The Logic of God:

Religion and Philosophy in Raphael’s Scuola di Atene and Disputa

Kathryn Thompson

Italian High RenaissanceDr. G. Medicus30 April, 2014

08Fall

Raphael Sanzio’s fresco cycle in the Bibliotheca Ilulia (now the Stanza della Segnatura) in the Vatican remains to this day one of the most famous cycles from the Italian High Renaissance. This room and those surrounding, originally meant to be a private library and receiving areas for Pope Julius II, were entrusted to the care of several notable painters and artists around the year 1508, amongst them Perugino, Piero Della Francesca, Luca Signorelli, Bartolommeo, and Sodoma.1,2

However, upon viewing Raphael’s first fresco, the Scuola di Atene (Philosophy or The School of Athens), and finding it “executed in such a sweet and delicate manner…Pope Julius was induced thereby to cause all the scenes of the other masters, both the old and the new, to be thrown to the ground, so that [Raphael] alone might have the glory of all the labours that had been devoted to these works up to that time.”3 Though Raphael was commissioned for the remainder of the Bibliotheca, the rest of the rooms remained in the hands of other craftsmen and artists. Of the four fresco cycle, the Scuola and what might be considered its companion piece, the Disputa (The Disputation of the Most Holy Sacrament), parallel one another both physically and philosophically. More than just works of art, these iconic pieces represent major theological and philosophical debates of the Cinquecento. With the rediscovery of Greco-Roman classicism came the push by Renaissance thinkers and artists, such as Raphael, Da Vinci, and Michelangelo, to assimilate classical Neo-Platonic philosophy and humanist ideals into what was still considered a Christian world. Whether consciously or subconsciously, Raphael imbues these frescoes with this culmination of thoughts and ideas through the use of classical iconography and religious imagery.

Though the great thinkers of the Renaissance were submerged with all manner of ancient philosophies, one that shows itself most readily is Neo-Platonism and its ideas concerning the metaphysics of God and the World. A student of this art must seek to understand and put to practice the writings of Plotinus, an ancient philosopher and avid follower of the works of Plato. Considered to be the father of Neo-Platonism, Plotinus stressed a greater focus on the sacred and divine, rather than political philosophy. His main concern was of the Unity and identity of the soul and the celestial. To consider oneself a scholar, it was crucial to understand that the search for wisdom was most important. To find or obtain wisdom was to reach farther to the Divine. Reasoning was meant to bring ones mind closer to the Ultimate Wisdom, to help the soul ascend back to the Heavenly Form from whence it was crafted. According to Plotinus and the Neo-Platonists, to contemplate the unity of Theology and Philosophy (or of God and the World), was to bring oneself closer to completion.4 The quest to meditate upon this unity seems to be what drew the

1 Hugo Chapman, et al. Raphael: from Urbino to Rome. (London: National Gallery Co., 2004), 51. 2 Giorgio Vasari. Lives of the Artists, trans. Gaston C. DeVere, vol 4. (London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd., 1913.), 217.3 Vasari, Lives, 218.4 Raymond Acker, “Neo-Platonism, Plotinus, and the Christian God.” Lecture from Eastern University, St. Davids, PA, 26 October, 2010.

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thinkers in the Cinquecento. With the desire for man to remain the measure of all things came the push to consolidate this with the internalized religiosity of the society. The Scuola and Disputa both appear to represent a culmination of these thoughts and ideals and no theme is more apparent in these works than Unity.

Both pieces are well balanced both within the frame and without. The Scuola and Disputa stand directly facing one another in the Bibliotheca, complimenting and completing each other in both theme and design. A viewer standing in the middle of the two should feel a connection between both spaces. The semicircular arch of the Disputa engulfs the spectator while the stretch of open air just above the crowd of philosophers in the Scuola completes the enclosure.5

The two pieces were designed in tiers and zones. The Scuola features two zones within the hemisphere that perfectly separate

        At the center of the piece stand Classical philosophers Plato and Aristotle. The viewers eyes are immediately drawn to these two figures, one of which is pointing skyward; ones hand motioning as if to cover the earth.  It is Plato who motions toward the heavens, presumably reiterating the thought that

5 See Figs. 1, 2.

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