Homeless Paintings of the Renaissance

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These essays, of which several have never been published in English and none has appeared in book form, show the great critic at his most perceptive, stimulating and witty. They also have the fascination of a mystery and the excitement of a treasure hunt. Berenson's theme is the Italian paintings of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries which have appeared in sale-rooms and private collections, mostly during the years between the two world wars, but whose whereabouts are (or were when he wrote) unknown. The number and quality of these works will surprise most readers. They have pictures which never appear in histories of art; having escaped gallery catalogues and critical monographs, their very existence has been forgotten. But Berenson kept an eagle eye on the market and nothing of value or interest went unnoticed by him. 

This is only the beginning of the hunt. It leads on not only to the paintings themselves but to the whole problem of dating and attribution in Renaissance art. In this field Berenson was supreme. With his amazing memory for detail and his brilliant insight into the personality behind the painting, he analyses each work, 'placing' it in its school and relating it to the styles of known artists. 

Every painting discussed by Berenson has been illustrated from his own photographic archives, supplemented from other sources where these are preferable. They include hundreds which have never before been made available to the general public in reproduction. Since he wrote (and largely because he wrote) some have been traced and further scholarly information about others has been assembled. These later researches are fully documented by Dr Hanna Kiel, for many years Berenson's associate and helper at 'I Tatti'. The book is thus a major contribution to our knowledge of Italian painting, as well as being a delightful lesson in appreciation and enjoyment at its most sophisticated.