Teaching Connoisseurship: Paul Sachs at Harvard University and Bernard Berenson at Villa I Tatti

November 2011 - David Alan Brown, curator of Italian and Spanish paintings, National Gallery of Art. Curator David Alan Brown discusses the impact that American art historians Paul Sachs (1878-1965) and Bernard Berenson (1865-1959) had on connoisseurship in this Works in Progress lecture recorded on December 7, 2009 at the National Gallery of Art. Sachs and Berenson agreed on the nature of connoisseurship and its importance on the history of art, but disagreed greatly on how to teach it. Brown compares and contrasts how the two men imparted the discipline, and what their methods reveal about their individual personalities and goals.