The Nymph as a theoretical character of Aby Warburg

Abstract

This article addresses the nymph as a character in the works of the art historian Aby Warburg. To achieve this goal, I proceeded with two research approaches. The Nymph was studied from the analytical presentations by the German art historian but also as a theoretical character, in whom we can perceive part of the precepts imagined by Warburg, such are: Nachleben – created by Springer –, Pathosformel, and Mnemosyne. This article has been divided in three main parts, each constructed around a text and a concept. The first part starts discussing the correspondence between the "Ninfa Florentina" and the concept of Nachleben. Afterward, we review the PhD thesis on “The Birth of Venus and the spring by Sandro Botticelli” and the Pathosformel. And in the third moment, the concept of memory is problematized in the Bilderatlas Mnemosyne. In addition to Aby Warburg's writings, this article also indicates the character's afterlife through the history of the art and the researches and writings on the subject in the XX and XXI centuries.