Rachel Cohen is the author of 'A Chance Meeting: Intertwined Lives of American Writers and Artists' (Cape), 'Bernard Berenson' (Yale) and, most recently, ‘Austen Years’ (Farrar, Straus & Giroux).
Influential private collectors were often keen to recreate their own experiences for the benefit of the public at large.
As the Wadsworth Atheneum reopens, Rachel Cohen considers the legacy of one of its greatest benefactors