<p style="text-align: center"><a href="http://jeanatacc.com/2011/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/raphael-school-of-athens11.jpg"></a>Raphael’s The School Of Athens</p>
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The School of Athens is one of the most famous paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1510 and 1511 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. On the room where Raphael painted The School of Athens, can be observed two others important paints: The Stanza della Segnatura and La Disputa which is painting on the opposite wall than The School of Athens. The picture has long been seen as "Raphael's masterpiece and the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the High Renaissance. Unlike other paintings Raphael’s master piece includes the most important figures of its time, figures such as Plato and Aristotle’s who were found to be the main figures of the paint. The paint was divided in two different sections one included spiritual side [Plato’s ] while the other one represent physical side, [Aristotle’s] the painting was basically generated by Raphael and it clearly represented a clear view of the most intellectual and famous people of its time, people who were in the area of science and philosophy. Raphael’s master piece is been recognized to be one of the most important on the world because if its mystery, imagination and creativity in which it was created.

Raphael’s master piece The School of Athens most important aspect was that it was created with geometry theory in which Artists used linear perspective for transforming the physical reality of 3-D objects into realistic illusions on 2-D flat surfaces. In The School of Athens Raphael shows main figures that came from different spaces and times to participate visually in the educational process, master symbolically secularization and influence literally people’s mind. In the historical art work of Raphael: he uses Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Pythagoras and Euclid to represent ancient Masters and Michelangelo, Bramante, Leonardo and himself to represent the contemporary humanists of the 1500s.

The school of Athens shows Plato and Aristotle centralized as is the case for holies surrounded by scientists and students, past and present, in splendid classical architectural setting illustrating the historical continuity of Platonic thought. Raphael fills an ordered and stable space with figures in a rich variety of symbolic postures and gestures showing strenuous efforts to attain knowledge. Raphel controls a theatrical setting in order to make one group of figures lead to the next in an interviewing and interlocking pattern, bringing the eye to the central figures of Plato and Aristotle at the vanishing point of the
linear space. All parts of this paint converge on the center, but the whole
vision is broken up into a number of isolated groups. The figures are grouped
in unity, but each retains its own individuality and shape.[ In addition, Raphael’s master piece included an emphasis on applying visual mathematics, numbers, ratio and
harmony, especially when Pythagoras is represented by his harmonic theory on
the left side, and Euclid by the perfection of Geometry on the right. The elaborate
perspective of the architectural setting seems to embody both.] arthur damto It is an
historical artistic statement of gratitude towards the ancient masters and the
contemporary students, artists and architects who made possible the connection
not only between East and West, but also between natural and moral sciences.
The artist’s selection reflected his own personal concern with multi-cultured
Knowledge. As a humanist artist, Raphael followed the scholarly and translated materials of his age. For instance he may have used Euclid’s musical theory to create the ideal Classical architectural background of The School of Athens.

According to, The humanistic tradition vol. Raphael’s The School of Athens is an homage to knowledge in which it was concerned with multi-cultured knowledge defined as humanism. Now humanism is a philosophy of love and peace. It makes clear that to reach both love and peace, you have to feel them first in your soul and then allow others to feel them.[ During the Renaissance era, art was strongly tied to knowledge in fact, artists and commissioners were humanists, who knew a great deal of the purpose of art and secular knowledge. The School of Athens presents the value of secular knowledge through the depiction of ancient and contemporary masters, students and books. The school of Athens is therefore an allegory of two things: education, and a secular state in which Raphael uses a visual metaphor between Rome of the 1500s and Athens of 500 BC.] W. Cook and R. Herzman
Raphael also convey how Italy of the Renaissance adopted both Western and non-Western knowledge, regardless of race and belief and become a home for humanism in a general sense a place in which all are hand in hand to change both minds and lives for the better. However, there is still more to Raphael’s talent for its remarkable
acknowledgment of people who, regardless of race and belief, made great contributions to the pursuit of knowledge. This study shows that Muslims made
scientific and intellectual contributions to European Renaissance. Furthermore,
in the early twelfth century, Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars produced
many scholarly works in great unity, transcending their differences and the
Space and time.
[To sum it all up, Raphael’s school of Athens is atribute to knowledge and a representation of Italy’s Renaissance, but above all, is an ideal representation
of a love for knowledge that draws people together in peace. It is a work
upholding humanism, a philosophy of love, peace life and spiritual values. Raphael’s
sends a peaceful message to the whole world, representing all those who
worked together for knowledge’s sake to delight people’s lives.] W. Cook and R. Herzman

In conclusion, Raphael master piece The School of Athens have a tremendous impact in the history of humanism. The school of Athens should be preserved because three main reasons : the first one is the shape and the imagination that Raphael used to create this beautiful piece of art. The second one is the incredible geometry that its used to divide the spiritual (something that we cant see ) and the physical ( physically seem) and the last one and most important is that he included the most intellectual and famous people of its time in a way that they were separated and put it in a specific placed that described their role of importance over human history. In addition the School of Athens is important to future generations because it represent the line between spiritual and physical view which it gives an important aspect of god and what we have here in earth. Personally I feel that Raphael paint the school of Athens has an specific purpose in which he wanted to show future generations the importance of a balance between spirit and human knowledge therefore it should be preserved as a important piece for human history.
References

1. Arthur Danto, After the End of Art (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1997).

2. Julius II was a highly cultured man who was surrounded by the most illustrious
personalities of the Renaissance. See Emil Kren and Daniel Marx, “Raphael
Sanzio: Biography,” Web Gallery of Art (2004). http://keptar.demasz.hu/arthp/
bio/r/raphael/biograph.htm.

3. W. Cook and R. Herzman, The Medieval World View (Athens: Ohio University
Press, 1983).

4. The humanistic tradition vol. 1 book 1. Fiero 6 a

5. http://www.ancientsites.com/aw/Article/555679 posted April 30 2005. Copyright 2002-2011 Ancient Worlds LLC .