Skip to main content
COLLECTION Identifier: BER-23

Berenson Library Byzantine art and architecture photograph collection

Overview

Includes photographs of Byzantine art and architecture that are part of the Berenson Library core photo collection.

Dates

  • Creation: 1880 - 1959
  • Creation: Majority of material found within 1880 - 1930

Creator

Language of Materials

Collection materials are in English, French, and Greek.

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

Copyright for materials resides with the creators of the items in question, unless otherwise designated.

Extent

3,956 photographic prints
20 linear feet (20 photograph boxes, 1 oversize folder)

The collection consists of images of Early Christian and Byzantine monuments in various countries in the eastern Mediterranean. Most of the photographs show churches, paintings, and mosaics in Cyprus, Greece, Italy, and Turkey as they were before 1930. Most of them were acquired by Berenson from art historians Arthur Kingsley Porter (1883-1933) and Gabriel Millet (1867-1953), while other photos of icons, ivories, jewelry and textiles were sent by American and European art collectors. A significant number of photographs were taken by Josephine Powell and the Istanbul based photograph studio of Sebah and Joaillier. Photos by Theron J. Damon, Giorgos Lykides, Carlo Naya, Osvaldo Böhm, Fratelli Alinari, Giacomo Brogi, and the Anderson firm are also included. The collection contains a large number of photographs of artworks preserved at the Mount Athos monasteries, images of the Daphni and the Hosios Loukas monasteries in Greece, mosaics in Istanbul, Thessaloniki and Venice, views of the late Byzantine settlement of Mistra, icons and mural decoration in Cyprus, and photographs of the collection of Byzantine objects at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington D.C. A few newspaper clippings are to be found at the end of each series.

Arrangement

Collection organized in four series: 1. Architecture and Sculpture, 2. Painting, 3. Mosaics, 4. Applied Arts. Series 2 and 4 are organized in subseries. Files within series and subseries are arranged alphabetically by the name of the city.

Processed by

Spyros Koulouris

Title
Berenson Library Byzantine art and architecture photograph collection, 1880-1959: A Finding Aid
Status
completed
Author
Biblioteca Berenson
Date
September 3, 2018
Description rules
dacs
Language of description
eng
EAD ID
ber00023

Repository Details

Part of the Biblioteca Berenson, I Tatti - The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies Repository

Contact:
Via di Vincigliata 26
Florence 50135 Italy
+39 055 603 251
+39 055 603 383 (Fax)