Comparison Of Raphael, The School Of Athens And The Parnassus?

Throughout history, the upcoming giants of civilization have always attempted to glorify themselves by drawing comparisons to colossuses of the past. The European Renaissance was no different in that aspect as it drew comparisons to the ancients, the Greeks, to announce, commemorate and immortalize their legacy and culture. Two of the many examples of such conduct are Raphael’s frescoes, “The School of Athens” and “The Parnassus”.

Raffaello Santi or Raphael as he is more commonly known as was an extremely prominent Italian artist during the European Renaissance. He was regarded as one of the members of the trinity that defined the High Renaissance movement alongside Da Vinci and Michelangelo. His artistic career started when Pietro Perugino

Raphael’s style was extremely similar to that of his master Perugino as they both used thick paint and a varnish that would cause the finished piece to crack ("Raphael Sanzio). His early artistic style was a synthesis of the achievements of the previous Italian generation such as Pinturicchio, one of Perugino’s assistants, and Perugino. Between 1504 and 1508, he primarily spent his time in Florence, where he was extremely influenced by the works of one of the fathers of the Renaissance, Leonardo da Vinci. Raphael’s artistic process greatly changed after contacting Da Vinci as he started drawing many sketches before creating his artworks rather than attempting a complete artwork from the first time. This allowed him to draw compositions, which incorporated an extra dimension of complexity and overall unity. Raphael’s art would become a lot more refined and focused as he would adapt his new found style by depicting

Initially, he worked with a group of artists but was soon commissioned by the Pope to work on redecorating several papal apartments, which included the pope’s private library, the Stanza della Segnatura. The Stanza della Segnatura, which included four frescoes on each wall each symbolizing one of the four main themes of literature within the library; theology, philosophy, poetry and justice (CITE). Throughout three of these frescoes (Cardinal and Theological Virtues excluded), modern European philosophers and thinkers are incorporated with either religious figures or prominent philosophers and thinkers from Ancient Greece. This was mainly done by Raphael as a sign of European self-pride as it shows how highly Europeans regarded themselves as they equated themselves with the most prominent figures they had known in either a religious or philosophical sense, the