Jacob Burckhardt

Jacob Burckhardt was born in Basel, Switzerland, the son of a Protestant clergyman. He studied theology in Basel and in Neuchâtel. In 1839, having lost his faith, he moved to the University of Berlin to study art history. He spent part of 1841 at the University of Bonn studying under the art historian Franz Kugler. His first book, Die Kunstwerke der belgischen Städte, was published in 1842. He taught at the University of Basel from 1843 to 1855, then at …