Aby Warburg and the afterlife of ancient Pathosformeln

Abstract

This article analyzes the concepts of “afterlife” of Antiquity (das Nachleben der Antike) and “pathosformula” (Pathosformel), employed by the German historian of Renaissance’s art and culture Aby Warburg (1866-1929). One argues that the idea of “afterlife” of Antiquity differs from both the notions of reawakening of the ancient world, as conceived by the Swiss historian Jacob Burckhardt, as Johann Joachim Winckelmann’s concept of imitation of the ancients. One also argues that the concept of “afterlife” should be understood in light of Nietzsche’s ideas of“Apollonian” and “Dyonisian” and Warburg’s notion of Pathosformel. One finally discusses some of the forms of “afterlife” of Antiquity studied by Warburg, as the topic of the Nymph.