Jacob Burckhardt

Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897) was a Swiss historian, cultural critic, and scholar of art whose work helped shape modern understanding of the Renaissance. Born in Basel, he studied history, theology, and art history before becoming one of the leading cultural historians of the nineteenth century. Rather than writing history only as political narrative, Burckhardt examined the forms of life, imagination, public culture, artistic expression, religion, manners, and intellectual habits that give an age its distinctive character.His major works include The Age of Constantine the Great, The Cicerone, Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, and posthumously published lectures and studies on Greek culture and world history. Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy remains his best-known book and one of the defining texts of Renaissance studies. Though later historians have revised many of its assumptions, especially its sharp contrast between the Renaissance and the Middle Ages, Burckhardt's account of individuality, statecraft, humanism, art, and cultural self-consciousness continues to influence readers interested in Renaissance Italy, European history, art history, and the writing of cultural history.