The school of Athens--- Jessica Cardenas

 The School of Athens was painted by the 27 year old Raphael for Pope Julius II. The painting is 5.77 m by 8.14 . Raphael was ordered by the pope to destroy the paintings on the walls of his council chambers in the Vatican Palace:he was told to plaster over the frescoes by Piero della Francesca,(and other artist), and cover the walls of the rooms now known as the Stanze of Raphael with subjects of his own choice.

Within the clear space of this imaginary setting Raphael displays, like classical statues or clear and distinct ideas, idealized portraits of his contemporaries to represent the major figures of classical wisdom and science.

In the center, their heads framed by the furthest arch through which they have just entered, Plato and Aristotle are discussing the respective merits of Idealism vs. Realism. In his left hand red-robed Plato holds his book Timaeus. With his right hand Plato gestures upwards, indicating the eternal verities and forms.

              
These two Athenian philosophers are placed to left and right of an invisible central axis that divides them, and of a central vanishing point that disappears, in the distance between their heads, at a point at Infinity: in other words, in the mind of God.

 Citations

Socrates, Silenos. "The School Of Athens." The Hellenic World. N.p., 1 May 2005.
     Web. 27 Sept. 2010. <http://www.ancientworlds.net/aw/Article/555679>.