See below for the original document.
|
I Tatti 3 December 1954 My dear Yashiro, I dedicate the Japanese translation of Italian Painters of the Renaissance to You because without You and Your continuous assistance it never would have been made and published. Another and better reason is that of all the young men who have come to me for for guidance in their studies you have been the most loyal, the most devoted as well as the most creative. You were with me from 1921 to 1924, not only learning from me but helping in my work. You have returned again and again and I look forward to seeing you yet again. In the field of Italian art you have produced the most authoritative, the most illuminating and the most readable book on Botticelli in any language. Botticelli’s swift flame-like yet modelling line is almost unique in European art but I have encountered it frequently in Japanese drawings. Indeed there is a great affinity between the draughtsmanship of Florentine and Japanese artists. Thanks to you, my dear Yashiro, we Europeans have come to have subtler and more penetrating appreciation of the achievement of your countrymen and they of ours. May this version of Italian Painters help Japanese students to enjoy our artists as You have helped us to feel and understand Botticelli. Ever affectionately, Bernard Berenson |
