Background
Her father was Robert Pearsall Smith, her mother Hannah Whitall Smith.
Her father was Robert Pearsall Smith, her mother Hannah Whitall Smith.
She studied at the Harvard Annex in 1884-1885.
Here Mary met the Irish barrister Benjamin Conn "Frank" Costelloe, who she married in 1885. Mary separated from Costelloe, with whom she had two children, after a few years together. Her United States lecture tours were instrumental in developing an interest in Italian Renaissance art among wealthy American collectors during the first decade of the twentieth century.
Subsequently she brought together a social circle at Villa I Tatti", the Berenson home, and developed its gardens.