School of Athens and Disputation of the Holy Sacrament
Sanzio, Raffaello (Urbino, 1483- Rome, 1520)
1509-1511. Fresco, 8.2 x 6.4 m.
Painted in the Vatican for Pope Julius II between 1509-1511, The School of Athens and Disputation of the Holy Sacrament are two of Raphael’s largest and most famous works. The frescoes were created as the two main decorations for the Pope’s audience room, the Room of the Signatura. Despite their differences in subject, both frescoes are emblematic of High Renaissance Art in Italy as they include vibrant colors, well defined linear perspective, and classical influences. As the main decorations of a centrally important room in the Vatican both frescoes serve a primarily religious purpose. Disputation of the Holy Sacrament’s affiliation with Catholic values is made easily recognizable through its depiction of Christ in majesty. Although School of Athens may not seem overtly religious, its homage to Classical Greek and Roman philosophers symbolizes the church’s ongoing support of tenets of liberal education. Ultimately, Pope Julius II specifically commissioned the School of Athens and Disputation of the Holy Sacrament as complimentary frescoes in his audience room in order to emphasize the association between the divinity of heaven and the classical liberal education.
The compositional arrangement of the two frescoes provides a contrast between the worldly environment depicted in The School of Athens and the divine imagery portrayed in Disputation of the Holy Sacrament. The School of Athens’s focus on worldly knowledge is made evident in nearly every aspect of the painting. The fresco incorporates Roman barrel vaults which serve as both an homage to classical architecture as well as an architectural frame to the fresco. The inclusion of classical marble statues as well as round relief sculpture in the background further instills a sense of admiration for classical architecture. These architectural aspects of the fresco are important not only in showing respect for the Vitruvian tenets of architecture but also in giving the painting a worldly setting. However, the two horizontal registers created by compositional lines that contain and ground the subjects of the work emphasize how the importance of the Greek and Roman philosophers and orators is limited to the world as none of the subjects affect the highest register of the sky and the heavens. This contrasts with School of Athens complimentary fresco, Disputation of the Holy Sacrament, in which the viewer’s gaze is lead upward to a subject of divine importance, The Holy Trinity, through diagonal compositional lines as well as Augustine who points upward from the center of the fresco (Adams 345). The colors used in the two frescoes further separate the two settings. As previously mentioned, both frescoes incorporate vibrant colors, typical of Renaissance art. However, the difference in color, specifically the use of gold further emphasize the differences between the settings of the two frescoes. The use of gold in Disputation of the Holy Sacrament illustrates the fresco’s depiction of an extra-worldly, divine environment. The use of gold also serves as a reference to Byzantine art where gold was used to “express the status of the official religion and, at the same time, to transfer that status to Christ, the celestial ruler” (Spier 147). In this way, Raphael used gold not only to accentuate the divinity of The Holy Trinity but also to contrast the lack of gold in The School of Athens and to illustrate that the scene, while important, is not divine. Ultimately, Raphael used compositional arrangement and formal elements to separate the heavenly and earthly subjects of the two frescoes.
Despite the key differences in setting, Raphael links the secular imagery of The School of Athens to its purpose in the Vatican through the depiction of books in the two frescos. The use of books, a symbol of knowledge, demonstrates how the implementation of classical forms of education leads to spiritual salvation. During the period in which of the Room of the Signatura, was created, the depiction of non-religious texts in artwork was rare. Pope Julius II specifically suggested the concept behind The School of Athens in order to “reflect the main interest of education” and to have Raphael portray “the most dynamic scene of an educational process ever, adding more emphasis to the value of secular books” (Alkholy 52). In commissioning these frescoes for his audience room, Pope Julius II sought to illustrate how the Church fostered spiritual salvation not only through the teachings of Christ through religious services, but also through the lessons of Classical Greek and Roman philosophers and orators which could be used to improve religious understanding. The desire to show the utility of the liberal education is illustrated in the Disputation of the Holy Sacrament as the main figures either directly reference books or are positioned around them. This emphasis on books is particularly important as the Earthly subjects in Disputation of the Holy Sacrament use a fundamental value of a liberal education, the ability to critically read texts and create arguments in order to enhance their relationships with God. The use of books in the two frescoes allowed Raphael to illustrate how classical education ameliorates religious understanding and piety.
Raphael’s The School of Athens and Disputation of the Holy Sacrament illustrate the Catholic Church’s relationship with liberal education under Pope Julius II. Guests in the Pope’s audience room would be compelled to associate the church with liberal education as the frescoes actively compliment and echo one another. While the religious subjects in Disputation of the Holy Sacrament are given a greater sense of importance than the individual subjects of The School of Athens the juxtaposition of the two frescos and the symbolism of the books in the two works illustrate how liberal education was important in improving religious understanding.
Works Cited
Spier, Jeffrey. Picturing the Bible: The Earliest Christian Art. New Haven: Yale UP, 2007. Print.
Alkholy, Inas. "The Presence of Secular Books in Raphael's Fresco The School of Athens." Comparative Islamic Studies 2.1 (2006): 51-66
Adams, Laurie. Italian Renaissance Art. Boulder, CO: Westview, 2001, Print.