 |
| The School of Athens |
| Raphael, 1509–1510 |
| Fresco, 500 × 770 cm |
| Vatican City, Apostolic Palace |
The School of Athens or "Scuola di Atene" in Italian is one of the most famous paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. Raphael Sanzio, usually known by his first name alone (in Italian Raffaello) (April 6 or March 28 1483 – April 6 1520 was an Italian painter and Fresco (plural either frescos or frescoes) is any of several related Painting types done on Plaster on walls or Vatican City, officially the State of the Vatican City (Stato della Città del Vaticano is a Landlocked sovereign City-state whose territory Italian ( or lingua italiana) is a Romance language spoken by about 63 million people as a First language, primarily in Italy. Painting (pān'tīng in Art, is the practice of applying Color to a Surface (support base such as e The Italian Renaissance began the opening phase of the Renaissance, a period of great cultural change and achievement in Europe that spanned the period from the end of the 14th Raphael Sanzio, usually known by his first name alone (in Italian Raffaello) (April 6 or March 28 1483 – April 6 1520 was an Italian painter and It was painted between 1510 and 1511 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. Fresco (plural either frescos or frescoes) is any of several related Painting types done on Plaster on walls or The four Stanze di Raffaello ("Raphael's rooms" in the Palace of the Vatican form a suite of reception rooms the public part of the papal apartments Vatican City, officially the State of the Vatican City (Stato della Città del Vaticano is a Landlocked sovereign City-state whose territory The Stanza della Segnatura was the first of the rooms to be decorated, and The School of Athens the second painting to be finished there, after La Disputà, on the opposite wall. The four Stanze di Raffaello ("Raphael's rooms" in the Palace of the Vatican form a suite of reception rooms the public part of the papal apartments The Disputation of the Sacrament ( La disputa del sacramento) or Disputa, is a Painting by the Italian Renaissance The picture has long been seen as "Raphael's masterpiece and the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the High Renaissance. Masterpiece (or chef d'œuvre) refers to any Work of art that is considered extraordinary The High Renaissance, in the History of art, denotes the culmination of the art of the Italian Renaissance between 1450 and 1527 "[1]
Contents |
Program, Subject, Figure Identifications, Interpretations
The title "School of Athens" is an old tour-book’s invention, which tends to obscure the painting’s immediate context and meaning. It is actually one of a group on the four walls of the Stanza (those on either side centrally interrupted by windows) that depict distinct themes of knowledge. Each theme is identified above by a separate tondo containing a majestic female figure seated in the clouds, with putti bearing the phrases: “Seek Knowledge of Causes”, “Divine Inspiration”, “Knowledge of Things Divine” (Disputà), “To Each What Is Due”. A tondo (plural "tondi" is a Renaissance term for a circular work of art either a painting or a sculpture The putto (pl putti) is a figure of a pudgy Human baby, almost always male often naked and having wings found especially in Italian Renaissance Accordingly, the figures on the walls below exemplify Philosophy, Poetry (including Music), Theology, Law. [2]
The “School” is therefore actually "Philosophy",[3] and its overhead tondo-label, “Causarum Cognitio” tells us what kind, as it appears to echo Aristotle’s emphasis on wisdom as knowing why, hence knowing the causes, in Metaphysics Book I and Physics Book II. Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Indeed, Aristotle appears to be the central figure in the fresco. However all the philosophers depicted sought to understand through knowledge of first causes. Many lived before Plato and Arisotle, hardly a third were Athenians, and the architecture is Roman, not Greek.
Commentators have long suggested that nearly every great Greek philosopher can be found within the painting, but determining which are depicted is difficult, since Raphael made no designations outside possible likenesses, and no contemporary documents explain the painting. [4] Compounding the problem, Raphael had to invent a system of iconography to allude to various philosophers for whom there were no traditional visual types. Iconography is the branch of Art history which studies the identification description and the interpretation of the content of images For example, while the Socrates figure is immediately recognizable from Classical busts, the alleged Epicurus is far removed from the standard type for that philosopher. [5][6] Nevertheless, there is widespread agreement on the identity of certain figures within the painting. [7] Aside from the identities of the philosophers shown, many aspects of the fresco have been interpreted, but few such interpretations are generally accepted among scholars. The popular idea that the rhetorical gestures of Plato and Aristotle are kinds of pointing (to the heavens, and down to earth) is a likely reading. However Plato’s Timaeus--which is the book Raphael places in his hand--was a sophisticated treatment of space, time and change, including the Earth, which guided mathematical sciences for over a millennium. Aristotle, with his four elements theory, held that all change on Earth was owing to the motions of the heavens. Many ancient philosophies used a set of archetypal classical "elements" to explain patterns in Nature. In the painting Aristotle carries his Ethics, which he denied could be a scientific study.
It is not established how much the young Raphael knew of ancient philosophy, what guidance he might have had from people such as Bramante, or what detailed program may have been dictated by the Papal sponsor. Heinrich Wölfflin observed that "it is quite wrong to attempt interpretations of the School of Athens as an esoteric treatise . Heinrich Wölfflin ( June 21 1864 &ndash July 19 1945) was a famous Swiss Art critic, whose objective classifying principles . . The all-important thing was the artistic motive which expressed a physical or spiritual state, and the name of the person was a matter of indifference" in Raphael's time. [8] What is evident is Raphael's artistry in orchestrating a beautiful space, continuous with that of viewers in the Stanza, in which a great variety of human figures, each one expressing "mental states by physical actions", interact, and are grouped in a "polyphony" unlike anything in earlier art, in the ongoing dialogue of Philosophy. [9]
The figures
The identity of some of the philosophers in the picture, such as Plato or Aristotle, is uncontroversial. Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. But scholars disagree on many of the other figures, some of whom have double identities as ancients and as figures contemporary to Raphael. The extent of double portrayals is uncertain although, for example, that Michelangelo is portrayed (no. 13 below) is generally accepted. [10] According to Lahanas,[11] they are usually identified as follows:
Central figures (14 and 15)
In the center of the fresco, at its architecture's central vanishing point, are the two undisputed main subjects, Plato on the left. Zeno of Citium (Ζήνων ὁ Κιτιεύς Zēnōn ho Kitieŭs) (334 BC - 262 BC was a Greek Philosopher from Citium (Κίτιον Zeno of Elea (ˈziːnoʊ əv ˈɛliə Greek: Ζήνων ὁ Ἐλεάτης (ca Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius (480&ndash524 or 525 was a Christian philosopher of the 6th century Anaximander ( Ancient Greek:) (c 610 BC–c 546 BC was a Pre-Socratic Greek philosopher who lived in Miletus Empedocles ( Greek:, ca 490–430 BC was a Greek Pre-Socratic Philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek colony in Abū 'l-Walīd Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Rushd (Arabicأبو الوليد محمد بن احمد بن رشد better known just as Ibn Rushd (ابن رشد and in European "Pythagoras of Samos" redirects here For the Samian statuary of the same name see Pythagoras (sculptor. Alcibiades Cleiniou Scambonides (ˌælsɨˈbaɪədiːz (pronunciation Greek:, transliterated Alkibiádēs Kleiníou Skambōnidēs) meaning Alcibiades Alexander the Great ( or, Mégas Aléxandros; July 20 356 BC June 10 or June 11 323 BC also known as Alexander III of Macedon (el Ἀλέξανδρος Γ' Antisthenes (Ἀντισθένης lived ca 445-365 BCE was a Greek philosopher and a pupil of Socrates. Xenophon (Ancient Greek, Modern Greek "Ξενοφών" "Ξενοφώντας" ca Hypatia of Alexandria (haɪˈpeɪʃə ( Greek:; born between AD 350 and 370 – 415 was a Greek scholar from Alexandria in Egypt, considered Francesco Maria I della Rovere ( March 22, 1490 &ndash October 20, 1538) was an Italian Condottiero, who was Aeschines (in Greek, 389&ndash314 BC Greek Statesman and one of the ten Attic orators. Xenophon (Ancient Greek, Modern Greek "Ξενοφών" "Ξενοφώντας" ca Parmenides of Elea ( Greek:, early 5th century BC was an Ancient Greek Philosopher born in Elea, a Greek city on the southern coast of SOCRATES is the European Community action programme in the field of Education. Heraclitus of Ephesus ( Ancient Greek: &mdash grc-Latn ''Hērákleitos ho Ephésios'' English Heraclitus the Ephesian) (ca Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni Two biographies were published of him during his lifetime One of them by Giorgio Vasari, proposed that he was the pinnacle of all Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Timaeus ( Greek: Τίμαιος, Timaios) is a theoretical treatise of Plato in the form of a Socratic dialogue, written Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci ( April 15 1452 – May 2 1519 was an Italian Polymath, having been a scientist Mathematician, Engineer Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Nicomachean Ethics (sometimes spelled "Nichomachean" or Ta Ethika, is a work by Aristotle on Virtue and Moral character which Diogenes (Διογένης ὁ Σινωπεύς Diogenes ho Sinopeus) "the Cynic " Greek Philosopher, was born in Sinope Plotinus ( Greek:) (ca AD 204–270 was a major philosopher of the ancient world who is widely considered the founder of Neoplatonism (along with his Euclid ( Greek:.) fl 300 BC also known as Euclid of Alexandria, is often referred to as the Father of Geometry Archimedes of Syracuse ( Greek:) ( c. 287 BC – c 212 BC was a Greek mathematician, Physicist, Engineer Donato Bramante (1444 – March 11, 1514) was an Italian Architect, who introduced the Early Renaissance style to Milan and the High Renaissance Strabo ( Greek: Στράβων 63/64 BC – ca AD 24 was a Greek historian, geographer and philosopher. Zoroaster ( Latinized from Greek variants) or Zarathushtra (from Avestan Zaraθuštra) also referred to as Zartosht (زرتشت Baldasare Castiglione, count of Novellata ( December 15, 1478 &ndash February 28, 1529) was an Italian Courtier, Pietro Bembo ( May 20, 1470 - either 11 January or 18 January, 1547 was an Italian scholar poet literary theorist and Claudius Ptolemaeus ( Greek: Klaúdios Ptolemaîos; after 83 &ndash ca Raphael Sanzio, usually known by his first name alone (in Italian Raffaello) (April 6 or March 28 1483 – April 6 1520 was an Italian painter and Protogenes (fl 4th century BC) was an ancient Greek painter, a contemporary rival of Apelles. Il Sodoma (1477 &ndash February 14, 1549 ? was the name given to the Italian Mannerist painter Giovanni Antonio Bazzi Pietro Perugino (1446–1524 was the leading painter of the Umbrian school who developed some of the qualities that found classic expression in the High Renaissance A vanishing point is a point in a perspective drawing to which Parallel lines appear to converge Biography Early life Birth and family Plato was born in Athens Greece Aristotle, his erstwhile student, stands on the right. Aristotle (Greek Aristotélēs) (384 BC – 322 BC was a Greek philosopher a student of Plato and teacher of Alexander the Great. Both figures hold modern, bound copies of their books in their left hands, while gesturing with their right. Plato holds Timaeus, Aristotle his Nicomachean Ethics. Timaeus ( Greek: Τίμαιος, Timaios) is a theoretical treatise of Plato in the form of a Socratic dialogue, written Nicomachean Ethics (sometimes spelled "Nichomachean" or Ta Ethika, is a work by Aristotle on Virtue and Moral character which Plato is depicted as old, grey, wise-looking, bare-foot. By contrast Aristotle, slightly ahead of him, is in mature manhood, handsome, well-shod and dressed, with gold, and the youth about them seem to look his way. In addition, these two central figures gesture along different dimensions: Plato vertically, upward along the picture-plane, into the beautiful vault above; Aristotle on the horizontal plan at right-angles to the picture-plane (hence in strong foreshortening), initiating a powerful flow of space toward viewers. Perspective (from Latin perspicere to see through in the graphic arts such as drawing is an approximate representation on a flat surface (such as paper of an image as it is perceived
The setting
The building is in the shape of a Greek cross, which some have suggested was intended to show a harmony between pagan philosophy and Christian theology[13] (see Christianity and Paganism and Christian philosophy). A cross is a geometrical figure consisting of two lines or bars perpendicular to each other dividing one or two of the lines in half Paganism (from Latin paganus, meaning "country dweller rustic" is a word used to refer to various religions and religious beliefs from across the world Philosophy is the study of general problems concerning matters such as existence knowledge truth beauty justice validity mind and language Christian Theology is discourse concerning Christian faith Christian theologians use biblical Exegesis, rational analysis and argument This article gives overview about the relations between Christians and Pagans. Christian philosophy is a term to describe the fusion of various fields of Philosophy with the theological doctrines of Christianity. The architecture of the building was inspired by the work of Bramante, who according to Vasari helped Raphael with the architecture in the picture. Donato Bramante (1444 – March 11, 1514) was an Italian Architect, who introduced the Early Renaissance style to Milan and the High Renaissance Giorgio Vasari ( 30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian painter and Architect, who is today famous [14] Some have suggested that the building itself was intended to be an advance view of St. Peter's Basilica. The Basilica of Saint Peter (Basilica Sancti Petri officially known in Italian as the Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano and commonly known as St [15]
There are two sculptures in the background. The one on the left is the god Apollo holding a lyre. The lyre is a stringed musical instrument well known for its use in Classical Antiquity and later [16] Apollo is the god of the Sun, medicine/healing, light, truth, archery, and music. The sculpture on the right is Athena, in her Roman guise as Minerva. ATHENA was an Antimatter research project that took place at the AD Ring at CERN. The MInisterial NEtwoRk for Valorising Activities in digitisation, or MINERVA, is a European Union organization concerned with the digitisation of cultural and [17] Athena was the goddess of wisdom. Wisdom is a concept of personal gaining of Knowledge, Understanding, Experience, discretion and intuitive understanding, along with a capacity
Reproductions
The Victoria and Albert Museum has a rectangular version over 4 metres by 8 metres in size, painted on canvas, dated 1755 by Anton Raphael Mengs on display in the eastern Cast Court. The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design housing a permanent collection Anton Raphael Mengs ( March 12, 1728 &ndash June 29, 1779) was an eminent German painter active in Rome Madrid and Saxony who became one [18]
A reproduction of the fresco can be seen in the auditorium of Old Cabell Hall at the University of Virginia. The University of Virginia (also called UVa, UVA, Mr Jefferson's University, or The University) is a highly selective public research Produced in 1900 by George W. Breck to replace an older reproduction that was destroyed in a fire in 1895, it is four inches off scale from the original, because the Vatican would not allow identical reproductions of its art works. Inches redirects here To see the Les Savy Fav album see Inches. [19]
Another reproduction, by Neide, is in the Königsberg Cathedral, Kaliningrad. Königsberg Cathedral (Königsberger Dom Кафедральный собор Кёнигсберга is a Brick Gothic style building in Kaliningrad (formerly Kaliningrad (Калининград is a Seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian Exclave between Poland [20]
More recently the image was used by the band Guns N' Roses for their 1991 albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II. Guns N' Roses is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 See also 1991 in music (UK Musical groups established in 1991 Record labels Use Your Illusion I is the third studio album by Hard rock band Guns N' Roses. Use Your Illusion II is the fourth studio album by Hard rock band Guns N' Roses. Extracts of the image, chiefly the two figures to the left of Plotinus (figure 17), were extracted by New York artist Mark Kostabi for the cover art. Plotinus ( Greek:) (ca AD 204–270 was a major philosopher of the ancient world who is widely considered the founder of Neoplatonism (along with his Kalev Mark Kostabi is an American artist and composer He was born in Los Angeles in 1960 to Estonian immigrants and raised in Whittier California and is the older brother of musician and artist
Another reproduction can be found in the University of North Carolina at Asheville's Highsmith University Student Union. The University of North Carolina Asheville is a co-educational four year public Liberal arts university
One of the newest reproductions of this painting can be found in the seminar room at Baylor University's Brooks College. Baylor University is a private, Baptist -affiliated Research University located in Waco Texas.
References
- ^ History of Art: The Western Tradition By Horst Woldemar Janson, Anthony F. Janson
- ^ See Giorgio Vasari, "Raphael of Urbino", in Lives of the Artists, vol. I. For further clarification, and an introduction to more subtle interpretations, see E. H. Gombrich, “Raphael’s Stanza della Segnatura and the Nature of Its Symbolism”, in Symbolic Images: Studies in the Art of the Renaissance (London: Phaidon, 1975).
- ^ Heinrich Wölfflin, Classic Art: An Introduction to the Italian Renaissance (London: Phaidon, 2d edn. 1953), p. 93
- ^ Daniel Orth Bell, New identifications in Raphael's 'School of Athens.' Art Bulletin, Dec. 1995.
- ^ Daniel Orth Bell, New identifications in Raphael's 'School of Athens.' Art Bulletin, Dec. 1995.
- ^ History of Art: The Western Tradition By Horst Woldemar Janson, Anthony F. Janson
- ^ Daniel Orth Bell, New identifications in Raphael's 'School of Athens.' Art Bulletin, Dec. 1995.
- ^ Wōlfflin, p. 88.
- ^ Wōlfflin, pp. 94f.
- ^ Vasari mentions portraits of Federigo II of Mantua, Bramante, and Raphael himself: Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Artists, v. I, sel. & transl. by George Bull (London: Penguin, 1965), p. 292.
- ^ The School of Athens, "Who is Who?" by Michael Lahanas
- ^ The interpretation of this figure as Sodoma is probably in error as Sodoma was 33 at the time of painting, while Raphael's teacher, Perugino, was a renowned painter and aged about 60 at the time of this painting, consistent with the image. Timoteo Viti is another plausible candidate. Timoteo Viti, sometimes called Timoteo della Viti or Timoteo da Urbino (1469 &ndash 1523 was an Italian Renaissance painter, who
- ^ History of Art: The Western Tradition By Horst Woldemar Janson, Anthony F. Janson
- ^ History of Art: The Western Tradition By Horst Woldemar Janson, Anthony F. Janson
- ^ History of Art: The Western Tradition By Horst Woldemar Janson, Anthony F. Janson
- ^ History of Art: The Western Tradition By Horst Woldemar Janson, Anthony F. Janson
- ^ History of Art: The Western Tradition By Horst Woldemar Janson, Anthony F. Janson
- ^ V&A Museum: Copy of Raphael's School of Athens in the Vatican
- ^ Information on Old Cabell Hall from University of Virginia
- ^ Northern Germany: As Far as the Bavarian and Austrian Frontiers, Baedeker, 1890, p. 247.
External links
- The School of Athens at the Web Gallery of Art
- The School of Athens (interactive map)
- The School of Athens (interactive map)
- The School of Athens — original cartoon at the Ambrosiana Gallery, Milan
- The School of Athens reproduction at UNC Asheville
- Article on school of athens
- Analysis of school of Athens
- Link from Google Books on analysis of school of athens
- Another link from Google books on the School of Athens
- Reprint of the Art Bulletin article on individuals in the painting.
Gallery
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 Averroes and Pythagoras |
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 Alcibiades or Alexander the Great and Antisthenes or Xenophon |
 Francesco Maria I della Rovere or Raphael's mistress as Hypatia of Alexandria and Parmenides |
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 Bramante as Euclid or Archimedes |
 Strabo or Zoroaster, Ptolemy, Raphael as Apelles and Perugino or Timoteo Viti as Protogenes |
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