interpretation of Raphael's School of Athens Literature Essay

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Interpretation of Raphael's School of Athens
Raphael's School of Athens is art representing the great philosophers, scientists, and mathematicians who, though are from different times, appear to be sharing their ideas. School of Athens, a High Renaissance painting, is from the Renaissance in Rome movement and painted in Vatican palace. According to Laurie Schneider, this painting brings together the Greek and the Roman themes as the Renaissance art that inspired it (296). Raphael incorporates the different philosophies of Aristotle and Plato into Christianity. Raphael achieves Classical harmony by bringing together Philosophers from leading schools of Greek Philosophy in one compositional space.
Looking at the School of Athens, it is clear that it uses Giotto's modeling technique, which is unique for illustrating human figures more realistically. This movement, known as naturalism, entails painting people and things just as they are. It is easier to observe the various gestures and expressions by placing the viewer right in the scene. Like Giotto's color palette, which uses colors such as heavenly gold, Raphael uses authentic colors on his subjects to bring more sanctity to his work. The School of Athens, therefore, displays a variety of colors starting from the elements represented on Plato and Aristotle's clothes. For instance, the purple and red on Plato symbolizes air and fire, and the brown on blue on Aristotle stands for the earth's weight and water. The other colors, such as green, yellow, and orange, communicate a specific emotion type.
School of Athens also incorporates Filippo Brunelleschi's invention of the linear perspective, using parallel lines and converging them to one point on the flat surface. Alexander-Skipnes et al. posit that this linear perspective uses parallel lines, a horizontal line, and a disappearing point (150). Th...