Jacob Christoph Burckhardt

Home > ... > Literature and the Arts > Scholars and Historians > Historians, European: Biographies > ...

Jacob Christoph Burckhardt

The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | 2008 | The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. Copyright 2008 Columbia University Press. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Jacob Christoph Burckhardt , 1818-97, Swiss historian, one of the founders of the cultural interpretation of history. He studied under Ranke at the Univ. of Berlin and taught (1844-53, 1858-93) art history and history at the Univ. of Basel. His best-known work is Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien (1860, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, available in many English editions). It remains the classic on the subject, although its primarily political and cultural interpretation of the Renaissance is controversial among historians. Believing in a pattern of culture peculiar to each age, Burckhardt found the shift from corporate medieval society to the modern spirit occurring in Italy in the 14th and 15th cent. The strife between empire and papacy had created a political and moral vacuum, leading to the birth of the modern self-conscious state and the liberation of the creative individual. Burckhardt saw Renaissance humanism as the revival of classical antiquity, and the era as one of man's joyous new discovery of himself and the world about him. He profoundly influenced his friend Nietzsche , and the work of J. A. Symonds is based largely on Burckhardt's synthesis. In The Age of Constantine the Great (1852, tr. 1949), Burckhardt analyzed the transition from classical times to the Middle Ages. Among his other works on history and art is Cicerone (1855), a guide to Italian art. Selections from his posthumously published lecture notes on ancient Greece have appeared in translation as The Greeks and Greek Civilization (1998). Burckhardt feared that spiritual and aesthetic human values were doomed to submersion by the rise of industrial democracy.

Hide all research tools
Print this article Print all entries for this topic Cite this article Link to this article
Link to this article

CloseClose

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1E1-BurckharJC" title="Facts and information about Jacob Christoph Burckhardt">Jacob Christoph Burckhardt</a>

Add this article to Del.icio.usBookmark this article on DiigoShare this article on FacebookSubmit this article to RedditGive this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

"Jacob Christoph Burckhardt." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. 26 Dec. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

"Jacob Christoph Burckhardt." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Encyclopedia.com. (December 26, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-BurckharJC.html

"Jacob Christoph Burckhardt." The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition. 2008. Retrieved December 26, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-BurckharJC.html

Learn more about citation styles

Burckhardt, Jacob

The Oxford Dictionary of Art | 2004 | | © The Oxford Dictionary of Art 2004, originally published by Oxford University Press 2004. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

Burckhardt, Jacob (b Basle, 25 May 1818; d Basle, 8 Aug. 1897). Swiss historian, professor at the universities of Zurich (1855–8) and Basle (1858–93). Much of his work was devoted to the history of art and culture and he is best known for his book Die Kultur der Renaissance in Italien (The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy), published in 1860. In this survey of the arts, philosophy, politics, etc., of the period he propounds the view that it was at this time that man, previously conscious of himself ‘only as a member of a race, people, party, family or corporation’, became aware of himself as ‘a spiritual individual’. This romanticized view has been highly influential but also much attacked. Burckhardt's other books include Cicerone (1855), a guidebook to Italian art that was a popular handbook for German tourists for many years, and Erinnerungen aus Rubens (Recollections of Rubens), published posthumously in 1898. Wölfflin, his former student, succeeded him at Basle University.

Hide all research tools
Print this article Print all entries for this topic Cite this article Link to this article
Link to this article

CloseClose

Create a link to this page

Copy and paste this link tag into your Web page or blog:

<a href="http://www.encyclopedia.com/topic/.aspx#1O2-BurckhardtJacob" title="Facts and information about Jacob Christoph Burckhardt">Jacob Christoph Burckhardt</a>

Add this article to Del.icio.usBookmark this article on DiigoShare this article on FacebookSubmit this article to RedditGive this article a thumbs-up on StumbleUpon
Show all research tools

Cite this article
Pick a style below, and copy the text for your bibliography.

  • MLA
  • Chicago
  • APA

IAN CHILVERS. "Burckhardt, Jacob." The Oxford Dictionary of Art. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. 26 Dec. 2009 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

IAN CHILVERS. "Burckhardt, Jacob." The Oxford Dictionary of Art. 2004. Encyclopedia.com. (December 26, 2009). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O2-BurckhardtJacob.html

IAN CHILVERS. "Burckhardt, Jacob." The Oxford Dictionary of Art. 2004. Retrieved December 26, 2009 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O2-BurckhardtJacob.html

Learn more about citation styles

Related topics

  Edit this list

Related articles from newspapers, magazines, and more

ALMANAC
Newspaper article from: Telegraph - Herald (Dubuque); 5/6/2006; ; 515 words ; ...today: "The people no longer believe in principles, but will probably periodically believe in saviours." - Jacob Christoph Burckhardt, Swiss historian (1818-1897). Copyright 2003 by Telegraph-Herald, All rights Reserved.
Almanac
Newspaper article from: Telegraph - Herald (Dubuque); 5/6/2002; ; 518 words ; ...today: "The people no longer believe in principles, but will probably periodically believe in saviours." - Jacob Christoph Burckhardt, Swiss historian (1818-1897). Copyright 2000 by Telegraph Herald, All rights Reserved.
Today in History - May 6
News Wire article from: AP Online; 5/6/2006; ; 589 words ; ...Today: "The people no longer believe in principles, but will probably periodically believe in saviours." _ Jacob Christoph Burckhardt, Swiss historian (1818-1897). Copyright 2006, AP News All Rights Reserved
Hofmannsthal: Ein moderner Dichter unter den Philologen.(Book Review)
Magazine article from: The Modern Language Review; 1/1/2005; ; 700+ words ; ...Dichter unter den Philologen By CHRISTOPH KONIG. (Marbacher Wissenschaftsgeschichte...alongside the Dichter in his writing Christoph Konig brings his own formidable...Brecht, and Josef Nadler. Carl Jacob Burckhardt and Waiter Benjamin are examined...

Pictures from Google Image Search

Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture
Click to see an enlarged picture

For students and teachers!

Encyclopedia.com provides students and teachers facts, information, and biographies from verified, citable sources, including:

Encyclopedia.com provides students and teachers facts, information, and biographies from verified, citable sources, including: