Dimensions
159 x 217 x 14mm
The fresco The School of Athens in the Vatican stages a scene with 58 characters, among whom, grouped around the central figures, Plato and Aristotle, the ancient world's most famous thinkers can be identified. 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. AUTHOR: Marco Carminati graduated with a degree in Medieval and Modern Art History at the Università Cattolica in Milan in 1986. A professional journalist, since 1990 he has been head of the art, architecture and cultural heritage section of the 'Domenicale', the Sole 24 ORE's Sunday cultural supplement. He has written monographs on Italian Renaissance painters (Piero della Francesca, Cesare da Sesto, the illuminator Master BF), and on Leonardo Da Vinci's Mona Lisa. He recently published Il Davide in Carrozza (Milan, 2009); the first history of the fantastic adventures of works of art while being transported. SELLING POINTS: ? The Art Mysteries series examines several highly regarded masterpieces in an attempt to unravel the mysteries that surround them. Edited by Marco Carminati and Stefano Zuffi, they present an up-to-date and spectacular reading of famous paintings, investigating key clues to previously unknown background information. ILLUSTRATIONS: 22 colour
