Pope Julius II commissioned Raphael to decorate the Stanza della Segnatura in 1509. The artist worked on this massive fresco project until 1511 within the Apostolic Palace in Vatican City. This room was the first of four main chambers to receive decoration under the papal order. The School of Athens represents philosophy and is believed to be the third painting finished there. It followed the completion of a work called Disputa on the opposite wall and preceded Parnassus which depicted literature. Giorgio Vasari noted that Raphael received a hearty welcome from Pope Julius during these early years of his Roman career. The execution of the School of Athens probably followed that of the Parnassus according to art historians Jones and Penny.
Central Philosophical Figures
Plato stands on the left side of the central architectural vanishing point while Aristotle occupies the right position. Plato appears as an old man with grey hair walking barefoot alongside his student. He holds a bound copy of Timaeus in his left hand and gestures vertically upward into the vault above. Aristotle wears sandals and gold-trimmed robes while standing slightly ahead of his teacher. He carries Nicomachean Ethics in his left hand and initiates a flow of space toward viewers through horizontal foreshortening. These two figures gesture along different dimensions representing their divergent philosophical schools. Plato argues for timelessness while Aristotle looks into the physicality of life and the visible world. Many interpret the painting to show this divergence between abstract forms and concrete particulars.Contemporary Portraits And Identities