The fresco The School of Athens in the Vatican stages a scene with 58 characters, among whom, grouped around the central figures, Plato and Aristole, the ancient world's most famous thinkers can be identfied. Raphael masterfully synthesises the history of thought and human wisdom, not only in the space he creates (a virtual 'temple of philosophy', humanistically speaking), but also in time, lending these ancient philosophers the facial features of some of his most talented contemporaries, including himself, naturally. In any case, above and beyond the variety of at times quite subtle theories as to who is who in the fresco, many of which we shall examine here, the most exciting discovery surely when we grasp the astonishing quality of an undisputed masterpiece; a paean to the virtually 'divine' nature of human thought, retrieved from a mythical past, relaunched and turned into concrete action thanks to the new awareness of the Renaissance man.
