Around 1510, an Italian painter named Raphael painted a Fresco (a type of painting done on wet plaster on walls - professionally known among artists as an absolute pain in the butt). He very likely painted it because of threats from the Pope, seeing it was in a palace owned by the church in the Vatican. It was one of the many paintings that covered the walls of a series of decorative rooms called “Stanze de Raffaello”. He might or might not have known at the time that his work, the School of Athens in particular, will be how the future generations remember the beginning of the Italian renaissance, along with Michaelangelo’s Sistine Chapel Ceiling.
The Setting
It’s a Fresco. It is not painted on a canvas. It is not a painting that you collect for antiquity, it is part of the architecture. Raphael placed this painting on the wall which had a door on one side and no windows, to make sure he gets a nice solid piece of wall to work on. The School of Athens is painted opposite to The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament, another Fresco of Raphael’s, which portrays the council of heaven. It cannot be a coincidence that Raphael chose to paint the council of God and the Council of Humans opposite to one another. Raphael uses an arch in the room to almost architecturally frame his painting.
The painting shows a very prominent one-point perspective. The perspective lines (shown in blue) give the viewers a sense of incredibly beautiful depth while also performing a very important function: they draw our eyes immediately towards the two central figures of the painting. The horizon line (red) is placed such that it looks like the two central characters are shouldering the weight of the horizon. The result is that the painting looks beautifully three dimensional, almost as if you can step into it. The lighting in the painting seems to come from the front, as if the viewer is the one shedding the light on the scene.
The architecture shown in the painting looks distinctly Roman, though the characters and the title make it clear that it is a Greek scene. This might have something to do with the pope's obsession with reviving the Roman empire (He even named himself Pope Julius, after Julius Caesar).
The Characters
The painting is designed to pull the viewer towards the two central figures: the older Plato, and the young Aristotle. Two of Greece’s greatest philosophers. The figure of Plato very much resembles some of the portraits of Leonardo da Vinci, the absolute genius who probably invented the concept of painting in perspective. Many artists during the renaissance considered DaVinci as a master, and it will not be surprising if Raphael wanted to pay his tributes this way, equating him with one of the best philosophical minds to ever live (Aviyal is also big fan of da Vinci and you will see more of Aviyal’s own tributes to the genius in future blogs).
Plato is portrayed as pointing towards the sky, where Aristotle has his hand open towards the ground, reflecting their respective areas of major study: Philosophy and astronomy for Plato and more grounded science and politics for Aristotle. Aristotle’s clothes also have a very earthly feel with the choice of colors.
The characters surrounding Plato and Aristotle seem to be intently listening to their conversation from a respectful distance. They are students, listening to their two great teachers.
There are various other smaller characters scattered throughout the painting in a beautifully symmetrical manner. Raphael has painted many prominent scholars across the painting, no matter whether they lived in the same time as Plato or Aristotle.
As an example, on the right side of the painting, we see an old man in orange/red clothes discussing geometry with a compass in hand. Historians believe this figure to represent Euclid, the mathematician who laid the foundations of geometry.
On the left side we see a soldier in armor carrying a sword. What is an armed soldier doing in a school? Did they teach martial arts or battle strategy, or were people from every profession welcome at the school to study in their free time? Or maybe the philosophical debates got so heated sometimes, that it was useful to have an armed soldier nearby.
Finally, in an almost cheeky way, Raphael has painted himself in the far right corner of the painting. While all the other characters are lost in thought, or reading or discussing, Raphael looks, almost peeks directly at the viewer, as if saying, “Oh, you found me!”, like a little renaissance Easter egg. After painting such a masterpiece, he definitely deserved a selfie.
The Symbolism
Classical paintings are all about symbolisms, portrayal, and conveying deep meaning. Few paintings do it better than the School of Athens. There are way too many symbolisms in the nooks and crannies of this painting, from the pattern in the ceiling to the carvings on the pillars. Here I will just mention my favorite one.
Very prominently we see two sculptures in the painting. On the left, we see a sculpture of Apollo, the God of art and music (recognized by his harp). On the right, we see Athena, the goddess of wisdom (recognized by her shield). This unique pairing of the gods was Raphael’s way of saying that art and wisdom were two equal parts of education, a point that current schools might have to learn.
Do you know any interesting points about this beautiful painting that we have missed in the article? Maybe you noticed something that missed us while looking at the painting and reading the article. Let us know in the comments. Also let us know if you have any feedback.
Comments
Post a Comment