Jacob Burckhardt Summary

Burckhardt, Jakob(1818–1897) The Swiss cultural historian Jakob Burckhardt was born in Basel, the son of a Protestant minister. He began his university education as a theology student, but lost... Read more

The Swiss historian Jacob Christoph Burckhardt (1818-1897) was a philosophical historian whose books dealt with cultural and artistic history and whose lectures examined the forces that had shaped Eur... Read more

Niebuhr, considered one of the most important and influential Protestant theologians in twentieth-century America, is the author of The Children of Light and the Children of Darkness (1944) and Christ... Read more

In the following excerpt, Gilbert describes Burckhardt's intended projects in his early career and one of his early works, The Age of Constantine the Great. When his years of study came to a... Read more

Originally published as the introduction to an Italian edition of The Cultural History of Greece, the following essay places Burckhardt's book in its contemporary intellectual context. An in... Read more

In the excerpt below, Weintraub discusses Burckhardt's approach to art and art history. Burckhardt's reluctance to theorize must not be confused with dislike for generalization or str... Read more

In the excerpt below, Heller describes Burckhardt's approach to original source material, positing an affinity between that employed by the historian and by the poet Goethe. When in 1495 Rap... Read more

In the excerpt below, Baron evaluates Burckhardt's concept of the Renaissance, assessing criticisms of it and outlining two areas of weakness in The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy. ... Read more