between Isabella Stewart Gardner and Bernard Berenson has not been recorded. There is every reason to believe that they were introduced by Mrs. Gardner's good friend Professor Charles Eliot Norton while Berenson was a student in his class in r 886. That Berenson was entertained by Mrs. Gardner at Green Hill, her Brookline estate, may be assumed from a reference in one of his letters; that he also went to the two adjoining townhouses on Beacon Street in Boston seems very likely in view of their friendship at the time of his departure for Europe. Visiting Mrs. Gardner offered a taste of what it was like to live surrounded by works of art and to stroll in Italianate gardens. Before long Berenson would see many, far more impressive houses and, in his own way, emulate them at Villa I Tatti. Mrs. Gardner's style did not follow the usual pattern in Boston, and it surely impressed the young Berenson. Here was someone who had traveled around the world and had seen the Orient, Europe, and the Near East with a discerning eye. Everywhere objects recalled her travels: textiles and stained glass, furniture and paintings. Her photograph albums included her favorite buildings and works of art. The effect of all this and the warmth of his hostess's welcome may be surmised from his letters during his odyssey in Europe. Prepared as he was for what he was about to see, yet unused to travel and to the Old World, Berenson wrote to Mrs. Gardner with remarkable candor. She had a way of inspiring men to confide in her and Berenson became one of those who did. It is also fair to guess that Mrs. Gardner and Berenson were immediately drawn to each other. Among her friends in Boston were a number of professors who had taken an interest in him, sensing his intellectual promise. Berenson was a precocious student. He pursued ancient and modern Ianb H E FIRST MEETING
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