Abstract
The work of Aby Warburg (1866-1929), dedicated above all to the great theme of the survival of the classical tradition in the European Renaissance, has gained notoriety in recent decades, including in Brazil. This article seeks an immersion in the work of this historian, circumscribing the discussion, in particular, to the thesis on Botticelli and some successive studies on the theme of the Florentine Quattrocento. We present a reading guided by an effort of contextualization, in which it is sought to identify Warburg’s main historiographical references, demonstrating his latent interlocution with the art historiography produced in the German-speaking world. In this sense, this article sustains that Warburg was clearly aligned with the tradition of “art history as cultural history”, present in the work of authors such as Jacob Burckhardt, Anton Springer and Hubert Janitschek.