História da arte, connoisseurship e coleções sul-americanas

This article examines the practice of connoisseurship as articulated by Bernard Berenson (1865–1959) and its reception in the South American art world, with particular attention to Brazil. Drawing on dispersed archival materials, Berenson’s social networks across Europe and the Americas, the provenance of works in the collection of the São Paulo Museum of Art (MASP), and the circulation of his translated writings in Argentina and Brazil, we reconstruct his role—together with local intermediaries—in shaping collections of traditional European art. The article also reflects on the continued presence of connoisseurship in today’s art system and its paradoxical relationship with the technical and scientific analyses that expanded throughout the twentieth century and substantially advanced the material study of artworks.