Raphael's School of Athens

The School of Athens by Raphael has been admired during the course of nearly five hundred years. Nowhere was this more evident than during the unveiling of the restoration of this masterpiece on April 22, 1996. Patrons and their guests from all areas of the United States joined one of the New York patrons, the sponsor of the restoration, in marveling at the revealed genius of Raphael's palette.

The School of Athens was painted by twenty-seven year-old Raphael Sanzio for Pope Julius II (1503-1513). In 1508 the young native of Urbino had been recommended to Julius II by Donato Bramante, the pope's architect, and also a native of Urbino. So enthusiastic was the pope when he saw the fresco that Raphael received the commission to paint the entire papal suite. The Stanza della Segnatura was to be Julius' library, Bibiotheca Iulia, which would house a small collection of books intended for his personal use.

The practice during Imperial Roman times of furnishing libraries with portraits of great poets was revived in fifteenth century Italy. Raphael revolutionized this practice in the Stanza by harmoniously arranging large groups of people as one unit in his fresco compositions. In the fresco of the School of Athens, sages from different epochs are arranged as colleagues in a timeless academy. Those that have been positively identified using accurate historical evidence are: Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Pythagoras, Euclid, Alcibiades, Diogenes, Ptolemy, Zoroaster and Raphael. Plato is in the center pointing his finger to the heavens while holding the Timaeus, his treatise on the origin of the world. Next to him, his younger pupil Aristotle holds a copy of his Ethics while describing the earth and the wide realm of moral teaching with his extended hand in an elegant horizontal gesture. (see detail)

The new publication, Raphael's School of Athens, by Prof. Arnold Nesselrath, Director for Byzantine, Medieval and Modern Art, describes the details of the magnificent restoration he directed with the Vatican Museums restoration team led by Enrico Guidi. Several hand prints that date from the time of the fresco's execution were found in an almost straight line across it at the height of the shafts of the pilasters. Although a detailed analysis of the fingerprints has not yet been undertaken, one hand must almost certainly be Raphael's. The others could belong to his assistants or to visitors on the scaffold. This discovery placed the artist and restorers into sudden communion. The generosity and vision of those who help conserve Raphael's art will enable us into the 21st century to still appreciate and be moved by his visual legacy.