School of Athens - Definition and Overview

The painting School of Athens (italian: La scuola di Atene) its a fresco from Raphael Sanzio that shows renaissance thinkers who are situated with Greek and Roman scholars.

Introduction

The School of Athens was painted around 1510 by Raphael Sanzio at the Vatican on the west wall of the Stanza of the Signatura, an anteroom to the better-known Sistine Chapel. Though there is no unanimous concensus on who all the characters in the painting represent (aside from Plato and Aristotle in the center), some probable assignments suggested by experts are below.

Persons

Center

• Plato - holding the Timaeus - Pointing up as a sign of his metaphysical belief in the higher world of the forms, shown with the face of Leonardo.
• Aristotle - holding his Ethics with hand palm down, reflecting a more grounded approach to the problem of universals.

Left

• Socrates - talking with Alexander the Great

Right

• Ptolemy
• Michelangelo - leaning on a block of marble, writing