This contribution intends to explore new grounds in topics such as visual epistemology and the role of images in science by putting in dialogue for the first time two distinguished figures such as the art historian Aby Warburg (1866-1929) and the physicist John A. Wheeler (1911-2008). In particular, we will first illustrate the highly original attempts to develop a truly visual epistemology made by Warburg in his late years, with special reference to the project of his Atlas Mnemosyne. Then, we will highlight Wheeler’s peculiar ways of engaging with the past and with images,
with special reference to his activities from the 1950s on, such as his dusting-off of general relativity, his involvement in the historical preservation and transmission of the legacy of previous generations of physicists, and his use of pictures in both his research and his communicative or teaching style. Finally, we will suggest and try to illustrate some deep resonance between Warburg and Wheeler, thus vindicating the power of the former’s ideas even to understand practices at play in seemingly very distant fields such as recent theoretical physics.