At that time, Raphael, like Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, loved art and culture under the majesty of Pope Julius II, but the gentle Raphael and Julius II got along well. Later, Giovanni di Lorenzo de' Medici liked Raphael best. He is a young man that everyone loves.
When Raphael was 25 years old, Pope Julius II invited the best painters, sculptors and architects to Rome to serve him in order to praise himself. At that time, Michelangelo was painting the zenith of Xixinting Church for him.
Raphael in Florence received an imperial edict from Rome: the Pope hopes to see Raphael in the Vatican as soon as possible so that he can beautify Rome with the best artists in Rome and Italy. Soon, the Vatican painters were told that all the painters except Raphael and Michelangelo were rejected. The Pope thinks that Rome only needs these two masters.
Raphael began his masterpiece in the signature hall of Vatican Palace.
What should be painted in this solemn place? After exchanging views with the Pope and scholars for a long time, Raphael decided to paint based on the poems of the poet Della Sinyadur, praising theology, philosophy, poetry and law.
Raphael painted four murals on four walls: the sacrament debate in theology, the Athens Academy in philosophy, Mount Panabas in poetry and the three virtues in law.
The outstanding Raphael brought together famous philosophers and thinkers from Greece, Rome, Sparta and Italy and skillfully organized them in the grand three-story arch hall. He gathered all these people in different periods in one space, and gathered more than 50 philosophers, artists and scientists to have a free and enthusiastic academic discussion, which showed his profound belief in the harmony and praise of human wisdom.
Raphael skillfully drew different characters in the most understandable way according to their personal ideological characteristics. The picture composition is grand, and the visual center figures are ancient Greek philosophers Plato and Aristotle. More than 50 scholars and celebrities have been drawn around these two great philosophers, each with his own identity and personality characteristics. They represent the seven liberal arts of ancient civilization: grammar, rhetoric, logic, mathematics, geometry, music and astronomy. The painter praised human's pursuit of wisdom and truth, as well as his praise of past civilization and his yearning for future development.
Appreciating this painting is like entering the profound ideological world of human civilization, which began with the debate between Plato and his disciple Aristotle. The two men came from distant history and argued fiercely while walking. The opposing posture from top to bottom clearly expresses their differences in principle: Plato's idealism and Aristotle's materialism.
On the other hand, the characters on both sides are on both sides, and their expressions are moving closer to the two arguing scholars. Some of them pay attention to listening, and some use gestures to express their views, which strengthens the center of the picture.
The young man in white with his arms crossed on the left is Alexander, King of Macedonia, Greece. Turning left in a green robe refers to Socrates, an idealist philosopher. The half-naked old man lying on the steps is Diogenes, an ancient Greek cynic philosopher.
The characters of the lower class are divided into two groups, historical celebrities and realistic figures at that time. In the left group, the old man standing and looking to the left is the famous Arab scholar Aviloy, the bald old man squatting in front of him reading a book is the famous ancient Greek philosopher Pythagoras, and the boy in white behind him is the nephew of the Pope at that time and the famous art lover Duke Ullbin Noel.
The main figure in the group on the right is Archimedes, a famous scientist in ancient Greece, who is bending over to solve geometric problems with four young people. On the right is the astronomer Ptolemy and some other figures.
The whole mural is permeated with strong academic research and free debate. All people are so free to act according to their own will and personality and enjoy full freedom. The activities and trends of various figures are unified in a lofty theme of free debate for exploring scientific truth.
In the painting, Raphael not only shaped the typical images of those thinkers, revealed their different personality characteristics and rich mental outlook, but also skillfully used the characteristics of architecture in composition, connecting the perspective of the background building in the picture with the semi-circular arch of the real building in front, expanding the spatial effect of murals and making the building look more spacious and magnificent.
If Michelangelo's murals praise people's infinite will and creativity. Then, Raphael's Academy of Athens is singing an attractive hymn of consciousness and sobriety.