The School of Athens

In around 1508, Raphael moved to Rome, where he remained until his death in 1520. He had been summoned by Pope Julius II to paint four frescoes in the Pope’s new private library. This was the first of his famous “Stanze.” The Stanza della Segnatura consisted of four frescoes with the themes of Philosophy, Poetry, Theology, and Law.  The School of Athens, which Raphael painted sometime between 1509 and 1512, was the fresco symbolizing Philosophy. In it, about 20 of the figures have been identified, either through historical descriptions and busts or through some sort of icon associated with that person. Although some of the figures are simply anonymous “extras” or unidentified, and on some scholars disagree who the figure is, certain ones, such as Plato and Aristotle, who are walking into the room together at the center of the painting, are undisputed. Other figures intentionally double both as ancient philosophers and as contemporaries of Raphael, such as Plato resembling Leonardo da Vinci. Raphael even drew himself into the painting, on the far right side, staring back at the viewer from behind the two figures holding spheres. Other people identified in the painting include Epicurus, Pythagoras, Alexander the Great (or Alcibiades), Socrates, Michelangelo doubling as Heraclitus, Euclid (or Archimedes), and Ptolemy.