Italian Renaissance Painting According to Genres

Book excerpt: Jacob Burckhardt (1818-1897) was one of the first great historians of culture and art. In his manuscript on the genres of Italian Renaissance painting-still unpublished in the original German and published here in English for the first time-Burckhardt assayed a transformative approach to the study of art history. Rather than undertaking a biographical or a chronological reading of artistic development, Burckhardt chose to read the source materials and extant works of the Italian Renaissance synchronically, by genre. Probably written between 1885 and 1893, this manuscript takes up twelve different categories of paintings, ranging from the allegorical to the historical, from the biblical to the mythological, from the glorification of saints to the denunciation of sinners. Maurizio Ghelardi's introductory essay analyzes Burckhardt's innovative treatment of his subject, establishing the importance of this text not only within Burckhardt's oeuvre but also within the continuum of art historical research.