Altarpiece in Renaissance Italy

by Jacob Burckhardt, Peter Humfrey (Editor)

The most magnificent works of art of the Italian Renaissance were religious altarpieces. Intended as rich and beautiful creations, they were also the product of the most important developments in painting. Jacob Burckhardt is best known as the author of "The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy". His lucid approach to the themes of painting characterize all his writings on the Renaissance. His essays on the altarpieces, written in 1898, remain an excellent introduction to the subject. This edition is the first time the work has been published both in English and as an illustrated book. Peter Humfrey is the author of "Cima da Conegliano" and many articles on Italian Renaissance painting.

Hardcover

First published January 1, 1988

About the author

Carl Jacob Christoph Burckhardt was a historian of art and culture, and an influential figure in the historiography of each field. He is known as one of the major progenitors of cultural history, albeit in a form very different from how cultural history is conceived and studied in academia today. Siegfried 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." Burckhardt's best known work is The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy (1860).