The School of Athens
Raphael's "School of Athens" is considered by many modern art historians to be the absolute masterpiece of the Renaissance. It is the perfect pictorial counterpart to the enormous changes in thinking that came about in the 1300s as a result of economic and technological developments. Its rational perspective and secular subject matter embody the rediscovery of ancient Greek and Roman culture. The new emphasis on individual thought and expression is also evident in the painting's focus on reason. The Renaissance, which modern scholars place between 1300 and 1600, marks a period of rapid growth and development in Western Europe. In the late Middle Ages, population growth and contact with other cultures through military efforts, such as the Crusades, brought about a revival of commercial trade. Italian merchants began to exchange luxury goods and other commodities, such as fish, furs, and metals, in the Mediterranean and across the North and Baltic seas. Towns began to grow and prosper along the major trade routes, and by the late 1300s, these towns became important and wealthy commercial centers. Towns like Florence, Venice, Milan, and Genoa developed into prosperous city-states that became the centers of thought and cultu
She also carries a shield which has an image of Medusa embossed on it. The temple resembles Bramante's plan for the Basilica of St. Anaxagoras was a Greek philosopher of nature and discovered the true cause of eclipses. Plato is depicted as an old and frail man. The steps on the foreground are suggestive of those in Greek and Roman temples, but may also represent the levels of learning that one much go through to achieve knowledge of the Truth. On the right is a sculpture of the goddess Minerva who carries a lance and wears a winged helmet. When Julius II was elected pope in November of 1503, he refused to live in the same apartments that his predecessor and bitter enemy, Alexander VI, had previously occupied. Raphael's "School of Athens" embodies the Renaissance emphasis on reason and classical thought. Peter's, and seems to represent the Palace of Knowledge. The carving in the medallion on Plato's side depicts a man looking up from his book toward the heavens, where Plato believed true knowledge could be found. Beneath Apollo is a double row of bas-relief carvings. The "School of Athens" was devoted to Philosophy. Along the niches in the transept are more statues of Apollo and the pagan god, Pallas. Julius also summoned Raphael Sanzio, a young painter from Urbino, after he was recommended to him by his advisor, Bramante, who was the chief architect of all the papal buildings under construction at the time. In his left hand he carries his "Ethics," which describes the laws of moral behavior.
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Acceptance Essays
