Bernard Berenson (1865-1959) was an American art historian specializing in the Renaissance. He was a major figure in establishing the market for paintings by the "Old Masters". Berenson was born Bernhard Valvrojenski in a Jewish family. He graduated from Harvard University. Among U.S. collectors of the early 1900s, Berenson was regarded as the pre-eminent authority on Renaissance art. While his approach remained controversial among European art historians and connaisseurs, he played a pivotal role as an advisor to several important American art collectors who needed help in navigating the complex and treacherous market of newly fashionable Renaissance art. Starting with his The Venetian Painters of the Renaissance with an Index to their Works (1894), his mix of connoisseurship and systematic approach proved immensely successful. In 1895 his Lorenzo Lotto, an Essay on Constructive Art Criticism won wide critical acclaim. It was quickly followed by The Florentine Painters of the Renaissance (1896) that was lauded for its innovative application of "elementary psychological categories to the interpretation of higher art". --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.