Gospel-Infused Philosophy in Raphael’s Papal Palace Frescoes

Philosophy is so frequently dismissed in everyday conversation that it often needs a defense just for being brought up. I’ve been hushed many times in conversations just for suggesting that euphemisms like “your truth”, “live and let live” and “greater good” are the theses of Descartes, or Rousseau, or Kant, or some other Enlightenment philosopher. On occasion, I come across the vestiges of ancient Greek and Roman philosophy, like when someone heralds the importance of virtue or natural law, but these occasions are rare treats. 

Not so in the days of the Italian Renaissance, apparently. Raphael knew the debt Western Civilization owed to the Classical Era philosophers, so much so that he featured them in one of his best-known paintings.

Visit the Papal Palace in Rome and you will find the School of Athens, a fresco by Raphael. It depicts a crowd of philosophers gathered together, with Plato and Aristotle in the center. Each philosopher is demonstrating their most popular ideas in some way. For instance, Ptolemy holds a sphere of the earth since he tried to mathematically explain the movement of planets. Plato is pointing to the sky to symbolize his emphasis on the world of ideals, while Aristotle is walking next to him pointing to the ground to symbolize his belief that our knowledge is based on what we observe with our senses, and nothing more. Plato and Aristotle walking side by side in the fresco clearly indicates the thesis-antithesis dynamics between their philosophies.

Forerunners of Christ?

The fresco is often praised and studied for its rich symbolism. Due to its apparent celebration of Classical Era philosophy, art historian Horst Woldemar Janson called the School of Athens “Raphael’s masterpiece and the perfect embodiment of the classical spirit of the Renaissance”. 

Janson’s thought is a popular one. In fact, we often see the fresco in representations of the Renaissance. The idea that this fresco embodies the Renaissance misses the mark though, because–while the fresco is inspired by Classical Era philosophy–the Greco-Roman worldview was not the only inspiration behind The School of Athens. Anyone who knows Raphael’s work well knows that this fresco is not complete without the Disputation of the Holy Sacrament, the fresco which hangs on the opposite wall in the Papal Palace. 

The Parallels

The parallels between these two paintings are out of this world. In the School of Athens, at the center we see Plato pointing to the sky and Aristotle pointing to the ground, symbolic of the philosophies they taught. In the Disputation of the Holy Sacrament, at the center of the painting, we see the Blessed Sacrament. This is no coincidence. The Eucharist is the wedding of heaven and earth. It’s where Plato’s world of ideals meets Aristotle’s world of material things. It’s where God, who is every ideal, becomes incarnate within his creation. Plato emphasized the importance of heaven, and Aristotle the earth. The two philosophers would be debating each other for all eternity if not for the synthesis of their ideas in the Eucharist.

The parallels continue beyond that, though. Surrounding Plato and Aristotle are the other Classical Era philosophers, as if to suggest that they are all just commentators on Plato’s and Aristotle’s ideas. Likewise, surrounding the Eucharist is a crowd of great saints and theologians, as if to say all their great life works are just footnotes to the miracle of the Eucharist that occurs at every Mass on the altar, where the priest lifts up the Host front and center in the fresco.

A Perfect Union

Allow me to quote the most helpful Khan Academy to drive home my salient point–namely, the parallels between Plato, Aristotle, and the perfect union of their ideas in the Eucharist:

“Plato points up because in his philosophy the changing world that we see around us is just a shadow of a higher, truer reality that is eternal and unchanging (and include things like goodness and beauty). For Plato, this otherworldly reality is the ultimate reality, and the seat of all truth, beauty, justice, and wisdom.

Aristotle holds his hand down, because in his philosophy, the only reality is the one that we can see and experience by sight and touch (exactly the reality dismissed by Plato). Aristotle’s Ethics (the book that he holds) “emphasized the relationships, justice, friendship, and government of the human world and the need to study it.”

From Many, One

The philosophies of Plato and Aristotle are forerunners of the deeper reality that culminates in the gift Christ gave us at the Last Supper. Their real ideal world vs. real world thesis-antithesis represent the courtship of a union that is consummated in the Real Presence. All of this is manifested in the juxtaposition of these two frescoes opposite each other in the Papal Palace.

Countless other philosophies and religions shun either the material world or the spiritual, while embracing the other. The Catholic Faith extols us to wed the two by inviting us into the communion of the material and the spiritual worlds through the Eucharist. Did Raphael know this as he painted these works of art? Of course. His medieval ancestors forgot nothing of the great wisdom of the Classical World.

Raphaelpaintings.org says it well:

The Disputation of the Holy Sacrament represents Christianity’s victory over the multiple philosophical tendencies shown in the School of Athens fresco painted on the opposite wall. Unlike the philosophers of the School of Athens, who are gathered together in a vaulted temple, the theologians of the Disputation make up the Church’s architecture. They form one body, united in an ethereal apse flanking the Trinity and the Eucharist, which when consecrated becomes the body of Christ. 

A Little Philosophy Never Hurt

The sixteenth century is called the Renaissance because many believe the West came alive once again when it reignited its interest in the Classical World, as if over the previous 1,000 years of Christendom we were in some sort of slumber. I believe, by juxtaposing these two frescoes the way he did, Raphael meant to show that Christianity did not put Western Civilization asleep. The Faith led to the culmination and fulfillment, not the demise, of all the great ideas that came from the Classical World. This idea, of course, is not a new one. It may even be shared by any art historian who gives a tour of the Papal Palace. It’s just one of the many great ideas from our Christian past that seem to be forgotten by many.

Perhaps we need a setting like the Papal Palace to bring the relevance of philosophy to light. I would imagine discussions sparked by such paintings used to fill the town squares much like talk of the most recent hit movie fill our social media pages today. Whatever the milieu of Raphael’s time may have been, it’s about time we tried to build a culture that got back to it; that got back to creating art that sparked truly important conversations. It’s about time for our media to insinuate discussions about the nature of God and humanity, rather than divide us by political party, religion, and ethnicity. 

United in Christ

Jesus prayed that we may all be in one in him (John 17:21). It is through the Eucharist and Communion that we achieve this oneness. This was not just Jesus’ prayer, though. It was the desire of greatly talented artists like Raphael as well.

I see in these two beautiful frescoes his desire for the secular world and Christian world to be united in Christ, through Christ. Raphael was ushering the great ideas of one era into the era of the Church and the greatest story ever told. Let’s not be bashful in sharing the ideas that can lead so marvelously to Christ, like Raphael did, even if it does mean dangling our feet in Classical Era philosophy a little.