The School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael, was painted between 1509 and 1511 in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. The painting was meant to represent philosophy and is considered to capture the essence of the Renaissance.
The painting is a gathering of historical figures of note. The Renaissance was a period of time in which Greek philosophy was rediscovered, and Aristotle and Plato make up the center of the painting. They were considered the most important philosophers in Western thinking, and had, at the time of the Renaissance, been drawn into the overarching Christianity of the time. Pythagoras kneels in the corner, representing math.
The role of the artist expanded, as artists became "Renaissance men," people who were not merely artists but also philosophers, polyglots, and mathematicians. Art was often a collaborative experience and never more so than during the Renaissance, a time when artists were drawing influence from everywhere.
The School of Athens has symbols of all that was important to artists of the Renaissance, featuring both classical and Christian themes. While the Renaissance was a time of intellectual upheaval, Raphael's painting drew together all the great thinkers the painters were drawing from and balanced them in one unified painting.
No comments:
Post a Comment