ABSTRACT
The best way to discuss Erwin Panofsky's Meaning in the Visual Arts is to place the art historian in the rich and complex intellectual and socio-political context of his time. Panofsky entered the scene in the aftermath of the World War I, an uncertain period in Europe, and he made some of the most important contributions to the field of art history before and after World War II. When Panofsky entered the field, Formalism was focused exclusively on the aesthetic properties of the artwork and had, as Michael Ann Holly observes, "deliberately, even forcefully, wrenched the object from its historical situation and broader human surroundings". During the years of his lectureship in Hamburg, the Warburg Library became Panofsky's intellectual home. Among the scholars he associated with there, Aby Warburg, the founder of the library, and Ernst Cassirer were key figures and influences. Overall, Panofsky dealt with the theoretical problems of his predecessors in a masterly way.
