Week 4 Responses

Week 4 – The School of Athens

Raphael’s The School of Athens (1509-1511), is among the most recognizable works of High Renaissance art. As the status of “High Renaissance” indicates, the fresco adorning the walls of the Papal Palace represents a climax of Renaissance ideals in its precise mathematical proportions, implementation of linear perspective as pioneered by Brunelleschi, and a reverence for antiquity. Raphael’s fresco includes a star studded cast of ancient Greek visionaries (including prominently Plato and Aristotle, as well as Bramante as Euclid), highlighting the various areas of civilization in which they turned to antiquity for inspiration such as philosophy, mathematics, science, and art. The precision and balance of the proportions, combined with a fervent reverence for antiquity is emblematic of the architecture of the Renaissance which referenced Vitruvian principles (Leonardo’s Vitruvian man as a prime example) and shifted its focus from the heavens where to here on earth looking for the divinity in our own proportions and allowing that to guide pure architecture.

Leave a Reply