Renaissance And Humanism In Raphael's School Of Athens

Renaissance and humanism basically stem from Petrarchian ideology which encourages the emulation of Greco-Roman antiquity without imitation; Renaissance “rebirth” ideally transforms and exemplifies continuity. According to Soltes, around 1508, Raphael was one of several artists called to Rome and commissioned to execute frescos in the Vatican Palace by Pope Julius II. Raphael’s School of Athens (Vatican, 1510-1512) represents a pinnacle of humanism and Renaissance thought. A proverbial “meeting of the minds”; Raphael’s depiction of the philosophical concept displays appreciation for the antiquities and intrinsic humanistic ideas which can be observed in his artistic style and references to great thinkers of the past and his present contemporaries. According to Soltes (2011), this image has captured the whole array of Greek philosophy displayed on a wall. Soltes …show more content…
As discussed by Soltes, “isolated in the foreground leaning on a kind of cube and looking at a work by himself, is someone who we can identify as Michelangelo” (L20, 28:46). Soltes also suggests that perhaps Raphael used images of “Bramante and Leonardo to fill out the figures that give us philosophy personified” (L20, 29:27). The Renaissance development of perspective in which a point on the horizon draws the eye inward giving the two-dimensional image a sense of three-dimensionality can be observed in the architectural illustration of the building which contained all of this imagery of philosophical thought. Raphael’s linear perspective and use of light and shadow lends itself to the realism of the figures and their