Burckhardt, BOORK hahrt, Jakob (1818-1897), a Swiss historian, wrote History of the Renaissance in Italy (1867). In it, he gave a view of the Renaissance as the time when present-day civilization was born. He emphasized the depth of tragic feeling in Greek life in his four-volume work A Cultural History of Greece (1898-1902). Burckhardt was born in Basel, Switzerland. He studied at the University of Berlin, and taught history and art history at the University of Basel.