Jacob Burckhardt

1818 - 1897

Country of citizenship: Switzerland

Native language: German

Languages spoken, written or signed: German

Educated at: University of Bonn, Frederick William University Berlin, University of Basel

Occupation: historian, university teacher, art historian, author, draftsperson, cultural historian, philologist, philosopher

Student of: Leopold von Ranke, Franz Theodor Kugler

Bibliographic databases:

Carl Jacob Christoph Burckhardt (; Swiss Standard German: [ˈbʊrkhart]; 25 May 1818 – 8 August 1897) was a Swiss historian of art and culture and an influential figure in the historiography of both fields. His best known work is The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860). He is known as one of the major progenitors of cultural history. Sigfried Giedion described Burckhardt's achievement in the following terms: "The great discoverer of the age of the Renaissance, he first showed how a period should be treated in its entirety, with regard not only for its painting, sculpture and architecture, but for the social institutions of its daily life as well." Source: Wikipedia (en)