1511, Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio), The School of Athens -- Vatican Museums (Rome)
From the museum label: Philosophy corresponds to the most famous work of Raphael, the School of Athens. Within an impressive space of Renaissance architecture, which is based on Bramante's project for the renewal of the Early Christian Basilica of St. Peter, we see the most famous philosophers of antiquity. Some of them are easily recognizable: in the center of the composition, Plato is pointing to heaven, though in his other hand he is carrying his book Timaeus; near him stands Aristotle with the Etica in his left hand, while the other hand is parallel to the ground. To the left of the viewer, Socrates, dressed in dark green, is arguing with Alcibiades; Phytagoras is in the foreground with a book, teaching Diatessaron; and Diogenes is laying on the stairs. On the right side of the composition Euclides is teaching geometry to his students, Zoroaster with the Celestial Globe and Tolomeo with the Earth Globe; at the far end of the scene, the figure with a black bonnet is Raphael himself.
Links to high-resolution close-up photos of details from this painting are here and here and here and here.
Link to other Raphael paintings
1511, Raphael (Raffaello Sanzio), The School of Athens -- Vatican Museums (Rome)
From the museum label: Philosophy corresponds to the most famous work of Raphael, the School of Athens. Within an impressive space of Renaissance architecture, which is based on Bramante's project for the renewal of the Early Christian Basilica of St. Peter, we see the most famous philosophers of antiquity. Some of them are easily recognizable: in the center of the composition, Plato is pointing to heaven, though in his other hand he is carrying his book Timaeus; near him stands Aristotle with the Etica in his left hand, while the other hand is parallel to the ground. To the left of the viewer, Socrates, dressed in dark green, is arguing with Alcibiades; Phytagoras is in the foreground with a book, teaching Diatessaron; and Diogenes is laying on the stairs. On the right side of the composition Euclides is teaching geometry to his students, Zoroaster with the Celestial Globe and Tolomeo with the Earth Globe; at the far end of the scene, the figure with a black bonnet is Raphael himself.
Links to high-resolution close-up photos of details from this painting are here and here and here and here.
Link to other Raphael paintings