School Of Athens Essay, Research Paper

School of Athens

Raffaello Santi

Raphael s school of Athens is located in the Vatican, Rome. This fresco was painted along with three other frescos in the apostolic flats. When Raphael went to Rome in 1508 he was commissioned to work for Pope Julius II. He was to paint the four subdivisions of cognition: Religion ( the Disputa ) , Philosophy ( the School of Athens ) , Poetry ( Parnassus, place of the Muses ) , and Law ( the Cardinal Virtues under Justice ) . His most outstanding work in the apostolic flats was the School of Athens. This seemed to sum up the ideals of the Renaissance.

This fresco portrays many great philosophers. Two of the greatest philosophers are portrayed in the centre, Plato and Aristotle. They are accented by an arch that stands around them and by a blue sky through the arch. This portion of the fresco attracts out attending, indicating out these great philosophers. In Plato s manus he holds his book Timaeus. Plato is indicating to the sky to mean the celestial spheres as the beginning for doctrine. Aristotle is keeping moralss in one and manus and the other is extended out meaning garnering cognition from the Earth. Around these two philosophers Raphael has the greatest minds of all clip. These minds include Socrates, Euclid, and P

ythagoras. These are non all of the great philosophers in the fresco but they are the most recognizable. Socrates is speaking to Alcibiades, Xenophon, and Alexander. Euclid is scratching in slate with a compass while giving a mathematical presentation to his looker-ons. Pythagoras is besides giving a mathematical presentation to his looker-ons. Raphael added his himself in the fresco to do it look that he belonged with the other great philosophers. Raphael besides added the characteristics of Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci ; these characteristics were put onto Heraclitus ( Michelangelo ) and Plato ( Leonardo da Vinci ) .

This work is an unbelievable piece that stands at 23.5 x 31.5 pess. Each character has a chiseled visible radiation beginning caste upon them. This makes the image more realistic. The tones are even and stress a batch of of import facets of the picture. Raphael s architecture in this fresco makes it look as though you are standing at that place with the philosophers. With the extremely elaborate architecture it creates a feeling of deepness and size. Everything in the picture is in proportion to its milieus.

I feel that this is one of the greatest pictures of all clip. It shows a batch of history with all the great philosophers and it is masterpiece of its clip. This picture is a good illustration for the art of the Renaissance.