About Bernard Berenson
Bernard Berenson (June 26, 1865 – October 6, 1959) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. His book The Drawings of the Florentine Painters was an international success. His wife Mary is thought to have had a large hand in some of the writings. Berenson was a major figure in the attribution of Old Masters, at a time when these were attracting new interest by American collectors, and his judgments were widely respected in the art world. == Personal life == Berenson was born Bernhard Valvrojenski in Butrimonys, Vilnius Governorate (now in Alytus district of Lithuania) to a Litvak family – father Albert Valvrojenski, mother Judith Mickleshanski, and younger siblings including Senda Berenson Abbott. His father, Albert, grew up following an educational track of classical Jewish learning and contemplated becoming a rabbi. However, he became a practitioner of Haskalah, a European movement which advocated more integration of Jews into secular society. After his home and lumber business were destroyed by fire, he lived with his more traditionalist in-laws who pressured him to enroll Bernard with a Hebrew and Aramaic tutor. Instead, they immigrated to Boston, Massachusetts, in 1875, whereupon the family name was changed to "Berenson". Bernard converted to Christianity in 1885, becoming an Episcopalian.
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