Wednesday, March 3, 2010

School of Athens, Raphael


Title: School of Athens
Artist: Raphael
Location: Stanza Della Segnatura, Vatican Palace
Date: 1508 - 11

  • Julius II commissions papal apartments
  • based on 4 main bodies of human knowledge
    : philosophy, Religion, Poetry and Law
  • architectural, circular frame - emphasis on faux archtecture
  • manipulation of space to create a fictional space for the viewer
  • Great minds of the past in dsicussion
  • focus on Aristotle and Plato
  • Plato points up - ideal is unattainable
  • Aristotle poitns down - emperical knowledge
  • Euclid (Bramante) describing geometry
  • Zoraster - sphere - depicted with Raphael's features
  • Pompeii - globe
  • Refers to Bramante's idea of St. Peter's Heraclitus = Michelangelo; Plato = Leonardo
  • space = a temple of learning
  • movement + gestures indicate that knowledge is about movement
  • uses contemporaries to depict past shows - revival of classical ideals (under Julius II's reign)
  • Artists depicted - art is an intellectual practice

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