RAPHAEL's SCHOOL Of ATHENS - RIGHT SIDE
As we explained in other blog entries, Raphael paints The School of Athens in 1509-11 in the Vatican Stanza della Segnatura for Pope Julius II. The artist divides the painting of philosophers into two groups on either side of an imaginary vertical line that runs between Plato and Aristotle in the center of the painting.
On the left of this vertical are the IDEALISTS, philosophers like Plato who believed in IDEALS or the IDEAL WORLD, the world of perfect IDEAS.(See the previous blog entry on this side.) On the right of the vertical are the philosophers who are aligned with Aristotle, the REALISTS, thinkers who were observers of nature and who believed in approaching life with realistic thinking, thinking grounded in the earth.
Plato and Aristotle indicate the direction of their thoughts with their right hands. Plato points up to the Ideal World and Aristotle points out and over the earth.
In the last blog we identified some of the philosophers associated with Plato on the left side.
Here we will identify some of the philosophers on the right side of the vertical who are more realistic,
like Aristotle.
ARISTOTLE (384-322B.C.) - holds his beautifully foreshortened right hand out in front of his body
as if to caress the earth, the source of his knowledge. With his left hand he holds his own book, The
Nichomachaean Ethics, ETICA, (ETHICS in Italian,) as it is spelled on the pages of the book itself. This book of Aristotle's is about human morality, what kind of morals are acceptable here on earth,
what kind of social behavior will lead to a happy life.
He is presented looking at Plato and appears to be in discussion about his own philosophical
direction, a realistic assessment of what can be observed in life, without resorting to what could possibly be the most perfect ideas assembled by human beings. He seems to be arguing that it
is more important to concentrate on what IS, rather than what COULD BE.
He is a REALIST, and the philosophers on his side of the dividing line are also REALISTIC
philosophers.
From the left to right:
DIOGENES Alexander the Great EUCLID ZOROASTER PTOLEMY RAPHAEL SODOMA
DIOGENES (404-323 B.C.) An Ancient Greek philosopher who lived in Corinth without a dwelling, he was perhaps the most famous homeless man in ancient history. Diogenes was a CYNIC, a philosopher who was skeptical of all philosophies. He regarded all humans as hypocrites, dissembling and obstructing the genuine truth. He understood the importance of the later story of the "emperor's new clothes." He believed in saying exactly what he observed, regardless of the diplomacy of manners.
A separate blog entry is spent on this figure and the figure next to him, who is Alexander the Great,
the famous king of Macedonia who conquered an empire. Raphael includes a scene described in
Plutarch's Life of Alexander the Great. Diogenes here is elegantly splayed over the steps in front of
the Greek temple that Raphael has painted. He is barefoot and half-naked, with a blue tunic and grey-purple cloak. In his relation to the king next to him, he displays indifference, proving that he is unmoved by status, wealth, or royal connections. He observes the shadow of Alexander
that falls on his reading and objects to his presence because Alexander is "blocking his sun." This
philosopher's relation to nature is direct; he is living on the ground and commenting on the information that comes to him by way of his senses. He is the ultimate REALIST. Whereas Aristotle
believed that human beings had a duty to behave sensibly with each other as part of a moral philosophy that led to a happy life, Diogenes does not give a hoot about anybody's pretentious rules
that help society along; he believes in confronting the truth on the ground, literally.
portrait of BRAMANTE. EUCLID bends over towards the students; he holds a geometer's compass, with which he makes a diagram of overlapping triangles:
EUCLID was a Greek mathematician who lived in Alexandria, Egypt between the 3rd and 4th centuries B.C. His most famous book was called the ELEMENTS in which he outlines mathematical principles that he has observed about lines, rectangles, triangles, and the relationships of these practical concepts. He is placed in the School painting as a counterpoint to Pythagoras, whose
mathematical theories had less to do with how to understand building and more to do with pure theory. Because Euclid's ideas were important to architects, Bramante is a perfect portrait for his head.
The second grouping is four men who seem to turn towards each other as if in discussion. Next to Euclid are two standing philosophers whose ideas derived from observation of nature; these are the REALISTS ZOROASTER and PTOLEMY.
ZOROASTER - was an Iranian magus or magician (1700-1000 BC) who wrote a treatise on Nature in Old Avestan, the language of Persia. He holds an orb with the constellations on it because he believed in predicting human events by observing the stars in their alignments. He saw people's fates as intimately tied up with astronomical connections. Although we might see him as straddling the world of the Idealists and the world of the Realists, from Raphael and Julius II's perspective, he was a thinker who observed the stars and made his findings known to others to improve their lots in life, hence he is placed among the REALISTS.
PTOLEMY is the great map-maker, the first maker of a map of the known world in history (it stretched from Britain to Malaysia.) Ptolemy, like Euclid, lived in Alexandria, Egypt, but at a much later date, from around 100 A.D. to 170 A.D. His treatise on Geography, in which his world map can be found,is probably his best-known work.
Here he holds an orb of the earth on which we see the outline of the continent of Africa and the Middle East. While today we might not see him as a philosopher, but rather as a Geographer, he is a REALIST insofar as he observes the world around him and wishes to document that world in a practical way in order to help others see how the world is shaped. 
In another blog I explain the reason he is given a crown, even though he was never a king or part of the royal family.
And the two last figures in the second grouping are the painters whose work appeared on the wall.
SODOMA (1477-1549) at the far right was the man asked to paint that wall in the Stanza before Raphael began his project for the School of Athens. In order to finish his fresco Raphael had to paint over Sodoma's painting already there, effectively eliminating it. (Sodoma was probably then employed as an assistant to Raphael in the completion of the wall of philosophy.) Raphael pays him back very diplomatically by allowing SODOMA's figure to paint over the self-portrait of the artist himself.
He understood that complimenting other people was a way to ensure his own success. He was a
REALIST and understood himself well. He was not like Leonardo or Michelangelo; he did not live
in the world of ideas that kept him apart from the rest of society, as they did. He liked people and
enjoyed the company of interesting minds, and his self-portrait in the usual place for artist's self-portraits since Masaccio (see another blog entry,) on the right and looking out, is intended to make
the viewer see that he is part of a group, not a figure singled out like Leonardo or Michelangelo.
He places his mentor and relative, Bramante, near him, as a way of acknowledging their connection.
And he is realistic enough to know that giving Bramante the privilege of great teacher in his painting
would help ensure that Bramante would give back to him later, as he did when he made Raphael
the director of the works at St. Peter's before he died in 1514.
if we learn to read and can read about the ideas that other humans (men in this case) have had during their own lifetimes. The life of the mind is elegant and exciting and companionable. His own enjoyment of company and the exchange of ideas is evident in the ease and confidence of gestures he
conveys in the figures of the philosophers in the scene which he has constructed in an ancient temple.
His philosophers may prefer the company of those who are IDEALISTS OR REALISTS, but ultimately, they are all humans who participate in the discourse of ideas, the conversation that makes life worth living.
awesome, thank you!
ReplyDeleteI don't know how your comment was erased, but
ReplyDeleteI thank you.