The paper inserts itself in the debate on (art) historiography and periodization, opposing linear and evolutionary models to anachronic and discontinuous ones. The latter are analyzed through Kunstwissenschaft, a new approach to art history, which emerged at the end of the 19th century, initially in the German speaking countries, in opposition to traditional historiographical models, anticipating actual practices, such as Visual Studies and Global Art History. In particular, this paper offers some examples of how Kunstwissenschaft reflected on its epistemic tools, confronting itself with the time in which art history started to reflect on its own status, the Renaissance. © 2022 State University of Maringa. All rights reserved.