For this week's blog, I decided to pick Raphael's painting The School of Athens. This painting was made in the year 1508-1511 and its current location in Apostolic Palace, Vatican City, Italy. This painting was part of the Stanza della Segnatura series which is a "room in Pope Julius II's private apartments in the Vatican." (Pulimood). It was considered to be one of Raphael's most famous artwork pieces of the Renaissance. The Fresco painting itself was 500x770 cm (200x300 inches) and has a label above it that says "Causarum Cognitio" which means "Knowledge of Causes".
The first time I have seen this painting, the first thing I noticed was how amazing the linear perspective was used on the building, making it look like you can see farther. It looked so detailed, and it really looked like you were able to walk inside the painting. The used of both shadow and light on the painting, are really balanced out to show the perspective of where the sun would be. Along with the used of shadow and light shadings, the colors also played a role, like how they use darker colors to represent the shaded parts and lighter colors to show the lighter areas. Another amazing thing about this painting is the detailed expression of both the face and body of the scholars which has their own stories behind them.
Although there are a lot of figures in the painting, the most eye-catching figures are the two men who are in the middle of all these chaos. "These two men had different pursuits, with Plato (on the left, pointing skyward while holding a copy of Timaeus) being engaged with such spiritual ideas as truth, beauty, and justice and Aristotle (on the right, pointing on the ground with a copy of his Ethics) being concerned with worldly reality." (Pulimood). What's more interesting on this painting is the two big statues that shows from either side. On Plato's side is Apollo who represents literature and poetry, while Aristotle side has Minerva representing wisdom and justice. These two sides, present the two sides of how knowledge is being used and seen.
It has said that this piece was "the historical justification of the power of the Roman Catholic Church through Neoplatonic philosophy." (Pulimood). The School of Athens piece, including the other three art pieces, were created by the request from Pope Julius II because he was "hoping to outshine the Early Renaissance paintings his predecessor, Pope Alexander VI, had done." (Stewart). This shows the power that the church of Rome had during that time era.
I think that I would own a copy of this marvelous work of art as it represented a lot of things that people from the past and present still have. The thoughts and ideas that Raphael has to go through to create such a masterpiece, is something that would look good in a building of knowledge.
Resources Cited:
artincontext. “‘The School of Athens’ Raphael - a Brief ‘the School of Athens’ Analysis.” Artincontext.org, 11 Feb. 2022, artincontext.org/the-school-of-athens-raphael/.
Pulimood, Steven. “School of Athens | Painting by Raphael | Britannica.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/School-of-Athens.
“School of Athens by Raphael - Facts & History of the Painting.” Totally History, 5 Apr. 2012, totallyhistory.com/school-of-athens/.
Stewart, Jessica. “The Story behind Raphael’s Masterpiece ‘the School of Athens.’” My Modern Met, 6 Sept. 2018, mymodernmet.com/school-of-athens-raphael/.
Hi Sallie! Thank you for sharing your perspective on Raphael's "School of Athens" This linear perspective shows the not-so-linear perspective of ethics. I enjoyed reading about Plato and Aristotle's stories. I browsed the link to the story behind his masterpiece and took a better look at Raphael's painting inside the Vatican. This painting gives so much detail to the history of what ancient Greek and Roman debates looked like in those times. I think I would also like a replica to hang in my home or maybe a gift to my mother. It's a good reminder of the importance of ethics and values, as well as a spiritual perspective for guidance and intuition to find the truth and justice of moral injuries. Yet there is a beauty that the linear perspective brings to light, that we are all human.
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