Had they been alive in 1511, imagine the reaction of Pico della Mirandola, author of the key text of Renaissance humanism called the Oration on the Dignity of Man, and his contemporary Savonarola, the reactionary Christian preacher/prophet who condemned Renaissance secular art and culture, if together they had entered the Stanza della Segnatura library of Pope Julius II. On opposite walls they would have seen two contrasting fresco masterpieces of the young Renaissance painter Raphael: “The School of Athens” representing the discipline of philosophy and “La Disputa” representing the theme of theology. Their first impression would be that “The School of Athens” vividly symbolizes an embodiment of Renaissance values in an incompatible
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However, a closer examination and analysis of “The School of Athens” mural reveals that Raphael actually undertook to render a harmonizing synthesis of Christian and Renaissance values that would later become the basis for the Christian humanism …show more content…
Apart from the fact that the work was undertaken under Christian papal patronage, the setting of the “school” takes place under the central dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, creating a realm in which the humanism of the Greeks and Romans could co-exist with Catholic Church ideology in a display of intellectual ecumenism. The building is in the shape of a Greek cross, further intended to show harmony between pagan philosophy and Christian theology. The brooding figure of Michelangelo awaiting divine inspiration in the foreground highlights the Sistine Chapel artist who would illustrate God in full human form creating Adam in God’s own image. Finally, the emphasis on individuality and Aristotelian ethics/civic humanism finds parallels in core beliefs of Christian teaching – that God cares for each of us – as well as Christian ethics embodied in the golden rule, the parable of the good Samaritan, and the importance of charitable works. Thus, “philosophical” Renaissance artists such as Raphael laid the conceptual foundation and framework for the later development of “Christian humanism,” the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of
However, a closer examination and analysis of “The School of Athens” mural reveals that Raphael actually undertook to render a harmonizing synthesis of Christian and Renaissance values that would later become the basis for the Christian humanism …show more content…
Apart from the fact that the work was undertaken under Christian papal patronage, the setting of the “school” takes place under the central dome of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, creating a realm in which the humanism of the Greeks and Romans could co-exist with Catholic Church ideology in a display of intellectual ecumenism. The building is in the shape of a Greek cross, further intended to show harmony between pagan philosophy and Christian theology. The brooding figure of Michelangelo awaiting divine inspiration in the foreground highlights the Sistine Chapel artist who would illustrate God in full human form creating Adam in God’s own image. Finally, the emphasis on individuality and Aristotelian ethics/civic humanism finds parallels in core beliefs of Christian teaching – that God cares for each of us – as well as Christian ethics embodied in the golden rule, the parable of the good Samaritan, and the importance of charitable works. Thus, “philosophical” Renaissance artists such as Raphael laid the conceptual foundation and framework for the later development of “Christian humanism,” the belief that human freedom, individual conscience, and rational inquiry are compatible with the practice of