Raphael ( Raffaello Sanzio ) (圖)

The Age of Renaissance 1420-1600

School of Athens, 1510-1511 

Vatican Museums and Galleries, Vatican City, Italy 

The archetypal artist of the High Renaissance, Raphael received his education in Perugino. In 1504 he moved to Florence where he received many commissions for portraits and pictures of the Virgin and Child. Soon, his reputation reached the ears of Pope Julius II, who summoned him to Rome in1508. Deeply influenced by Michelangelo he added a new sense of grandeur to his compositions and greater solidity to his figures. Michelangelo grew jealous of his young rival, accusing him of stealing his ideas, but Raphael’s charming manner won him powerful friends and numerous commissions. 

The most prestigious of these was the decoration of the Stanze, the papal apartments in the Vatican. This was a huge task, which occupied the artist for the remainder of his life, School of Athens is the most famous of these frescoes. Other commissions included a majestic series of cartoons for a set of tapestries destined for the Sistine Chapel and a cycle of frescoes for the banker, Agostino Chigi. In the midst of this frantic activity, however, Raphael caught a fever and died, at the tragically young age of 37. 

In the picture, some of these are easily recognizable. In the centre Plato points upwards with a finger and holds his book Timeus in his hand, flanked by Aristotle with Ethics; The dark-skinned scholar in the white turban and green robe who leans over Pythagoras is the Arabic philosopher Averroes. It is thanks to him that the philosophies of Plato and Aristotle were transmitted to the west. Pythagoras is shown in the foreground intent on explaining the diatesseron. Diogenes is lying on the stairs with a dish, while the pessimist philosopher, Heracleitus, a portrait of Michelangelo, is leaning against a block of marble, writing on a sheet of paper. Michelangelo was in those years executing the paintings in the nearby Sistine Chapel. On the right we see Euclid, who is teaching geometry to his pupils, Zoroaster holding the heavenly sphere and Ptolemy holding the earthly sphere. The personage on the extreme right with the black beret is a self-portrait of Raphael.
Raphael: Born 1483 Urbino, Italy. Died 1520