Fall

The Logic of God:

Religion and Philosophy in Raphaels Scuola di Atene and Disputa

Kathryn Thompson

Italian High Renaissance

Dr. G. Medicus
30 April, 2014

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Raphael Sanzios 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 Raphaels first fresco, the Scuola di
Atene (Philosophy or The School of Athens), and finding it executed in
such a sweet and delicate mannerPope 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 NeoPlatonism, 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
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.

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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 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

Raymond Acker, Neo-Platonism, Plotinus, and the Christian God.

Lecture from Eastern University, St. Davids, PA, 26 October, 2010.
5
See Figs. 1, 2.