Berenson (Bernard) is born in Butremanz, Lithuania.

The son of Albert and Julia (Mieliszanksi) Valvrojenski, Bernard Berenson emigrates to Boston with his parents in 1875, lives initially at 32 Nashua Street, and then on Minot Street, attends Boston Latin School and Boston University, then moves to Europe in 1887, returning to the U.S. only for brief visits. He becomes an expert in Italian Renaissance art, helps Isabella Stewart Gardner compile her art collection, and marries Mary Pearsall Smith Costelloe in 1900. Born Jewish, Berenson was baptized in the Anglican Church as a youth and converts to Catholicism as an adult. He dies at his villa, I Tatti, in Settignano, Italy, on October 6, 1959.