The school of athens is a Fresco painting which is the act of using wet lime plaster as

the canvas and then using water as a vehicle to carry the pigmentation into the plaster
making the wall actually become the art. The fresco technique has always been closely
related to the idea of the Italian Renaissance. The painting itself was constructed
between the years of 1509 and 1511 in the Apostolic Palace to decorate the Stanze di
Raffaello which is a section of the building itself meant to represent philosophy. The
fresco was painted across the building from the La Disputa (also the painting first
completed in the Apostolic Palace) which was meant to represent Theology.

1: Zeno of Citium 2: Epicurus Possibly, the image of two philosophers, who were typically shown in pairs
during the Renaissance: Heraclitus, the "weeping" philosopher, and Democritus, the "laughing"
philosopher. 3: unknown (believed to be Raphael) 4: Boethiusor Anaximander or Empedocles? 5:
Averroes 6: Pythagoras 7: Alcibiades or Alexander the Great? 8: Antisthenes or Xenophon or Timon? 9:
Raphael,Fornarina as a personification of Love or Francesco Maria della Rovere? 10: Aeschines or
Xenophon? 11: Parmenides? (Leonardo da Vinci) 12: Socrates 13: Heraclitus (Michelangelo) 14: Plato
(Leonardo da Vinci) 15: Aristotle (Giuliano da Sangallo) 16: Diogenes of Sinope 17: Plotinus (Donatello?)
18: Euclid or Archimedes with students (Bramante?) 19: Strabo or Zoroaster? (Baldassare Castiglione)
20: Ptolemy? R: Apelles (Raphael) 21: Protogenes (Il Sodoma, Perugino, or Timoteo Viti)

The architecture used in the painting is believed by many to be similar or based off the
Apostolic Palace itself which is already heavily inspired from greek and roman
architecture. This is very apparent from arches in the background and the pillars
supporting the walls, to even the statues representing The Greek gods Athena (shown
in Roman form) and Apollo the god of music and light.

The fresco itself is a very symmetrical with the center of the painting being the center of
the hall dividing it into two symmetrical halves in between plato and aristotle. Creating 2
back groups of people, two on the far sides of the painting, and then two down in front.
The architecture is also symmetrical with the statues and the architectural sculptures
below them.
The colors of the Fresco are very vibrant on the peoples clothings creating an attention
eye draw to the people to let the viewer experience the subdued background second as
the vanishing point is at the center of the painting at Aristotle and Plato since they were
very prominent figures in the ancient world breaking many boundaries and notions in a
similar way of the italian renaissance and then replacing many with modern geniuses to
enforce the idea of rebirth of a greater time.
Symmetrical, balanced, good sense of mass, linear perspective are all traits of this
fresco which is an Italian renaissance art while minute detail and realism are traits of
northern renaissance art. This painting more about the concept than the realism and
detail which is apparent from just the scale of the work. Grand setting and people put on
this massive fantastical scene on a 200 in 300 in (16.6667ft x 25ft) that is 416.6675
square feet.