The School Of Athens

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Recommended: Italian and Northern Renaissance art

Imagine you are in standing in the Stanza della Segnatura, a small yet very crowded room located in the Papal Palace in the Vatican City. The room is not only dense with people, but dense with imagery. As your eyes gaze at each of Raphael’s incredible frescoes, one reaches out with its persuasive palms and caresses your attention. The painting beholds a sea of great thinkers and mathematicians who surround two philosophers, Plato and Aristotle. The School of Athens is an elaborate fresco, which represents the synthesis of worldly and spiritual thinking, and ranks alongside the finest examples of classically inspired Renaissance art.
In 1508, during the High Renaissance, the twenty-seven-year-old painter Raffaello Sanzio, better known as Raphael, was called to the Vatican by the Pope Julius II, and given the most important commission of his life - the decoration of the Papal Palace. Located on the upper floor of the Vatican palace, this room was used by the Pope as a library. It was here, between 1509 and 1511, that Raphael painted his famous fresco The School of Athens. The renaissance was a time of …show more content…

Plato also holds one of his books, Timaeus, as does Aristotle (right) with his book, Ethics. These books represent the contrasting philosophies of the two men. Plato was known for being interested in the theory of the theoretical. His finger pointed upwards toward the sky represents the idea that the world of appearances is not the final truth; there is a realm based on mathematics and ideas that is more true than the world we see. Aristotle, on the other hand, focused his attention on the observable and physical aspects of life. His palm is faced downwards, serving as a notion of rejection to Plato’s unrealistic ideals. Despite their contrasting views, their passion for philosophy and analysis of the meaning of life united the two

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