Jillian Chantal

The School of Athens is a famous fresco painted by Raphael in 1510. He was hired to paint art in some of the rooms in the Vatican and one of his most famous works is still there to this day. My son told me on the plane on the way to Rome that he wanted to see it and it was one of his favorite things during the trip. He spent a long time in the room walking around and studying it.

It’s a picture of philosophers gathered together and some of them have the faces of some of Raphael’s contemporaries. He even has himself peeking out of one of the corners.  The central figures are Plato and Aristotle. They are surrounded by other philosophers/mathematicians/astrologers. 

These philosophers may have all lived in different eras and ages but Raphael painted them in a timeless school of philosophy all together. Included are Socrates, Euclid, Pythagoras, Diogenes, Ptolemy and Zoroaster. Also there, and controversial at the time, is a female philosopher,  Hypatia.  Raphael had to disguise her likeness to get away with putting her in the picture.

Heraclitus is depicted as looking like Michelangelo and some of the other philosophers are depicted with the faces of some of Raphael’s contemporaries.  Here’s a link to check out all the people featured in the painting: http://www.newbanner.com/AboutPic/athena/raphael/nbi_ath4.html