The School of Athens by RaphaelOne of four frescoes by Raphael in the so-called Raphael Rooms in the
The School of Athens by RaphaelOne of four frescoes by Raphael in the so-called Raphael Rooms in the Apostolic Palace in Vatican was painted by the Italian Renaissance artist between 1509 and 1511. The School of Athens revels Raphael’s interpretation of philosophy as a divine form of knowledge, with Plato and Aristotle placed in the center of the scene. In total, twenty-one ancient Greek philosophers are painted, engaging in lofty discourse. Raphael’s fresco doesn’t have religious character as such but its location within a Greek cross-shaped building in Vatican has been interpreted as an attempt to reconcile Christianity and pagan philosophy.1: Zeno of Citium 2: Epicurus Possibly, the image of two philosophers, who were typically shown in pairs during the Renaissance: Heraclitus, the “weeping” philosopher, and Democritus, the “laughing” philosopher. 3: Unknown (believed to be Raphael) 4: Boethius or Anaximander or Empedocles5: Averroes 6: Pythagoras 7: Alcibiades or Alexander the Great8: Antisthenes or Xenophon or Timon9: Raphael, Fornarina as a personification of Love or Francesco Maria della Rovere10: Aeschines or Xenophon11: Parmenides (Leonardo da Vinci) 12: Socrates 13: Heraclitus (Michelangelo) 14: Plato (Leonardo da Vinci) 15: Aristotle (Giuliano da Sangallo) 16: Diogenes of Sinope 17: Plotinus (Donatello?) 18: Euclid or Archimedes with students (Bramante?) 19: Strabo or Zoroaster? (Baldassare Castiglione)20: Ptolemy? R: Apelles (Raphael) 21: Protogenes (Il Sodoma, Perugino, or Timoteo Viti) -- source link
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