seated Scribe
from Saggura Scuola del Carmine (Venice), 187 Sears, J. Montgomery, 37rn.. Sears, Mrs. J. Montgomery, 284n., 513, 626, 633, 634, 663, 664 Sears, Sarah. See Sarah C. Choate Sears, Willard, 79n. Seated Scribe from Saggura (Fifth Dynasty, Egyptian), 440 Sebastiano del Piombo, 42n., 162-163 Michelangelo, 167, 172, 203, 206, 282, 284-285n., 294-295, 300 Sedel mayer Gallery (Paris), 3 8-3 9, 97, 309 Seghers, Hercules, 490 Seilliere, Jeanne Marguerite, 147, l48n. Self Portrait (Bandinelli), l63n. Self Portrait (Rembrandt), xix, 47-48, 49, 52, 120 Self Portrait (Rembrandt) (Ilchester), 388 Self Portrait after Rubens' "Chapeau de Paille" (Vigee-Lebrun), 146 Sellaio, Jacopo del, 136, 138 Cupid and Psyche, 500 Reconciliation of Romans and Sabines, 330 Story of Nastagio degli Onesti, 330 The Story of Orpheus, 136, l37n., 138 Story of Orpheus and Euridice, 157, 219 Sepp Collection (Munich), 206 Serao, Matilde, 345 Serristori, Countess Hortense, 191, 3 l 8, 320, 332-333, 339, 340, 360, 392, 393, 398, 402, 419, 424, 443, 458, 460, 472, 480, 492 Sert, Jose Maria, 634, 636n. Sert, Misia Godebski, 634, 636n. Settignano. See Villa I Tatti Seven Joys of Mary (Memling), 27-28 Seyssel-Asnari, Claude, marquis d' Aix, 383, 384n. Shah-nameh (Firdausi, Persia, mid-fifteenth century), 5 l4n. Shakespeare, William, 20, 105 As You Like It, 3 l Hamlet, l l King Lear, 226 Midsummer Night's Dream, 3 l Othello, l l Romeo and Juliet, l l The Tempest, 3 l Shaw, Quincy Adams, 66, 334, 474 711
Sheldon, Mr., 43 7 Shelley, Percy Bysshe, 3 I 8 Sicily, Italy, 28, 148, 420 Sidis, ? ?, 634 Siena, Italy, 78, 80, I27, 286, 339, 4I8 Sienkiewicz, Henry Bartek: The Conquerer, 5, 6 Signorelli, Luca, 637 Holy Family, I42 Sikelianos, Angelos, 659, 66o-66I Sikelianos, Eva Palmer, 648-649, 650, 65 I Simons, Pinckney Marcius, 429, 43on. Sinn Fein, 653 Siren, Osvald, 5 I6 Sir William Butts (Holbein), I66, I67, I68I69, I7I, I72, I77, I79, 205 Sistine Madonna (Raphael), 4I 5 Slater, Ellen Peck, 5I4, 5I5n. Slater, W. A., 5 I 5n. Sleep (Puvis de Chavannes), I2 Sleeper, Henry, 505, 506n. Small Cowper Madonna, The (Raphael), 204, 403, 405n., 4I3 Smith, Alva, 423, 424, 425 Smith, Alys, 34on., 398, 4ron., 497, 502, 507, 5I8, 526, 606, 607, 608, 6I9, 655, 656 Smith, Corinna (Mrs. Joseph Lindon), 596597, 598 Interesting People, 597n . Smith, Hannah Whitall, 297, 347, 399, 4I9, 465, 466, 487, 488, 489 The Christian Secret of a Happy Life, 5 I 8, 5 I9n. The Unselfishness of God, 5I8, 5I9n. Smith, Joseph Lindon, 37, 66, 68n ., 96, IOI, II6, I24, 128, I30, I32, I33, I42, I77, 3 I8, 344, 365, 380, 384, 399, 455, 5 86, 592, 597, 598 Smith, Logan Pearsall, 125, l26n., I48n., 272n., 297, 398n., 443, 467, 507, 5I8, 606, 607, 64I, 659 English Idioms, 659 Songs and Sonnets, 46I, 464 Trivia, 621, 622 Smith, Mary Pearsall. See Mary Pearsall Smith Costelloe Berenson Smith College (Northampton, Massachusetts), 253 Smithsonian, 43 I, 5 I 5 Smoking, of cigarettes, 667 Smuggling, of artworks, 85, IOI, 105, ro6,
712
I09, IIO, III, II2, II4, I29, I33, 205 , 2II, 233, 237, 24I, 485n ., 66I Smyth, Dame Ethel, 63on. Streaks of Life, 629 Snow, E . A . , 50, 76, 80, 82, 90, I 23, I 5 I, I6I, 25I , 260, 262, 264, 267, 27I, 301, 302, 307 Somerset, Lady, 3 I2 Somers, Isabella Caroline. See Lady Somerset Somzee sale, 338-339, 34on . Sonnino, Baron Sidney, 63 5 Sophocles, 7 Sorolla y Bastida, Joaquin, 43 5 South Kensington Museum, 360 Spagna, Lo attribution of Caen Sposalizio to, 43 Spain, 362, 363, 379, 380 Spalding, Albert, 4I 8, 43 1-432, 43 3 Spanish patio, 62on. Spender, John Alfred, 63 5, 636n. Sperandio, Savelli, I 67 terra-cotta. See Benedetto da Maiano: Madonna and Child Sperling, E. M., 458, 459, 46I, 465 Speyer, Edgar, 648 Speyer, James, 59I, 592n . Speyer, Mrs . Edgar, 648 Speyer & Co., 59on Spiridon, Joseph, 389 Sposalizio (Raphael), 97 Sposalizio, Caen (Perugino), 42-43 Spreewald, Germany, 20-2 I Staatliche Museum (Berlin), 22 I, 26 I, 267, 276, 279, 288, 299, 39on ., 458n. Stadelsches Kunstinstitut (Frankfort), 22 r Stafford, Lord, 258, pr Stanley Family, 425 Stanza (Raphael), 97 Stein, Sir Aurel, 466 Stein, Gertrude, 452, 454, 456 Stein, Leo, 452, 454, 456 Stein, Michael, 452, 454, 456 Stein, Sarah, 452, 454, 456 Stendhal, I 6, 3 I Stephen, Adrian, 332n ., 528 Stephen, Sir Leslie, 528 Sterbini, Giulio, Collection (Rome), 29 r, 292, 294n ., 29 5 Stevens, Emily. See Mrs. Adolf Laden burg Stevenson, Robert Louis Treasure Island 9 5
Stewart, David, xviii, xix Stewart family, 5 5 Stoclet, Adolph, Collection (Brussels), 664 Stokowski, Leopold, 62on . Storm on the Sea of Galilee, The (Rembrandt), 149, 150, 153, 155, 156 Storrs, Sir Ronald, 641, 642, 643, 644n ., 655, 656, 657 Story, William Wetmore, l 5 Story of Lucretia (Botticelli), 487, 488n. Story of Nastagio degli Onesti (Sellaio), 330 Story of Orpheus and Euridice (Sellaio), I 57, 219 Story of Orpheus, The (Sellaio), 136, 137n., 138 Story of Virginia, The (Botticelli), 40 Stout, F., l07n. Strachey, Barbara, xxiiin., 496n ., 497, 503, 519, 526, 532, 649 Strachey, Christopher, 590, 59 l, 666 Strachey, Lytton, 63 l Queen Victoria, 629, 63on., 632 Strachey, Oliver, 3 32n., 488, 48911., 493, 495, 496n . Strachey, Olivia. See Barbara Strachey Strachey, Rachel (Ray). See Rachel (Ray) Costelloe Strachey, Sir Richard, 488 Straight, Dorothy (Mrs. Willard), 613 Strong, Charles, 639 Strong, Margaret, 655, 657 Strong, Mrs. ? ?, 493 Strong, Mrs. Charles Augustus, 500 Strong, Mrs. Eugenie Sellers, 503 Strong, Sanford Arthur, 329, 3 30 Strozzi, Prince Pietro, 398 Sudely, Baroness (Ada Maria Katherine Tollemache), 254, 255 Suetonius The Lives of the Caesars, 429, 43 ot1. Sulley, Arthur]., 595n. Sulley, Mr. ? ?, 596 Sulley, Thomas, and Co. (London), 509n. Supper at Emmaus (Catena), 40 Sweden, King of, 630 Swift, Henry Walton, 300, 319, 320, 405, 406, 407, 408, 411, 413, 422, 443, 444, 446, 447, 449, 457, 461, 465, 478, 512, 513, 518, 520, 525, 597, 598, 601, 628, 629, 63 l Swinburne, Algernon, 208 Swing, The (Fragonard), 403, 40511.
Switzerland, 25-26 Synge, John Millington Playboy of the Western World, 494n.
Taft, Charles Phelps, 452 Taft Museum (Cincinnati), 9on . Tagore, Sir Rabindranath, 593 My Reminiscences, 623 Tamagni, Vincenzo, 370-371 Tams, J. Frederick, 42 5, 426n. Tams, Mrs. J. Frederick, 425, 426n ., 452 Tanner, Beatrice Stella, 145-146 Tarbell, Edmund, 601, 622n. Portrait of Woodrow Wilson, 622 Tarquinia, Italy, 287n. Taylor, Francis Henry, xxiv Taylor, Willie, 361 Tempesta, La (Giorgione), 24, 25n ., 27, 69, 70, 71, 76 Temple Newsam Titian, 466 Ter Borch, Gerard, l 4 7 The Music Lesson, 149-150, 153, 155, 156 Terra-cotta busts, 426, 427n. Terrannova, ? ?, 191 Terry, Ellen, 414 Thacher, William, 335, 349 Tharp, Louise Hall, xxvii Thayer, Nathaniel, 469 Theocritus, 14, 145, 420 Thibault, Jacques-Fran<;ois-Anatole [pseud. Anatole France] L'Anneau d'amethyste, 194 Thomas, M. Carey, 623, 624t1., 627, 663 Thomas, Miss, 450 Thomas, Mrs., 154, 156, 155-156 Thomas, Theodore, 360 Thomas More (Holbein) 87-88, 90, 91, 96, 107, 166 Thompson, ? ?, 653 Thoreau, Henry David Walden, 12 Three Archangels (Botticini), 259 Three Cnicifixes, The (Foppa), 40 Three Graces (Raphael), 232 Tlzree Miracles of Saint Ze11obius (Botticelli), 487, 488n. Thyssen-Bornemisza Collection (Lugano, Switzerland), 46on ., 50711. Tiepolo, Giovanni Battista, 40 Villa Pisani (Std) frescoes, 142 Timmons, Minna, 77
713
Tintoretto, 43, 44, 45, 48 Portrait of a Man, 42 Portrait of Zacharias Vendramin, 48, 49 Titian, xxiv, 27, 73, 97, IOI, I03, I05, 149, 151, 191, 237, 261, 298-299, 301, 316, 507, 647 Altman's, 496-497n. The Bacchanal, 595, 596n. Bacchanal (with Bellini) . See Feast of the Gods Bacchus and Ariadne, 27, 3 r Cristofaro Madruzzo, 388 Crowning with Thorns, 91 Feast of the Gods (with Bellini), xxiv, 585, 591-592, 593-595, 596, 597, 599, 600, 601, 602, 625, 649 at Forli. See Juana of Austria with a Young Child incorrect attributions to, 48-50 Isabella d'Este. See Isabella d'Este Knoedlers', 368, 369 Madonna, 91 Madonna of the Cherries, 428 Portrait of Benedetto Varchi, 42 Portrait of Charles V, 9 r Rape of Europa, 55-56, 57, 59, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 68, 72, 75, 76, 87, 99, II 3, u6, 120, 142, 181-182, r86n ., 187, 217, 278, 294, 326, 327, 335-336, 388 Sacred and Profane Love, 182-184, 185186, I 88, 206 Temple Newsam, 466 The Worship of Venus, 595, 596n. Tobias, Archangel Raphael and Saint Catherine (Raffaellino del Garbo), 486, 497 Toilet of Venus (Velasquez), 372, 373 Tollemache, Ada Maria Katherine. See Baroness Sudely Tolstoy, Leo, 12, 16 Anna Karenina, 3 r, 467 Ma Confession, 5, 6n. War and Peace, 3 r, 450 Tone, Aileen, 621, 623 Toplady, 271, 272n. Torbido, Francesco Lady with a Turban, 5on. Torcello Cathedral, 223 Torlonia, Prince, 180, 191, 192, 383, 471 Torrigiano Collection (Florence), 95 Tosca, La (Sardou), IO-Ir, 13n. Trabia, Prince Don Pietro, 347n. Trabia, Princess Giulia, 347, 471
Tracy, Hanbury, 254 Tragedy of Lucretia (Botticelli), 3 5, 39, I 76, 294 Travers, Matilda, 376 Travi, Teobaldo (Bolgi), 603, 668 Tremoille, due de la, 90 Trevelyan, Sir George, 147 Trevelyan, Robert Calverley, 125, 126n ., 147, 148 Trevor Roper, Hugh A Hidden Life: The Enigma of Sir Edmund Backhouse, 482n. Trinity Place, 322, 323n. Tripoli, 493 Triumphs of Fame, Time, and Eternity, The (Pesellino), 9 5 Triumphs of Love, Chastity, and Death, The (Pesellino), 9 5 Trivulzio, ? ?, 190-191 Tucher, Baron, Collection (Vienna), 378, 379n. Tura, Cosimo, 286, 371 Madonna and Child, 40, 371 Turgenev, Ivan, 6 Turin, count of, 207, 208n. Turkey, 493n. Turkey-Greece war, 655n ., 657 Turner, Joseph Mallard William, 39, 200 Tuscania, Italy, 287n . Tuxedo Park, 425, 426n . Two Miniatures of Medicinal Plants (al-Fadl), 513
Uberto de Sacrati, His Wife, and Son Tommaso (Leonello), 400 Uccello, Paolo Saint George and the Dragon, r 8 r A Young Lady of Fashion. See Master of the Castello Nativity: A Young Lady of Fashion Uffizi, 164, 304 Umberto I, 225, 226n. United States of America, 297, 303, 333, 343
Bernard Berenson on, 3 r 8, 322, 325, 3 32, 333, 359 Bernard Berenson on getting artworks for culture to, 323 Mary Berenson on, 4 r 8 federal tax, 598, 599 import duties on artworks, 80, 82, 83, 84, 91, 128, 144, 158, 203, 214, 223, 241,
327, 328, 341, 423, 424, 425n., 442, 447, 449, 453, 460, 46rn ., 522 during World War I, 593, 599, 603 World War I involvement by, 53 l, 58 5, 586 Urbino, Italy, 28 Vallombrosa, Italy, 603, 604 Vanderbilt, Anne Harriman (Mrs. William Kissam), 627 Vanderbilt, George Washington, 3 l 5 Vanderbilt, William Kissam, 423n., 627n. Vanderlip, Frank, 622, 623 Vanderlip's Cima, 623 Vanderlip's Mino da Fiesole, 623 Vanderlip's Palmezzano, 623 Van Dyck, Anton, 76, 83, 208, 401 The Balbi Children, 407, 408, 410, 413 Cattaneo portraits, 401, 402n. A Lady with a Rose, 57, 73 , 74, 75, 76, 78, 79, 80, 82 Marchesa Balbi, 3 88 Rape of Europa (drawing), 61 Portrait of Elena Grimaldi (Woman with the Umbrella), 401, 402n., 408-409, 410, 411, 412-413, 415, 416, 427, 428n . Vasari, Giorgio, 142 Velasquez, Diego Rodriguez de Silva, l 3, 43, 44, 48, 49, 65, 66, 68, 97, l l 8, l 19, 120, 237, 257, 261, 357, 392, 459, 505 Brancaccio's Philip, 3 84, 3 8 5n. The Duke of Olivarez , 63 Philip FV, King of Spain, 67, 68n., 69-70, 71, 72, 74, 75-76, 78, 79, 121, 354, 356, 3 58, 360, 361, 362, 48 l Pope Innocent X, 67, 68n., 358, 384, 385, 386, 387, 388, 390, 395-396, 456, 460, 461, 469 Prince Baltasar Carlos and a Dwarf, 249, 25on ., 253, 261 Prince Baltasar Carlos and Dog, 250, 25 l, 252, 253, 257, 260, 263, 264, 266, 267, 268n., 270, 272 , 273, 274 Toilet of Venus , 372 , 373 Widener's , 428 Venice across the Basin of San Marco (Guardi), 43-44, 4 5-46, 48 , 49 Venice , Italy, 26- 27, 78, 179, 222 , 223, 350, 366 , 50 1, 660, 661 Bernard Berenson on, 6 37- 6 3 8 Venizelos, Eleutherios, 6 12, 613 n. Venturi, A dolfo, 108
Venus, or a Lady at Her Toilet (Bellini), 594, 595n., 597, 600 Vermeer, xix, 84 The Allegory of the Art of Painting, 86, 87n ., 88 The Concert, 81 Veronese, 23, 97 Christ Bearing the Cross, 23 Finding of Moses, 23 Justice, 361 The Madonna of The Cuccina Family, 23 Verrocchio, Andrea del, 221, 285, 390, 391, 392, 396, 426, 427n. See also Raffaello Riario, Cardinal Sansoni Madonna and Child (after Verrocchio), 649 Via Camerata (Florence), l 14-116 Vicenza, Italy, 88, 108 Victoria and Albert Museum (London), 36on . Victoria, Queen, 63on. Vienna Academy, 27, 378-379 Vigee-Lebrun, Elisabeth Self Portrait after Rubens' "Chapeau de Paille," 146 Vignier (dealer), 529 Villa Albani, 179, 190 Villa Capponi (Florence) , 633, 635 Villa delle Balze (Fiesole), 5orn . Villa Farnese (Caprarola) , 4 71, 4 72 Villa I Tatti, xviii, xxi, xxii, xxiii, xxv, 3, 37, 202n ., 223, 230, 242, 243, 287n. , 346, 358, 359 , 372, 396, 399, 400, 416, 417, 419, 42on., 438 , 439n ., 440, 441, 442, 443, 445, 446, 447, 452, 454, 455, 457, 458, 460, 461, 462, 463, 464, 467, 474, 478-479, 481, 493, 499, 585, 586, 631, 636, 638, 641 fire in, 377-378 garden, 626, 627n. Villa I Tatti frescoes (Piot), 48 l Villa Kraus (Florence), 68 Villa La Floridiana (Naples), 344n. , 356, 3 57n. , 395 Villa La Pietra (Florence), 633n . Villa Medici (Florence) , 63, 137, 621, 632, 633 , 63 5, 639 Villa Monteserrat (Sintra , Portug al), 3 59 , 36on . Villa Pisan i (Std) fr esco es (Tiepolo), 142 Villa Sylvia (S t . Jean-su r-Mer) , 28 4n., 484, 495, 503, 595, 603n. Villa Trian on (Versailles), 382n., 43rn., 631
715
Vincent, Edgar, viscount d 'Abernon, 476n . Vincent, Lady Helen, 475, 476n . Virgil, 7, 309 Georgics, 99 Virgin and Child, The, 189, 190, 192, 193, 194, 195, 205, 206 Virgin and Child (Botticelli), 3 3 8 Virgin and Child with Saint Liberale (Basaiti), 330 Virzi, Tomaso, 249, 25on . Viti, Timoteo, 248, 286 Vivian Collection (Claverton), 294 Volpi, Elia (Florence), 153, l7on., 206, 400, 450, 590, 59rn. Volterra, Italy, 127 Von Dieman Collection (Berlin), 6 5 In . Votive stele, 517, 5 l 8, 520, 523, 524, 525 Waagen, Gustav Friederich, 29511.., 297, 300 Treasures of Art in Great Britain, 294-295 Wagner, Cosima, 212, 213n. Wagner, Richard, 67 Autobiography, 488 Walden (Thoreau), 12 Walker, Charles Howard, 84 Wallace Collection, xxiiin., 34on ., 405n., 49rn. Wallas, Graham, 526, 527n. Wallis and Son (London), 44on., 445 Walpole, Horace, 312 Walters, Henry, 489, 507, 515, 627, 650 Walters Art Gallery (Baltimore), 48n., 92n., 489n., 5II, 514, 625 Wantage, Lady, 3 3 8 Warder, Alice, 43 l Warner, Langdon, 62 5 War of 1898, 132, 133, 134, 135, 137 Warren, Edward Perry "Ned," 4, 17, l8n ., 31, 32n., 35, 100, 212, 219, 221, 249, 296n., 315, 355n., 417, 468, 469 Warren, Gretchen Osgood (Mrs. Fiske), 622 Warren, Mrs. S. D., 55-56, 249, 291 Warren, Rachel, 622n. Warren, Sam, 3 l 5, 467, 468, 469 Warren Collection (Boston), 291, 293 Warren House, 448 Warwick, Lord, 58 Warwick family, l 13-1 l4 Washington, D. C., 33 l Water-Clock, A (al-Jazari, Egypt, l 3 54), 506, 507n., 514n .
716
Waterfield, Mrs. Aubrey, l26n . Waters, Mr., 25 Waters, Mrs., 25 Watson, Mary, 3 84 Watteau, Jean-Antoine, 28, 84, 85, 86n ., 104, 105, 106-107, 416 Departure for Cythera, 28 Webster, Augusta, l 5, l7n. Disguises, l 5 A Woman Sold, l 5 Wellington Museum (Apsley House, London), 358n. Wells, Judge, 623 Wells, Mrs., 623 Wemyss, earl of, 229n. Wendell, Barrett, 469, 614, 615n . Wentworth Woodhouse, 40 l Wernher, Sir Julius Charles, 175, l76n . Wertheimer and Son, Charles (London), 159 Westminster, duke of, 50, 56n . Wetmore, Elizabeth Bisland The Life and Letters of Lafcadio Hearn, 394, 395n. Wetzel, Hervey, 5 IO, 5 IIn. Weyden, Rogier van der, 422 Annunciation, 3 19-320, 403 Pieta, 612 Portrait of Francesco d'Este, 4 75, 4 76n . Wharton, Edith, xxvi, 242, 370, 371, 492, 493n ., 499, 502, 529, 600, 603, 605, 611, 613, 628, 629, 630, 631, 666, 667n. The Decoration of Houses, 63on. The House of Mirth, 485 Wharton, Edward Robbins, 499 Wheelwright, Mrs., 409 Whistler, James Abbott McNeill, xix, 41, 402n. White, Henry, 492 White, Margaret Rutherford, 492 White, Stanford, 633 Whitman, Mrs. William. See Sarah de St. Prix Wyman Whitman, Walt, 528 Whitney, Gertrude Vanderbilt, 508 Whitney, Harry Payne, 508 Whitney, Mr., l 98 Whitney, William C . , l 53n., 3 16, 613n. Whittemore, Thomas, 455n ., 657n. Widener, Joseph, 12on., 33on ., 427-428, 492, 507 Widener, P. A. B., 75n., 398n ., 452, 595n.
Widener, P.A. B., Collection, 23rn., 330, 405n., 427 Widener family, 457, 490, 507, 649 Widener's Botticelli, 428 Widener's El Greco, 456 Widener's Reynolds, 457 Widener's Velasquez, 428 Wildenstein, (gallery), 446 Wilde, Oscar Ballad of Reading Gaol, r 3 r William, Barry, 17-18 William II, Emperor of Germany, 284n., 589 Wilson, Helen Hopekirk (Mrs. William P.), 430 Wilson, Marion Mason, 4 78 Wilson, Richard T., 4 78n . Wilson, Woodrow, 590, 608, 6 r r, 622, 6 3 5, 657 Wilstach, W. P., Collection, 3 38 Windsor, Lady (Alberta Victoria Sarah Caroline Paget), r 34, I 3 5n. Windsor Castle, 166 Windt, Margaret Alice Lily de. See Lady Brooke Winlock, Helen, 644, 645n. Winlock, Herbert, 644, 645n. Winthrop, Grenville L., 486n., 505, 506n . Witt, Lady Mary Helene, 666, 667n. Witt, Sir Robert Clermont, 666, 667n. Witt Reference Library (London), 667n. Wolkonski, Serge, Prince Mikhailorites of, 99 Wolkonsky, 191-192 Woman in Green and Crimson, A (Piero Pollaiuolo), 404, 405, 406, 407-408, 411, 412, 439, 440, 446, 448, 454, 457, 5 I 5 Woman Playing the Lute and Shepherd Asleep (Cariani), 40 Woman Sewing with a Serving Girl and a Child, A (Hooch), Sr, 83-84 Woman with the Umbrella (Portrait of Elena Grimaldi) (Van Dyck), 40 r, 402n., 408409, 410, 4II, 412-413, 415, 416, 427, 43on . Woolson, Constance Fenimore, 30, 32n. Worcester Museum, 469 Worch, Edgar, 516, 517n . Worch and Company (Paris), 5 l7n . Wordsworth, William, r 22 World War I, 242, 525-526, 528, 529, 533, 585, 600
art dealers during, 529 Bernard Berenson on, 53 r, 587, 60 I, 646 Mary Berenson on, 608, 609, 612, 648649 Boston during, 605 difficulty of traveling in Europe during, 592 effect on society, 587 end of, 609-6 lo, 6 r 5 Florence during, 532, 587 Isabella Stewart Gardner on, 587, 588, 605, 610 Italy during, 532, 591, 605 Italy 's involvement in, 53 r selling of artworks during, 527 United States of America during, 593, 599, 603 United States of America's involvement in, 531, 585, 606 war tax in United States of America, 527, 585, 597, 602 Worship of Venus, The (Titian), 595, 596n. Worth's, 100 Wright, Wilbur, 443 Wullner, Ludwig, 433, 434n . Wyman, Sarah de St. Prix (Mrs. William Whitman), 295, 296n. Wyndham, Mary. See Lady Elcho Yarborough, earl of, 96, 98, 107, r l l-l 12, 321 Yarrington, Arabella Duval, 457 Yashiro, Yukio , 66 5-666 Sandro Botticelli, 666 Yeats, William Butler, 494n. Yerkes, Charles Tyson, 236 Yerkes Collection, 23 In., 325 Young Lady of Fash.ion, A (Master of the Castello Nativity), 519 Young Man in a Red Cap (Botticelli), 330 Young Man in a Scarlet Turban, A (Masaccio), 158, 159-160, l6I, 169, 170 Youthful Maiden, The (ca. 300 B.C . , Kios), 469 Yung Kang statue, 529-530 Zalstem-Zalessky, Prince Alexis, 62on . Zangwill, Israel, 526, 527n ., 607 Zenale, Bernardino, 40 Zileri dal Verme, Count Camillo, 66, 67n., 86, 88-89, 9on., 105-106, 108, l 30, r 57
717
Zileri dal Verme family, 88-89, 9on ., 116, 117 Zola, Emile, r 88n . La Reve, 30 La Terre, 19 Zoppo, Marco, 77 Zorn, Anders Leonard, 402n . , 409, 416
Zuccaro, Taddeo, ro2 Zucchini, Countess, 190 Zurbaran, Francisco de J\1adonna and Child, 2on . Portrait of a Doctor of Laws from the University of Salamanca, 436, 457, 623n.