Discussing Raphael and the Fresco Essay Example For Students

Discussing Raphael and the Fresco Essay Visual analysis assignment, discussing Raphael and the Fresco, The School of Athens, (1510-1511). It measures 5. 79 x 8. Mom and is housed in The Stanza Della Signature, Vatican, Rome. Rafael Sansei or Saint (1483 died Rome 1520) was a major art figure in the age of the Renaissance. He was one of the greatest portrait artists of all time and one of the greatest painters of classical figure groupsl Gerard El grand in his studies of Renaissance Art agrees with this statement. He helped to define the Italian High Renaissance. 2 Repeals artistic education began early. His father Giovanni Saint was a painter in the Montenegro court. Raphael in subsequent years trained as a painter and gradually surpassed his teachers. Raphael was possibly a student of Perusing as their painting style was very similar but as Raphael progressed in his studies; his compositions superseded his teachers works. He surpasses his influential mentor Perusing in the rendering of tender yet powerful beauty. 4 It was in 1508 that Raphael was summoned by Pope Julius II to work for the Vatican and it is where Raphael created the monumental work, School of Athens. In 1508 Raphael was summoned by Pope Julius II to work for the Vatican, where he produced his elaborate frescoes and established his own workshop. The age of the Renaissance needs to be understood in order to study and comprehend the School of Athens fresco and its underlying meanings. The ideas and knowledge of Ancient Greece were of paramount importance at this time especially in regards to the practice of art. It w as an era when ancient practices were given a new birth. The name Renaissance was commonly used as well as other definitions, renovation and restitution. This also explains why the artists saw themselves as revolutionaries. They saw their own potential; they had a desire to exist. It was a remarkable feat of self assertion. The humanist ideology and followers of this movement helped to reinvent Classical Greek culture. Patriarch was the most famous of the humanists and was the first to put forward the idea of returning to Classical Antiquity. That this return could only be a new beginning and not simply a matter of blind faith. l The humanists were involved in translating ancient texts, such as Plats Times and Aristotle Mechanical Ethics. They also wanted to reconcile Platonism with a well assimilated Aristotelian but also with the three main religions Christianity, Judaism and Islam. These rediscovered ancient texts could restore man to a place in a cosmos that was ordered differently from the Aristotelian cosmos. Humanism and its influence transformed the Renaissance artists practice, their methods of painting and the subjects expr essed. The ideas of the Ancient Greeks transformed the fields of philology, medicine and theology. 5 The reinterpretation of the sciences, mathematics and physics can be seen with the new developments in painting at this time. To talk about renaissance art is to talk first and foremost about the broader cultural phenomenon of the Renaissance itself. 6 The Renaissance was not a time whereby the ideals of Classical Greece were Just regurgitated. It was the imitation of antiquity which must not be interpreted as a rigid concept. 7 Certain inventions were being introduced in relation to painting during the Renaissance. Elegant gives a chronology of events in relation to the theory of perspective. 8 In 1300 Ghetto introduced elementary rational perspective. It is legend that Ghetto drew freehand a perfect circle, firmly establishing the art of draftsmanship even though he had no grasp of mathematical science underlying it. In the 1330 and 1400 artists came aware of measurement, using guide marks to help paint the surface of the walls for frescoes. In 1342 4, Imbroglio Lorgnette understood the near approximation and definition of a vanishing point. It was also understood that the ancients had developed some kind of systematic perspective method, (at least in stage design). In 1425 Brucellosis peepshows demonstrated the possibility of exact coincidence of natural vision and pictorial vision in a determined space. In 1435-6, painting could be defined as a kind of window circumscribing the intersection of a flat surface with the pyramid of visual rays. In 1450 experiments in Ariel respective by Flemish painters created recession in landscape backgrounds through a series of increasingly cool and pale color zones. During 1450 60, there was evidence of a mixed perspective system sometimes bifocal in appearance, sometimes in separate planes, sometimes legitimate but usually based on complex calculation. In 1498 the manuscript On Divine Proportion by Luck Piccalilli was published. Historians have suggested that the diagrams within this manuscript are attributable to Leonardo dad Vinci. l The knowledge gained by artists through these new principles of mathematics and physics were integral in their understanding of the satirical space. The application of perspective was no longer a rudimentary affair but based on legitimate constructs according to certain laws which led to recognition of pictorial space. 2 Renaissance artists rediscovered human anatomy with the study of Classical Greek and Roman statuary. To reproduce the third dimension of space and life of the figures by representing mass in terms of perspective, this optical realism in relation to the material world with correspondingly tonal r ealism. The pictorial space required the construction of perspective called oceanography which rejected the undefined representation of space in Byzantine and medieval frescoes. Renaissance of Filmmaking: French New Wave EssayIt was a refuge of Greek learning, as the scholars of Classical Greece had been forgotten in the intervening years before the Renaissance. 7 Jill Grayer discusses the figures in the painting, School of Athens. Hypoxia, a Greek Manipulations philosopher in Roman Egypt can be seen and Heron of Alexandria represents an ancient Greek mathematician and engineer. Penalties, a stoic philosopher represents poetry and Diatom of Matinee is a female philosopher who plays an important role in Plats Symposium. She is giving Socrates the teaching of love. It is unusual to have women centrally viewed and to be given such status. Inspirational poets and painters are depicted. Euclid is represented and there are great Christian philosophers, theologians and on the other side of the room are poets and lawyers. The central main figures in the painting are of Aristotle and Plato. Plato is pointing to the sky and Aristotle is pointing towards the ground. Egyptians are personified, as well as Zoroaster who was before the time of Abrahams teachings. Statues of Greek gods are seen on either side, Apollo and Athena. Classical, pagan, Renaissance scholars and religious leaders are represented. In this painting we have the cream of intellectual thought. There is a harmonious aspect to this world as conflict is left out of the frame. (Who is better than another? ) There are plenty of philosophers not paying attention to Plato and Aristotle. It has the complexity of intellectual thought and represents the time. l Herbert Read in his book The Meaning of Art reinforces this idea. The Renaissance was a time where minds were consumed by intellectual curiosity. 2 Wisped suggests that nearly every Greek philosopher can be found within the painting but determining which are depicted is difficult since Raphael made no designations outside possible likenesses and no anthropometry documents to explain the painting. Raphael had to invent a system of iconography to allude to various figures for whom there were no traditional visual types. The identities of some of the philosophers in the picture such as Plato o r Aristotle are undeniable. Beyond that identification of Repeals figures have always been hypothetical. 3 Jill Grayer states that not a lot of people knew about Greek architecture. 4 She goes on to say that he would not have known these texts Plato and Aristotle. He was only interested in basic knowledge of tradition. He was not a scholar but a painter. There was no evidence that Raphael had a formal education, or knowledge of Plato and Aristotle philosophy. l Although Jill Grayer later mentions that these ideas would have been talked about and debated continuously during the Raphael had moved to Florence in 1504 and then to Rome in about Renaissance. 1508. Both cities were major centers for High Renaissance Art. Other artists who worked in Florence were Botanical and Michelangelo and they all relied heavily on strong draftsmanship. Drawing was the basis of their paintings which is confirmed by present day x- ray bibliographic analysis which shows strong drawing beneath the minted surfaces2 It was said by one of his friends, Elegant states, that it was Repeals greatest Joy to be taught and to teach. 3 With such changes and developments in painting and knowledge being disseminated it is unlikely that Raphael would not have been influenced by these new inventions and new discussions. Giorgio Vassar who was a close friend and contemporary of Raphael claims that he was angel like. Raphael was modest and good. Gentle and always ready to conciliate, he was considerate of everyone. 4 Herman J Heckler introduces Vassar as a man who knew and admired Raphael. He writes with an assurance of a an he knew, respected and loved. 5 Although Elegant states that such a description is disappointing and uninteresting. Vassar describes him like a professor. 6 Artists during the Renaissance were perceived as heroic and were Just as important as statesmen, 7 so Vicars comments were not wrong or made out of context.