Berenson Library Byzantine art and architecture photograph collection

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.