My Dear BB… : The Letters of Bernard Berenson and Kenneth Clark review

The high-octane correspondence between 20th-century art world doyen Bernard Berenson and the young pretender Kenneth Clarke is enthralling

Thank God for the survival of the university press. In the last century, when Lord Clark of Civilisation and Bernard Berenson, the garrulous scholar-prince of I Tatti, that fabled villa outside Settignano, were both at the peak of their fame and influence, many publishers would have stampeded like wildebeest to cash in on the commercial potential of such world-class arty gossip.

Who could resist an art book spiced with the outrageous snob appeal of names such as Philomene de la Forest-Divonne, Logan Pearsall Smith, the celebrated connoisseur Lord Duveen, Desmond McCarthy, Clive Bell, Maurice Bowra, Iris Origo, Isaiah Berlin, Roger Fry and the “society hostess” Lady Cunard? In the days of Cyril Connolly, formerly of this parish, and Hugh Trevor-Roper, this kind of high-octane letter-writing was catnip to the more exquisite parts of the book trade.

Continue reading...