This is School of Athens by Raphael. I chose this painting after I read about it in our Zophy text book. The concept of Raphael's painting is incredible. This is "...a glorious, humanist tribute to many of the legendary sages of antiquity"(Zophy, 98-99). It places all of the greatest minds in history together disusing their theories in one setting, a school in Athens. This painting contains Aristotle, Plato, Pythagoras, Ptolemy, Diogenes, and even a self portrait of himself.
Raphael painted School of Athens when he was only 27 years old. He was asked by Pope Julius II to paint this piece. It is located in the Stanza della segnatura room in the papal palace, which is in Vatican City. Raphael painted it in 1509 to 1511. It is amazing to me how a painter so young could be asked to paint a piece so important in such a revered place, and none the less, by the pope himself. I wonder why the pope would have a painting with different philosophers and mathematicians from ancient Greece instead of Christ or the Virgin Mary?
Sources: http://www.vatican-patrons.org/raphael.htm
You pose a great question. We know that the church was extremely involved in the community at this time. Perhaps The Pope commissioned this painting to show the church's relevance? Maybe this was the Church's ode to the classical past, since this theme was so prevalent in society at that time.
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