Jacob Burckhardt

Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897) was a Swiss cultural historian. Born in Basel, Burckhardt was the son of a Protestant minister. As a young man, he studied theology, but eventually decided to study history at the University of Berlin. After a fw years in Germany, he studied art history at the University of Bonn before returning to teach at the University of Basel, where he remained for the majority of his career. Burckhardt is considered a pioneer for his thesis of history not as a description of the past based on political circumstances and related events, but as a dynamic and holistic story of cultural and creative change. His groundbreaking work, The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, is noted for its reconstruction of the ways in which art, philosophy, and politics combined to create a new sense of the human spirit and a new conception of humanity’s role in the universe. More than anyone else, Burckhardt elevated the position of art and culture in the study of history, and for his achievements he is recognized today on the Swiss thousand-franc banknote.