SOURCE: "Burckhardt and the Formation of the Modern Concept," in The Renaissance in Historical Thought: Five Centuries of Interpretation, Houghton Mifflin Company, 1948, pp. 179-94.

In the following excerpt, Ferguson, a noted Renaissance historian, describes the structure and argument of Burckhardt's The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, and evaluates the continuing validity of Burckhardt's portrait of the age.

The Civilization of the Renaissance in Italy, Burckhardt's masterpiece, was planned as an investigation of the inner spirit of Italy during the Renaissance.… Its subtitle, "An Essay," was not merely the product of his accustomed ironical modesty. He did not intend it to be a comprehensive history nor a reference book.… Even in the use of illustrative material he practiced perpetual restraint. He congratulated himself that he had not made it "three times as thick," as he might easily have done. But he wanted nothing to confuse the essential thesis...