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Italian and Northern Renaissance art
Aristotle vs Plato: Aristotle's Critique of Plato
Aristotle vs Plato: Aristotle's Critique of Plato
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Recommended: Italian and Northern Renaissance art
Imagine you are in standing in the Stanza della Segnatura, a small yet very crowded room located in the Papal Palace in the Vatican City. The room is not only dense with people, but dense with imagery. As your eyes gaze at each of Raphael’s incredible frescoes, one reaches out with its persuasive palms and caresses your attention. The painting beholds a sea of great thinkers and mathematicians who surround two philosophers, Plato and Aristotle. The School of Athens is an elaborate fresco, which represents the synthesis of worldly and spiritual thinking, and ranks alongside the finest examples of classically inspired Renaissance art.
In 1508, during the High Renaissance, the twenty-seven-year-old painter Raffaello Sanzio, better known as Raphael, was called to the Vatican by the Pope Julius II, and given the most important commission of his life - the decoration of the Papal Palace. Located on the upper floor of the Vatican palace, this room was used by the Pope as a library. It was here, between 1509 and 1511, that Raphael painted his famous fresco The School of Athens. The renaissance was a time of
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Plato also holds one of his books, Timaeus, as does Aristotle (right) with his book, Ethics. These books represent the contrasting philosophies of the two men. Plato was known for being interested in the theory of the theoretical. His finger pointed upwards toward the sky represents the idea that the world of appearances is not the final truth; there is a realm based on mathematics and ideas that is more true than the world we see. Aristotle, on the other hand, focused his attention on the observable and physical aspects of life. His palm is faced downwards, serving as a notion of rejection to Plato’s unrealistic ideals. Despite their contrasting views, their passion for philosophy and analysis of the meaning of life united the two
The rise of rational doubt among ancient Greek philosophers lay the groundwork for a dramatic reconceptualization of time and space in the Classical Era. In this paper, I will expose some basic characteristics of the artwork which came out of this era. I will then examine the subsequent rise of Christianity, and how this radical change in the belief system affected the artwork which we see, in turn, from this era.
The School of Athens by Raphael is an artistic representation of the beliefs and interpretations of the Renaissance humanist philosophers such as Petrarch and Drusus. Great classical mathematicians such as Pythagoras stand under the statue of the Greek goddess of reason, Athena, while intellectuals such as Socrates teach on the right, under the statue of the Greek patron of poetry, Apollo. This fresco also illustrates the existence of an intellectual community of painters, sculptors, and leaders such as Michelangelo and Leonardo, who exist in the painting as Greek philosopher Heraclitus and Plato, respectively. This select group of individuals was in fact the majority of the thinking power of the Italian Renaissance.
Between 1509 and 1510, Raphael Sanzio da Urbino constructed a fresco masterpiece designed for the Vatican entitled The School of Athens. The painting itself represents different branches of knowledge such as philosophy, theology, and also literature. Most people consider The School of Athens a masterpiece by Raphael and the epitome of the High Renaissance. My thesis statement for this paper is to ask and figure out why Raphael painted such a beautiful object and I also am going to research why Michelangelo and Raphael were such rivals during a period of time where I believe the Renaissance reached its peak in art, music, and society as a whole. The background of The School of Athens falls into the center of the painting.
Raphael painted the School of Athens from-1510 – 1512. He was commissioned by pope Julius II, with the recommendation of Donato Bramante, the pope’s architect, to work in the Vatican. His first work the School of Athens was loved so much by the pope that he commissioned Raphael to paint the entire papal suite. In the School of Athens, philosophers and intellects from different time periods are arranged as students in a school or academy where everyone is learning off each other. The Stanza della Segnatura was to be Julius’ library which would house a small collection of books intended for his personal use. The walls of the first ...
The School of Athens (Figure 1) is a fresco painting–a painting done in sections in the fresh plaster–on one of the four walls of the room, the Stanza della Segnatura this room is designated as papal library in the Vatican palace. In this image Raphael represents pictorially the intellectual activity of philosophy. He chooses to represent philosophy by depicting a large number of philosophers in the midst of their activities. The fifty-eight figures who occupy the grandiose architectural space are depicted in the midst of their activity: they are questioning, arguing, demonstrating, reading, and writing. Each figure is characterized so that it is not a mere compositional device, but a shorthand statement of the figure represented (Murray, 62). Raphael rendered the faces of the philosophers from classical statues if known, or else used his own contemporaries for models (Haas, 8)
Greece’s Golden Age can be defined as a time of flourishing. Athens made the important decision of splitting itself from Sparta, who they constantly differed with. “It is from this split that the Athenian Empire was created” (Hunt 80). This split illustrates the certainty that the Athenians possessed in terms of creating a better nation. Athens developed an empire because democracy was expensive. In order for democracy to be created, you need an empire to raise money. Both Sparta and Athens created different leagues in an effort to intensify their dominance. The Delian League, which was the league Athens was associated with, continued to thrive. This allowed them the opportunity to create a democratic nation in which the people were provided with the freedom they continuously strived for. The individual that was determined to create a democratic nation was Pericles. He revised and renovated Athenian democracy. It was during his time that the U.S. constitution arises. Pericles lowered the standard of citizenship which meant that more money needs to be made to pay the people. The poor were even capable of being Athenian citizens. In doing so, he also limited citizenship to those who were purely Athenians. He stated that “if an Athenian man married a non-Athenian woman, then his children will not be considered Athenian citizens” (Hunt 83). Pericles did this to secure high value of Athenian citizenship. However, the Athenians understood that citizenship in Athens is a privilege. It is something that should be cherished and not taken advantage of.
Rafael Sanzio was one of the most famous artists of the Renaissance along with Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. There were three main artistic periods in his life; first was his youth in Urbino, from 1483-1504; second his Florentine period from 1504-1508, when he, Leonardo and Michelangelo were all living in the same city; third his life in Rome, from 1508-1520, in which much of his work was commissioned by the Pope. Raphael’s style was typical of the Renaissance, with emphasis on light, balance, clarity, order, and depth.
In the School of Athens, Raphael portrayed the splendid scenes of philosophers, scientists and artists in this school. The school of Athens was set up by Plato, who is the ancient Greek idealistic philosopher. The central side of the picture is Plato and his disciple Aristotle, who have intense discussions. Although Plato's teacher, Socrates, was no longer alive when he founded the Academy of Athens, however, Raphael drawn Socrates in the left of a group of characters, to show the hierarchy of philosophy. Different gestures of them illustrated different idea on philosophy. Plato stretched out his finger pointing on the above represents the idealism
The modern world is becoming more complex day by day, and it seems that most of what surrounds us is actually the result of various ancient practices of philosophy. From the structure and foundation of Government to the fine arts we have today, it is all because of philosophy, and especially the philosophy of the ancient Greeks. Records of history show Greece as the birthplace of philosophic thought, it is said that Philosophy is the child of the wise men of Greece. The philosophers of ancient Greece made many contributions to the modern world, they have a very profound impact on the way people live nowadays, their wisdom affected our fine arts, various fields of science, mental and physical education and politics.
I believe the artist who best exemplifies the Renaissance is Raphael. His work embodies many characteristics of the Renaissance Era like individualism,realism, anatomy, symmetry and linear perceptive. All these can be seen in his painting of Schools of Athens which is one frescoes of the Vatican Palace. It is an stunning painting representing Philosophy of that time. Raphael places the greatest thinkers, Aristotle and Plato, of Grecian time in the center making the them the focal point. The two figures perfectly centered giving the painting a symmetrical feel with even amount of figures on each side and even lighting as well. Raphael used one-point linear perceptive. All the lines are heading to the vanishing point behind the focal point that
History of the University of Athens The University of Athens was established on May 3, 1837, and was located in the residence of architect Stamatis Cleanthes on the northeast side of the Acropolis. It was the first university in the newly established Greek State, as well as in the Balkans and the Eastern Mediterranean. The university was initially called the "Othonian University" and consisted of four faculties: Theology, Law, Medicine, and Arts, which included applied sciences and mathematics. It had 33 professors, 52 students, and 75 non-matriculated "auditors." In November 1841, new classes began in a new building designed by Danish architect Christian Hansen.
To begin with, School of Athens has a very realistic use of perspective that makes the viewer feel as if they can walk into the scene. This demonstrates that artists were gaining a much stronger understanding of perspective and how to execute it, as opposed to artists in past periods, who lacked this understanding. It is even clear to see an improvement in perspective since della Francesca’s Flagellation of the Christ, only fifty years behind School of Athens. Furthermore, we are able to see a dramatic shift in composition; in the Proto-Renaissance and International Gothic Periods, compositions with masses of people often resulted in the entire crowd being at one level, resulting in a large mass of people indistinguishable from one another. However, in Raphael’s piece, people are shown at various levels with a high level of realism, making it easy to pick each figure out. Not only this, we can see that along with Raphael’s amazing understanding of perspective, he is incredible at creating depth and realism. Like della Francesca, Raphael also demonstrates his understanding of the proportion of the human form, as well as how to show the human form beneath clothing, although he has surpassed della Francesca’s slightly less realistic forms. We can see the shift in subject matter since the Proto-Renaissance and International Gothic Periods, as School of Athens depicts a gathering of all the greatest philosophers and intellectuals, such as Aristotle, Plato, and Pythagoras. Raphael has also included sculptures in the background of Roman and Greek Gods and Goddesses. This is a big shift in subject matter, as art in the past has celebrated religious figures, whereas Raphael’s is praising philosophers. Raphael also chose to incorporate portraits, such as da Vinci depicted as Plato, showing da Vinci’s fame and
The artwork chosen is a famous Fresco piece titled, “The School of Athens”. Italian Renaissance artist, Raphael, created this masterful work of art from the year 1509-1511. This work of art allows the reader to visualize and examine a deeper understanding into the principles of perception as they are utilized to bring a two-dimensional work of art from a flat surface such as a painting to become an illusion of reality for the viewer. The three principles to be discussed in relation to the painting include the following: Linear Perspective, Principles of Interposition, and Relative Height and Size (should these be capitalized?).
One very notable artist to follow in Leonardo Da Vinci’s footsteps in the High Renaissance was Raphael (Adams, p. 312). In 1483 the artist known as Raphael was born Raffaello Sanzio of Urbino Italy; a walled city built on a sloping hillside in the Marche region of Italy (Encyclopedia of Arts Education, n.d; Encyclopedia Britannica, 2016). Recognized as a World Heritage site for its true Renaissance architecture, the city would also lure many an artist inside and scholars inside its walls during the 15th century (UNESCO, 2017; Encyclopedia Britannica, 2016). The son of Giovanni Santi, Raphael would receive his first lessons in the renaissance humanist movement and painting from his father; six years before Urbino would become a major artistry
Plato and Aristotle are two of the most well known philosophers of all time. They had many drastic ideas for their time and many of their ideas have even shaped our world today. Their ideas about government, happiness, education, knowledge, law, women, slaves, virtue, and contextualism give insight into the foundational beliefs and understandings that shaped their worldview and subsequently Western society today. Since Aristotle studied under Plato many of their main beliefs are quite similar.