The Great Migration of Images: A Study on the History and Psychology of the Renaissance of Antiquity

Aby Warburg (1866–1929) was an outstanding German art historian, who was at the origins of "iconological" analysis. From a young age, he decided to dedicate himself to art history, rejecting the continuation of the family banking business and relinquishing the right of inheritance to his younger brother, who promised to buy him any books necessary for his work. During his lifetime, the scholar managed to collect a vast library, which later served as the basis for the famous Warburg Institute in London. "The Great Migration of Images" is a collection of five main works by the scholar, created between 1902 and 1929. In these early works, not content with the usual notions of the Renaissance as the revival of antiquity and the Reformation as a progressive religious upheaval, Warburg sought to trace the continuous internal connection between conflicting epochs: the eternally living "intuitive" memory of image, gesture, name, and form. The publication is intended for art historians, cultural scholars, and all those interested in the history of art.