[Why is the Pagan, "The School of Athens" fresco relevant in the Vatican?(part 2)]
In the previous posting, I have introduced some of the reasons why this fresco abundant with the pagan theme was commissioned and accepted by the Vatican. In this posting, I would like to dig a little deeper. At the end of the previous posting, I have posed the question: "What is Plato pointing at?"
Let us examine this.
We can see that Plato is pointing upwards. This gesture of using the index finger may suggest that he is directing the viewer towards something important. This gesture can be seen in the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci. Saint Thomas in "The Last Supper" and the enigmatic figure in what is known as "St. John the Baptist" are making the similar gestures.
Above Plato, there are 3 window like openings, and we can see the sky. Number 3, of course, can suggest the Holy Trinity.
Nevertheless, I feel that there are even more important elements placed beyond these 3 openings at the top of this fresco. I have mentioned before that there are ceiling paintings beyond the fresco walls. There is a tondo fresco directly above "The School of Athens" fresco showing a lady sitting on the throne holding the two books with each titled, "Moralis" and "Naturalis". These two books correspond with the two books, "Timeo/Timaeus" and "Etica/Ethics", held by Plato and Aristotle. ("Moralis" = "Ethics / "Naturalis" = "Timaeus")
She is a personification of Philosophy or Sophia (Wisdom) herself. Behind her, there are some Latin words inscribed on the two panels carried by the children: "CAVSARVM COGNITIO (Causarum Cognitio) / the Knowledge of the Causes
Her golden throne has the two sculptures showing the Goddess Diana with many breasts. Diana is a Roman name for the Greek Goddess Artemis, and she is a virgin moon goddess. Moon "reflects" the sun light as we reflect with our reason.
She is gazing towards her right. Her eyes are looking slightly above. Although there are many fresco panels on the ceiling, she seems to be not looking at any of them.
Because the ceiling is curved, the direction/"path" of her gaze also curves like the bullet trajectory, and it would eventually end at the center of the fresco, "Parnassus." There is Apollo at the upper center of this fresco, and Apollo is a Greco-Roman sun god. He is gazing above as if to meet the gaze of Diana.
Are any of these elements relevant in the Vatican? Considering how Catholic Christians had been zealously destroying the pagan idols since the establishing of the new state religion in the Roman Empire, it may seem quite odd to see this much pagan elements in the center of the Catholic religion.
If you are careful, you can observe an oddity in "The School of Athens".
I would like you to focus onto a man who is sitting in the foreground, the lower left side of the fresco from the viewer, contemplating and holding a pen to write something on the paper. He seems to be isolated from the rest and/or indifferent or oblivious to the others and the events surrounding him. If you pay attention to his feet, you can see that he is wearing the boots. While all the others are either wearing the sandals or being barefooted, this fellow is not. The legend says that the model for this figure is Michelangelo and the person portrayed here is the great Heraclitus.
Heraclitus was from the aristocratic family, and he was a misanthropist. The one who proclaimed that "all things are ever in a state of flux" was also a pessimist. Nevertheless, he was a great philosopher who had discovered the existence of Logos, the organizing principle which brings order to the universe, so to speak. While Thales considered the water as the essential element and Anaximenes, the air, Heraclitus considered the fire as the essence and equated with Logos. This fire seems to be the fire that consumes the universe to destroy it in order to renew it as the Phoenix.
This figure of Heraclitus was not included in the original cartoon of the fresco, and it was later added before the fresco was completed.
It is interesting to note that you can draw a line connecting Heraclitus and Philo-Sophia via Plato's raised right hand.
If you turn to the right corner of the fresco, you can see the young Raphael posed as the legendary Greek painter, Apelles. The Renaissance painters sometimes placed themselves in the paintings as the participant and /or the witness. Apelles was a court painter to both King Philip of Macedon and King Alexander the Great. King Philip was King Alexander's father.
There happens to be a common denominator amongst Heraclitus, Apelles, and the two figures (Goddess Diana x 2) of the throne of Philo-Sophia.
What then, is this common denominator?
(...to be continued...)
In the previous posting, I have introduced some of the reasons why this fresco abundant with the pagan theme was commissioned and accepted by the Vatican. In this posting, I would like to dig a little deeper. At the end of the previous posting, I have posed the question: "What is Plato pointing at?"
Let us examine this.
We can see that Plato is pointing upwards. This gesture of using the index finger may suggest that he is directing the viewer towards something important. This gesture can be seen in the paintings of Leonardo da Vinci. Saint Thomas in "The Last Supper" and the enigmatic figure in what is known as "St. John the Baptist" are making the similar gestures.
Above Plato, there are 3 window like openings, and we can see the sky. Number 3, of course, can suggest the Holy Trinity.
Nevertheless, I feel that there are even more important elements placed beyond these 3 openings at the top of this fresco. I have mentioned before that there are ceiling paintings beyond the fresco walls. There is a tondo fresco directly above "The School of Athens" fresco showing a lady sitting on the throne holding the two books with each titled, "Moralis" and "Naturalis". These two books correspond with the two books, "Timeo/Timaeus" and "Etica/Ethics", held by Plato and Aristotle. ("Moralis" = "Ethics / "Naturalis" = "Timaeus")
She is a personification of Philosophy or Sophia (Wisdom) herself. Behind her, there are some Latin words inscribed on the two panels carried by the children: "CAVSARVM COGNITIO (Causarum Cognitio) / the Knowledge of the Causes
Her golden throne has the two sculptures showing the Goddess Diana with many breasts. Diana is a Roman name for the Greek Goddess Artemis, and she is a virgin moon goddess. Moon "reflects" the sun light as we reflect with our reason.
She is gazing towards her right. Her eyes are looking slightly above. Although there are many fresco panels on the ceiling, she seems to be not looking at any of them.
Because the ceiling is curved, the direction/"path" of her gaze also curves like the bullet trajectory, and it would eventually end at the center of the fresco, "Parnassus." There is Apollo at the upper center of this fresco, and Apollo is a Greco-Roman sun god. He is gazing above as if to meet the gaze of Diana.
Are any of these elements relevant in the Vatican? Considering how Catholic Christians had been zealously destroying the pagan idols since the establishing of the new state religion in the Roman Empire, it may seem quite odd to see this much pagan elements in the center of the Catholic religion.
If you are careful, you can observe an oddity in "The School of Athens".
I would like you to focus onto a man who is sitting in the foreground, the lower left side of the fresco from the viewer, contemplating and holding a pen to write something on the paper. He seems to be isolated from the rest and/or indifferent or oblivious to the others and the events surrounding him. If you pay attention to his feet, you can see that he is wearing the boots. While all the others are either wearing the sandals or being barefooted, this fellow is not. The legend says that the model for this figure is Michelangelo and the person portrayed here is the great Heraclitus.
Heraclitus was from the aristocratic family, and he was a misanthropist. The one who proclaimed that "all things are ever in a state of flux" was also a pessimist. Nevertheless, he was a great philosopher who had discovered the existence of Logos, the organizing principle which brings order to the universe, so to speak. While Thales considered the water as the essential element and Anaximenes, the air, Heraclitus considered the fire as the essence and equated with Logos. This fire seems to be the fire that consumes the universe to destroy it in order to renew it as the Phoenix.
This figure of Heraclitus was not included in the original cartoon of the fresco, and it was later added before the fresco was completed.
It is interesting to note that you can draw a line connecting Heraclitus and Philo-Sophia via Plato's raised right hand.
If you turn to the right corner of the fresco, you can see the young Raphael posed as the legendary Greek painter, Apelles. The Renaissance painters sometimes placed themselves in the paintings as the participant and /or the witness. Apelles was a court painter to both King Philip of Macedon and King Alexander the Great. King Philip was King Alexander's father.
There happens to be a common denominator amongst Heraclitus, Apelles, and the two figures (Goddess Diana x 2) of the throne of Philo-Sophia.
What then, is this common denominator?
(...to be continued...)
You are building our suspense! This made me think of asking you if you've ever painted yourself in to any of your paintings, as the painters of the renaissance times did.
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