School of Athens

During the Renaissance era of history, many philosophers began to question the statements of Christianity and tried to make humans the power of the Earth. Beginning to prove how everything runs by us and on Earth. Therefore, Raphael was commissioned to paint four different perspective of life and the “School of Athens” was painted in order to represent knowledge(The School of Athens). This was an era in which scholars began to bring ratios and perfect forms of the human body into social influence. Art was influenced by the use of perfect ratios in order to portray an ideal person. A big part of the Renaissance era was that the Church began to lose followers and power because of the scientific and philosophical views scholars presented. Also, the corruption within the church made it difficult for the followers to trust the popes and high church officials. This painting made a significant mark in history because of the way Raphael honors philosophy and scholarly work rather than the work of the church and Christianity. This was one the few original paintings that gave credit to philosophy.
Raphael paints this piece with central focal point as the two men pointing up and down; Plato and Aristotle respectively(The School of Athens). Plato is pointing up towards the heavens which indicates the power of God and to leave all meanings of the world up to the heaven and the church. In contrast, Aristotle has his hands towards the floor meaning the Earth, which states that he gives power to the people on Earth and everything can be answered by humans. These two figures are the main characters in this painting, but Raphael paints many other well-known figures such as Pythagorus. The use of a arc or semi-circle as boarder of the painting is a way of seeing Renaissance art in this piece, also the vanishing point on Aristotle’s hand making the symmetry and harmony of this painting idealistic. (The school of Athens)
This painting shows the power of man and how man was able to prove the mysteries of Earth by studies and proves.