Synopsis
Jacob Burckhardt was a European historian and critic of the nineteenth century who is commonly referred to as the world's first cultural historian. He believed that historical writings should describe the spirit, forms of expression, people, and setting of a particular era. He viewed the Italian Renaissance as the world's finest period of culture and chose it as the subject of his most well-known work, "The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy." At the time of its publication it was the most influential interpretation of the Italian Renaissance ever written due to its expansive look into the opulent culture and artistic movements which were created during that time. In the work, Burckhardt seeks to compare the Renaissance with other important eras in order to show how the Italians rose above those cultures. The text, however, is not so much "scientific" as it is opinionated, which has earned it a reputation for being wholly biased. Still, Burckhardt is able to weave together a masterful narrative which creates a holistic story for the Renaissance and its influence on Western Civilization.
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About the Author
Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897) intended to join the Church, but lost his faith while studying theology. Thereafter he studied history at the University of Basel, gaining his doctorate in 1843 and becoming a lecturer. He moved to the Zurich Polytechnic as Professor of Architecture and History in 1855, which is where he wrote The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. In 1858 he returned to Basel, where he lived for his work as a teacher at the University. Burckhardt's historical writings did much to establish the importance of art in the study of history; indeed, he was one of the "founding fathers of art history" but also one of the original creators of cultural history. According to John Lukacs, he was the first master of cultural history, which seeks to describe the spirit and the forms of expression of a particular age, a particular people, or a particular place. His innovative approach to historical research stressed the importance of art and its inestimable value as a primary source for the study of history. He was one of the first historians to rise above the narrow nineteenth-century notion that "history is past politics and politics current history." Burckhardt's unsystematic approach to history was strongly opposed to the interpretations of Hegelianism, which was popular at the time; economism as an interpretation of history; and positivism, which had come to dominate scientific discourses (including the discourse of the social sciences). In 1838. Burckhardt made his first journey to Italy and published his first important article, "Remarks about Swiss Cathedrals." Burckhardt is best known for his books “The History of the Renaissance in Italy” and “The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy.” Burckhardt considered the study of ancient history an intellectual necessity and was a highly respected scholar of Greek civilization. "The Greeks and Greek Civilization" sums up the relevant lectures which Burckhardt first gave in 1872 and which he repeated until 1885. At his death, he was working on a four-volume survey of Greek civilization.
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