Here Warburg, juxtaposing images from Giotto and Donatello to Botticelli and Ghirlandaio, further widens and complicates the role of the nymph as symbol. A bearer of pathos formulas or “dynamograms,” she oscillates between creation and destruction in the form now as a guardian angel, now as a head-huntress (Judith). A third pathos formula is also ascribed to her: as Tobias, protector of children.
Suggested readings