I found this hard sledding most of the time. A layered look of the different elements that contributed to the Renaissance in Florence and elsewhere in Italy. Like describing a beautiful painting in prose, while factually true, it is probably better to just look at it. On the other Mr. Burckhardt gives a comprehensive look at Italy is this era. A period of tremendous discord and violence and also beauty. ( )

This authoritative study by a distinguished scholar presents a brilliant panorama of Italian Renaissance life, explaining how and why the period constituted a cultural revolution. Author Jacob Burckhardt chronicles the transition from the medieval concept of society as a conglomeration of classes and communities to the Renaissance focus on individual spirit and creativity. Burckhardt's comprehensive view of art, government, and aspects of daily life redefined both the Western world's understanding of the Italian Renaissance and future studies of cultural history.

Historian Hajo Holborn praised this survey as ''the greatest single book on the history of Italy between 1350 and 1550.'' First published in German in 1860, its exploration of art, fashions, manners, and philosophy traces the influences of classical antiquity on Michelangelo, Leonardo, the Medicis, and other thinkers and artists. As alive today as when it was written 150 years ago, this indispensable study chronicles the revival of humanism, the conflict between church and empire, and the rise of both the modern state and the modern individual ( )

Burckhardt, in this massive tome, gives an overview of the major political, societal, and religious themes that occurred during the Renaissance. He starts off with the State as a work of out, then moves into a more individualistic perspective, and closes with the influence of (pagan) antiquity and morality. He clearly wants to cover all important aspects of Italian society during this time period, but his writing style prevents him from completing this task successfully. He shifts and flits around from subject to subject, never spending too much time on any one, which makes it intensely hard to follow while reading, even while within the same chapter. The book almost seems to have been written in a "stream-of-consciousness" format.

The other big issue, although one it's not really fair to criticize Burckhardt for, is that the book is FULL of biases, and they show through very easily. He never really touches upon the fall of Constantinople which was the impetus for the true flowering of the Renaissance, and he's very skeptical of the contributions of the Arabs to the renaissance. However, he was writing in the mid-19th century, so his point of view is understandable in historical context

Overall, not a great book about the Renaissance, but certainly an impressive one. I'd like to read more in depth about each of the things he touches on, with more background, but for an overview, it isn't awful. ( )

Well, I guess that's what old history is like. Burckhardt piles up his anecdotes and, true to his word, gives you his own picture of the Italian Renaissance. Don't go looking for a narrative of events, or precise information. It's all allusion and generalities. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I think I would've had a better time if I'd known that at the beginning.
The problem with this book is so obvious that it's almost silly to point it out: Burckhardt's picture of the Renaissance is, shall we say, a little partial. Everything the Italians did in the fifteenth century was wonderful and lovely; everything the 'Northerners' did before that was barabarous; everything the Spanish did after that - and boy, do the Spanish come in for a beating - was equally barbarous. The Muslims were okay, although they were a bit grasping and oppressive. In short, only in Italy in the fifteenth century was life lived properly.
So it's pretty amusing when he says, at the start of his final chapter on morality, "A tribunal there is for each one of us, whose voice is our conscience; but let us have done with these generalities about nations." He has to say this, though, so that we won't judge the Italians' morality too harshly All those murders, all that violence, the horrors? Just a consequence of the 'individualism' of the times. Can't be helped. Better that than a world in which men don't go around f'ing and killing whoever they want to. Don't judge the whole nation of Italians. Judge only all the other nations.
This is all nit-picky, of course. It's nicely written, and I'm sure everyone who's interested will find bits that appeal to them one way or the other. At least he doesn't try to theorize everything. But be aware that this book is basically a book about how the writers in the Renaissance saw themselves, and not, as the title implies, about the civilization itself. The middle ages weren't all that bad, and the Renaissance wasn't all that good.
( )

Burckhardt's 1860 study was revolutionary, but it is also full of Romantic conceits that haven't held up well. On the other hand, how many other histories from the 1800s are still read after 2000? My copy was accidentally immersed in water, then baked to try to return it to a legible state — and it still holds a place on my shelf.

I'm still not convinced that the Renaissance is a real event, but there's no denying that interesting stuff was going on in Italy from the 1300s to the 1600s. Burckhardt was not the first to notice — the Italians had not exactly been shy about pointing out their own greatness — but he was the first to periodize it and give it a memorable name, "Renaissance."

Why did Burckhardt give a French name to this Italian phenomenon? I believe it's a marker of Burckhardt's identity as an elite citizen of Basel, Switzerland. Basel is an independent-minded German-speaking city that shares a border with France, and the city's polyglot ruling class have traditionally dotted their German speech with French grace notes. Lionel Gossman's book, Basel in the Age of Burckhardt, documents this habit in everything from business letters to the Église Française where all the "best" families worshipped God. So it's little wonder that Burckhardt never seriously considered naming what he considered a glorious historical epoch with any language but French.