New identifications in Raphael's 'School of Athens.'

In the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican, Raphael's School of Athens (1509-12) has long been admired as a monument to Italian Neoplatonism.(1) However, over the centuries it has posed many problems to the iconographer (Fig. 1). Beginning with Giorgio Vasari in the mid-sixteenth century, commentators have suggested that nearly every Greek philosopher and ancient scientist can be found here.(2) Yet the problem of who exactly is depicted in this grand work is compounded by the fact that Raphael did not leave any personal notes on his program, and there is no contemporary documentation to clarify the question. Nor was there any established artistic convention, either real or imaginary, in the early sixteenth century for representing these ancient philosophers. Out of necessity, therefore, Raphael virtually had to invent a completely new iconographic system for the figures he thought the most important.(3)

Art historians are in agreement that Raphael was given some kind of programmatic outline by others (no one knows precisely by whom), and with their help he examined all the pertinent sources in ancient art and literature.(4) Yet archaeological studies as we define them were still in an embryonic stage during the early years of the sixteenth century. Even the correct identifications of ancient Greek busts, which would have provided potentially ideal sources for Raphael's philosophers, were few in number, and the busts available were mostly broken and had been found without inscriptions.

Although one may presume that Raphael had seen the remnants of Greek portrait busts in Florence and Rome and that these added to his invention of the "philosopher-type" to some degree, the surprising fact is that such fragments were not investigated until 1570, when Fulvio Orsini, librarian to the Farnese, first published his rather crude findings.(5) Given this state of affairs during the years 1509-12, Raphael and his advisers could not have based the identification of any philosopher in the School of Athens solely upon the archaeological evidence.

In order to depict these historical personages as accurately as possible, Raphael and his advisers would have been forced to go in another direction: to the works of the classical authors. In addition to the well-known writings of Plato, Aristotle, and Plutarch, De vitae et moribus philosophorum of Diogenes Laertius was evidently studied with great enthusiasm.(6) The Vitae of Laertius was a biographical work then only recently translated from the Greek. Although it did not offer useful physical descriptions, it did provide a few details and anecdotes from the lives of the ancient philosophers. Chiefly from ancient sources such as Laertius, I believe that Raphael began to construct iconographic motifs for the celebrated Greeks of the School of Athens.(7)

Not every figure in this work is worthy of speculation, but it seems that the men whom Raphael clearly intended his audience to recognize are linked to specific iconography. These form the most reliable identifications: Plato and Aristotle indisputably are here, each holding a titled work; Pythagoras is in the lower left studying his tablet of harmonic proportions; Euclid is in the lower right area with his compass; near him, Ptolemy wears his crown and holds a terrestrial globe; and Zoroaster holds his starry globe. Of the important philosophers, only the alleged identification of Socrates is based upon archaeological evidence - and such an exception should raise questions.(8)

The attempts to identify Socrates in the School of Athens begin with Giovanni Bellori. In his Descrizzione of 1695, Socrates is the "bald" and Silenus-like "snub-nosed" philosopher seen in the middle of the group to the left of Plato; he is speaking in profile to the man in armor [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 2 OMITTED].(9) As there are many philosophers in this painting who are bald, the weight of Bellori's identification actually falls upon the so-called snub nose. Notwithstanding a hypothetical bust of Socrates (ca. 1512), this identification seems highly questionable for at least two reasons. First, even if Raphael were following the literary sources for Socrates' "Silenus characteristics," these are not seen clearly here, nor, for that matter, are they seen on any other figure in the School of Athens. Second, there are no attributes or other symbolic material to confirm Bellori's identification. In spite of these serious deficiencies, historians still insist that this is Socrates because he appears to bear a slight resemblance to the Silenus-type bust.(10)

Certainly the great Socrates, whose reputation was outstripped only by Plato and Aristotle, must be depicted somewhere in the School of Athens. But once the pre-1512 "archaeological evidence" has been dismissed, all past theories seem groundless. Indeed, why would Socrates be positioned far off to the left, almost lost in a crowd? Why would he be depicted, unlike Plato and Aristotle, without any iconography, simply wearing a tunic and counting on his fingers to a man in armor?

If this figure is not Socrates, who is he? Perhaps a plausible identification of the military figure would help to identify the philosopher in profile. There are three possibilities from Greek history. Alexander the Great has been suggested, but as Raphael and his consultants would have known from Laertius and Plutarch, Socrates never met Alexander.(11) Furthermore, Alexander's favorite philosopher was Aristotle, obviously elsewhere in the composition.

The second and most common hypothesis is Alcibiades, an Athenian aristocrat known for his personal beauty, reckless military leadership, and a deservedly unethical reputation.(12) Alcibiades was said to have been a friend of Socrates, but all in all he was not a very virtuous man, and as such he does not belong in this morally edifying program.(13)

The third possibility offers a completely new hypothesis: the military figure is probably Pericles. Although he is remembered chiefly as the greatest of Athenian statesmen, ancient literature usually describes him as wearing armor, especially a helmet, supposedly to hide his misshapen head.(14) Many philosophers are mentioned as his teachers, but foremost among them was the philosopher-astronomer Anaxagoras, who is credited with perfecting Pericles' skills as an orator.(15)

Little has survived of Anaxagoras's philosophy, but one of his main theories concerned the ordering of the universe into differentiated levels of organic and inorganic matter. These levels in turn were infinitely divisible by the universal "Mind."(16) In spite of the fact that the philosopher in profile has always been identified as Socrates, if the identification of Pericles is correct, the systemic teachings of Anaxagoras better explain the gesture of a philosopher counting on his fingers to a man in armor - his most important student, the brilliant Pericles.

If Bellori's identification of Socrates is wrong, where should we look for him? Returning to the center of the composition, we notice a figure who lies at the feet of Plato and Aristotle in quiet isolation; here, I propose, is Socrates [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 3 OMITTED]. Compared to most of Raphael's figures (such as Plato and Aristotle), who are rather richly dressed, this man, with his simple, bare-shouldered himation, gives the impression of far more modest tastes. He also seems to have come from an earlier era. These features accurately describe Socrates.

Although this central figure is also depicted without the Silenus characteristics, he generally conforms to Raphael's practice of idealizing from ancient sources: Socrates was a robust and dignified man, even in old age, and his dress was unusually simple; he often went barefoot and he lacked a decent cloak, although he would wear the best he owned for a symposium.(17) Perhaps his reputed indifference to a proper cloak can be seen in his casual attitude, as he lets the garment fall from his shoulders and rests on it with his elbow.

To complicate matters, however, since Vasari's time this figure on the steps has been identified repeatedly as Diogenes the Cynic, a figure of some importance though clearly of the second rank. Unfortunately, Vasari was not always a reliable source for ancient iconography, and his identification here seems to have been made solely on the presence of a cup, seen just to the left of the figure.(18) It is true that Laertius briefly mentions the bowl and cup of Diogenes, but only as objects that he threw away.(19) A cup has a much more significant role in Plato's account of the death of Socrates. He tells us that after an absurdly unjust trial, a kylix of hemlock was forced upon Socrates for teaching young Athenians - as Christ would later teach the Hebrews - to think for themselves and to question the old religious order.(20)

On the other side of this central philosopher are two well-dressed young men who thus far have eluded a convincing identification.(21) These figures can now be identified as Socrates' famous students Crito and Apollodorus, who, according to Plato, were at his bedside reacting with shock and disbelief to the impending death of their teacher. One is flinging his hands toward the reclining philosopher while the other turns and points toward Plato and Aristotle, as if looking for an explanation. If the figure on the steps were Diogenes, the gestures of these two nearby figures would have very little narrative meaning.

On the other hand, if they are seen as Crito and Apollodorus, the death of Socrates convincingly accounts for their presence and attitudes. Their positions also tend to create directional signals that seem to unite the isolated, reclining figure with Plato and Aristotle. This is appropriate in the case of Socrates, since it was chiefly through the works of Plato that we know of Socrates' philosophy, and Aristotle is depicted here with a particular concern for ethics.(22)

The folded papers held by the central philosopher could be interpreted as references to Socrates' translations of Aesop's fables and the Hymn to Apollo, which, according to the ancient sources, were all penned in prison at the direction of a dream sent by Apollo.(23) These works did not survive in titled form (nor does any other work of Socrates), and the philosopher on the steps reads from an untitled work. Furthermore, his reclining posture can be seen as a reminder that Socrates continued to write and discourse with his followers even though he was confined to his prison bed. I believe that all of these elements point overwhelmingly to Socrates, not Diogenes.

The new identification of Socrates proposed here places the three most important Greek philosophers in the center of the School of Athens, where they are depicted without any intervening figures between them. This seems to echo the vision of Dante, whose Divine Comedy Raphael admired. Dante tells us that among the "Virtuous Pagans," Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates are seen together, yet apart from the other philosophers in the Citadel of Reason.(24)

This identification is further supported by a few relatively minor details. Before the figure of Heraclitus was added (he is seen sitting in the foreground, his elbow leaning on a stone block), the figure whom I identify as Socrates would have been virtually the only philosopher in the lower center of Raphael's fresco, and his placement would have been even more conspicuous and important.(25) Yet even with the figure of Heraclitus, the reclining man still manages to become the center of a wheel from which all the other philosophers seem to radiate. In other words, modern philosophy begins with, and is based upon, the teachings of Socrates.

The evidence is clear that Raphael decided to add the figure of Heraclitus sometime after he had completed the fresco.(26) Many historians believe that it was his intent to model the philosopher on Michelangelo in a typically "Socratic" mood.(27) Indeed, it does seem to reflect the marked introspection of the new - not the old - Socrates figure. If Michelangelo were called "Socratic" by his contemporaries, this comparison tends to strengthen the identification of the Michelangelo portrait, which is not universally accepted.

Iconographers such as Andor Pigler have documented the Death of Socrates as a subject roughly from the mid-sixteenth to the mid-nineteenth centuries.(28) There have been brief discussions on the evolution of its iconography in postclassical painting, but there has been no attempt to trace this theme to a prototype. If Raphael's central figures are correctly identified as Socrates, Crito, and Apollodorus, it seems that credit should now be given to him for the oldest surviving example of the scene. Based on the central portion of the School of Athens, the standard iconography for the Death of Socrates was established for the next three hundred years: the old philosopher, either sitting or reclining, his poetry, his cup, and his distraught students.

If this philosopher on the steps is Socrates, where is Diogenes the Cynic? According to all the ancient sources, he was a rather frightening sight on the streets of Athens. He looked and lived like a beggar, yet he was allowed to denounce whomever and whatever he pleased.

Unfortunately, there is no attribute unique to Diogenes (such as a lantern or a barrel) in the School of Athens that would confirm his identification here.(29) But I propose the somewhat isolated figure on the far right who stands under the statue of Athena (Fig. 4). No other philosopher seems so unkempt and disheveled, almost shunned by his fellow Athenians.(30) Furthermore, it would be appropriate to portray Diogenes as a very old man, dressed in only a simple red-brown cloak, which, according to Laertius, he wore everywhere. He was even wrapped in it when he was found dead at the age of ninety.(31)

It has also been said that Diogenes' style of teaching was a rough caricature of the style of Socrates, and for this reason his arch-rival Plato once called him the "mad Socrates."(32) Consequently, it would make more sense to find Diogenes far away from Plato, rather than at his feet in the center of the composition. This ironic connection between Diogenes and Socrates may help to explain why the former seems to look at the reclining figure on the steps and away from the scientists and mathematicians in front of him; they were people he considered "useless and unnecessary."(33) Diogenes may have written some dialogues and tragedies, but nothing has survived. In any event, this figure is depicted without books or paper.(34)

An additional observation can be made in support of this new identification of Socrates. In the mid-nineteenth century, Johann David Passavant proposed that the School of Athens depicted the chronological order in the "development of ancient philosophy." Moving from foreground to background and from left to right, he tried to identify virtually every figure. There may be some truth to his chronological theory, despite a number of incorrect identifications.(35) If Raphael indeed followed this format, it would make more sense to find the late fifth-century Socrates on a middle level, between Heraclitus (active ca. 500 B.C.) and those celebrated men of the fourth and third centuries, men such as Pericles, Anaxagoras, Diogenes, Plato, and Aristotle.

This chronological pattern should also help to conclude the debate concerning the identity of the man in front of Raphael's self-portrait on the extreme right. The logical answer is Perugino, Raphael's older friend and teacher, not his relatively unimportant contemporary Sodoma.(36)

With Socrates correctly identified, another idea pertaining to sixteenth-century Italian humanism remains to be explored. Why did Raphael and his advisers choose to portray this great philosopher within the context of his "suicide"? One could suggest that his death was simply the most dramatic moment of his biography. Yet the inclusion of this scene in the School of Athens also points to a rather daring aspect of Neoplatonic thinking: Socrates was an important precursor of Christ.(37) Their teaching styles, lives, and deaths contain so many similarities that to some humanists, Socrates' final act of self-sacrifice was repeated in Christ's own self-sacrifice under an equally unjust legal system. Interestingly, Gemisthus Pletho suggested that one example of their shared iconography was the cup, the vessel of Christ's sacramental presence in the Mass.(38) Raphael's prominent depiction of the death of Socrates and the inclusion of the cup as the attribute of his death distinguish the philosopher, perhaps for the first time in the history of art, as the unique prefiguration of Christ alluded to by some of the Neoplatonists.(39)

This relationship becomes clearer when we see that Socrates is one of the most important iconographic links uniting, in one room, the philosophy of the ancient Greeks with the theology of the Christian world. On the wall opposite the School of Athens is Raphael's Disputation of the Holy Sacrament (ca. 1508-9) [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 5 OMITTED]. It has been suggested that there is a programmatic link between these two works, and indeed, both seem to share a theme: the source of all knowledge lies with the divine.(40) Some humanists further proposed that divine wisdom had been available to mankind in pre-Christian times, although imperfectly. In that era, as well as in the Christian epoch, true wisdom could be earned along the twin paths of learning and suffering.

In the Disputation, this wisdom was shown to be achieved through the study of theology and by participating in Christ's sacrifice as it is embodied in the Eucharist. In the School of Athens, spiritual illumination is reached through the study of philosophy and science, coupled with a personal sense of altruism. And one of the most extreme examples of selfless altruism in the ancient world is the tragic death of Socrates.(41) In view of the fact that the monstrance in the Disputation and the cup of the School of Athens align so well, both in symbol and idea, it seems likely that Raphael and his consultants designed both compositions concurrently.(42)

The special link between Socrates and Christ is seen as one enters the Stanza della Segnatura. Its ceiling decorations of allegories and emblems indicate that the source of all earthly knowledge is the divine.(43) The first wall fresco to be encountered by the visitor is the Disputation. With the use of applied gold, punctuated by many small holes which spread the natural light across the top section, a heavenly illumination falls upon the images of the Trinity. Saints and figures from the Old and New Testaments take their places on either side of Christ, who displays his sacred wounds. Directly under him is an altar with the monstrance bearing the Eucharist. Further embellishing the monstrance as a symbol of sacrifice, Raphael embosses the Eucharist with a depiction of the crucified Christ, and the stem of the monstrance is painted with a cross draped in cloth, signifying mourning for the death of Jesus.(44) All of these elements are seen in a strict alignment in the center of the fresco. Disposed evenly on either side of the altar are Church fathers and other religious figures (including Dante). The altar rests upon white marble steps placed in the middle of an open space.

As one turns to the School of Athens on the opposite wall, the eye is again drawn to the ceiling decorations. The sections of blue sky below, the statues of ancient gods and classical allegories, hint at the divine presence beyond. Plato makes this clear as he points heavenward, revealing that the source of all knowledge is the spirit of God.

Beginning with Plato and Aristotle, the great philosophers of ancient Athens and their followers are ranged along the lower portions of the composition. As in the Disputation, many figures are depicted interacting in lively groupings, which are generally balanced on either side of an open space. Occupying the near center of this area, reclining on the white marble steps, is the figure of Socrates with his chalicelike cup of hemlock. In light of this new identification, both frescoes can be seen as reflections of the human longing for spiritual perfection, centered on examples of earthly suffering and redemption - the symbols of self-sacrifice.

I would like to thank my friend Professor Robert Enggass, as well as Professors Frances Van Keuren, Andrew Ladis, Timothy Gantz, and Joseph Berrigan, all of the University of Georgia, for their assistance in the preparation of this manuscript.

1. The accepted dates for Raphael's fresco are generally 1509-11. On stylistic grounds, 1511-12 has also been proposed. Unfortunately, there is no external evidence to elucidate the question. For further information, see Gould, 176-78.

2. From Vasari's Lives (1550) to Oberhuber's Polaritat und Synthese (1983), dozens of scholars have tried to identify Raphael's major philosophers, but no one has given a completely satisfactory account. For Vasari's identifications, see Giorgio Vasari, Lives of the Most Eminent Painters, Sculptors and Architects, trans. Gaston du C. de Vere, intro. Kenneth Clark, 3 vols., rev. ed., New York, 1979, III, 885-87. See also Oberhuber, 36ff; Gombrich, 85-86; and Passavant, 89-99.

3. According to the standard works of references, there were virtually no Greek portraits in statues, busts, carved gems, or coins which can be identified as sources in European art before or during 1509-12; see A. Pigler, Barockthemen, 3 vols., Budapest, 1974; Raimond Van Marie, The Development of the Italian Schools of Painting, 19 vols., The Hague, 1925-38, VI, 147; the Index Iconologicus, microfiche, 1980, to Bartsch; Richter, 23-30; and Guy de Tervarent, Attributs et symboles dans l'art profane, 1450-1600, Geneva, 1958. The very few examples of fanciful Greek "portraits" which existed in earlier Renaissance art would have been of no use to Raphael, and there is little evidence of such sources anywhere in the School of Athens; see "Plato" and "Aristotle," workshop of Andrea Orcagna, Van Marie (as in n. 3), v, 203-7. For minor sources of iconographic influence, see Perugino's frescoes of the Virtues in the Cambio, Perugia (1500-1507), where the name of Socrates is inscribed under an "Oriental" figure holding a book. See also Gombrich, 87-88, pl. 80a, for Pinturicchio's Liberal Arts cycle in the Borgia apartments, the Vatican (1492-95). Rather surprisingly, Konrad Oberhuber, "Raphael and Pinturicchio," Studies in the History of Art, XVII, 1985, 167, sees no influence of Pinturicchio in Raphael's work in the Stanza.

4. The Stanza della Segnatura was probably a library during the pontificate of Julius II (1503-13). A prominent reliance on literary sources would have been a natural consideration in a decorative program for a room dedicated to books. In fact, books and acts of writing and teaching are seen in nearly all of the frescoes in the Stanza. Julius himself had amassed an impressive library, although he is not remembered as a scholar. See John Shearman, "The Vatican Stanze: Function and Decorations," Proceedings of the British Academy, LVII, 1971, 377-78.

5. Fulvius Ursinus (Fulvio Orsini), Imagines et elogia virorum illustrium et eruditor ex antiquis lapidibus et nomismatib[us] expressa cum annotationie ex bibliotheca Fulvi Ursini, Rome, 1570 (microfilm, n.d.). Sixty years after Raphael's work in the Stanza, busts of Socrates (51), Plato (53), and Aristotle (57) are identified here, but none bears a convincing likeness to any of Raphael's corresponding portraits. The complete lack of reliable Greek portraits during the Renaissance period is reported not only by Richter, 23-30, but also by Christian Huelsen, "Die Hermeninschriften beruhmter Griechen und die ikonographischen Sammlungen des 16. Jahrhunderts," in Griechische Portrats, ed. K. Fittschen, Darmstadt, 1988, 117-40. What Raphael may have known of Greek busts before 1509-12; what he may have seen from undocumented access to private collections in Florence and Rome; in what condition these works may have been (nearly all the noses were broken); and what were their early identifications are questions that can never be answered with any certainty.

6. Every ancient source cited in this article was available to early Italian humanists in either Italian, Latin, or Greek editions. Passavant (90ff) may have been the first to point out that Diogenis Laertii de vite . . . (ca. A.D. 2d or 3d centuries) was probably Raphael's primary literary source. This work was available in at least three new Latin translations and one Italian edition by the late 15th century; see Diog. Laert., xxxii-xxxiii. It is conceivable that Raphael himself read some of the Italian translations of these works in preparation for the School of Athens.

7. Could there be a "portrait" of Laertius in the School of Athens? Is he the middle-aged man on the extreme left? Probably not. Yet the placement and attitude of this figure mark him as important in Raphael's mind; perhaps he is Marsilio Ficino (1433-1499). (His Renaissance dress and cap could be vital clues. The only other example here of the use of contemporary clothing helps to identify a portrait of Michelangelo as Heraclitus.) Ficino was greatly admired by the Italian humanists as a teacher and translator of the Greek classics, especially Plato, and he could logically be identified as introducing the scene of philosophers. The nearly nude figure accompanying him may be the "Spirit of History," who almost floats into the picture with scrolls and old books. Jones and Penny (77) refer to these figures incomprehensibly as a "skinny librarian who has ushered in a muscular slave laden with the literary authorities of the sort the Socratic method has no need of." There was no particular iconography for Ficino, but there were many generalized portraits of him on Florentine medals and in illuminated manuscripts and paintings that Raphael could have seen. These vaguely resemble the figure on the extreme left. For more information on the achievements, personality, and portraits of Ficino, see Paul Kristeller, Marsilio Ficino and His Work after Five Hundred Years, Florence, 1987, 1-16, pls. 1-19.

8. As Giovanni Becatti in Complete Work, 491-568, has repeatedly demonstrated, nearly all of Raphael's classical allusions in the School of Athens, whether to ancient architecture, sculpture, or "portraits," were "idealized and generic and had no precise references to classical iconography." In spite of this statement, Becatti repeats Bellori's identification of Socrates (see n. 9 below), although he admits that it must "pre-suppose ancient documentation" (521). However, as there was no "ancient documentation," it follows that even if Raphael had used a bust for this figure - a bust which today is identified as Socrates - it would have been coincidental during the years 1509-12. Sometimes defenders of the traditional identification of Socrates attempt to support it by forcing a rather selective reading of certain ancient descriptions (see n. 9 below) upon this figure in profile.

9. "Dietro gl'uditori di Platone evvi Socrate rivolto ad Alcibiade, che gli sta incontro, l'uno, e l'altro di veduta in profilo. Calvo e Socrate, e simo, come si descrive, e viene effigiato"; Bellori, 20. In addition to the work of Orsini, with which Bellori may have been familiar, he may have been referring to literary descriptions, which gave Socrates the characteristics of Silenus: "as ugly as a Satyr, with bulging eyes, wide open nostrils, a large mouth, thick lips and a pot-belly"; see Xenophon (Sym. 2, 19ff) and Plato (Sym. 215b ff). For further ancient sources, see Richter, 198-99.

10. For ancient examples, see Richter, figs. 160-65. Whether or not the man identified by Bellori as Socrates does indeed have a grotesquely short nose is a matter of opinion. Other than baldness, which was commonly incorporated into Raphael's "philosopher type," he certainly has none of the other characteristics (see n. 9 above), and given a choice, Raphael presumably would not have wanted to include them in his idealized depiction of ancient Athens. For a good reproduction of this detail from the painting, see Pierluigi de Vecchi et al., L'opera completa di Raffaello, Milan, 1966, pl. XXIV. For a reproduction of the detail from the Ambrosiana cartoon, see Joannides (endpapers).

11. Socrates (ca. 470-400 B.C.) died well before the birth of Alexander (ca. 356-323). Yet Alexander as the identity of this figure has been suggested at least as early as E. Camesasca and D. Redig de Campos, Tutta la pittura di Raffaello, Milan, 1956, II, 37, and maintained by more recent scholarship, e.g.: Herbert von Einem, Das Program der Stanze della Segnatura im Vatikan, Dusseldorf, 1971, 28; and Wilhelm Kelber, Raphael von Urbino: Leben und Werk, Stuttgart, 1979, 464, fig. 9.

12. Alcibiades was first suggested by Bellori (20) and repeated by Passavant (93) and others. But Bellori's identification seems to rely first upon his identification of Socrates. All subsequent identifications of this figure have been either as Alcibiades or as Alexander. Alcibiades again is suggested by Oberhuber (29ff, fig. 38); and Jones and Penny (77).

13. Plutarch (Alcib. 6.2; 8.3-4) accused him of "lawless self-indulgence" and "wanton ways." Alcibiades also gave false testimony at the famous herm-desecration trial (Alcib. 21.1-4). He was eventually welcomed back to Athens, although he had repeatedly betrayed Athenian causes (Alcib. 22.1 ff). Plato (Sym. 212d-214a ff) described him as a rude, drunk, and jealous guest. Alcibiades' attire was generally described as effeminate and pretentious; e.g., Plutarch (Alcib. 16.1-2) states that he trailed a long purple robe in public and that he possessed a golden shield with an image of Eros on it, armed with a thunderbolt. Nothing of Alcibiades' well-known and distinctive iconography can be seen in connection with this figure.

14. Plutarch (Per. 3.2) states that Pericles had a "squill-shaped head, for which artists almost always represent him as wearing a helmet"; and "Pericles was such a great speaker, statesman and general [my emphasis], that his surname was Olympian" (Per. 8.2). As a general, Pericles had a long and illustrious career (Per. 7.1ff). Plutarch (Per. 31.4) and Dio Chrysostomos (Orat. 12.6) also state that he could be seen on the shield of Athena Parthenos, fighting the Amazons in full armor. There are ancient portrait busts of Pericles with a helmet and fragmentary evidence of the shield of Athena Parthenos, but these were excavated and identified long after the era of Raphael; see Richter, figs. 136-37.

15. Plato (Phdr. 269a-270a) and Plutarch (Per. 4.4; 5. 1 ff) place a great deal of emphasis on Pericles' "debt to Anaxagoras." Pericles also defended Anaxagoras at his impiety trial and later helped him to escape (Diog. Laert. 2.12-14). Could Anaxagoras' tunic be an allusion to his Ionian, or, according to the last citation from Laertius, possibly Persian origins?

16. "He was the first who set mind above matter. . . . All things were together; then came Mind (Nous) and set them in order. He was eminent for wealth and noble birth, and furthermore for magnanimity" (Diog. Laert. 2.6-7). The gesture of "counting" on his fingers could have been borrowed from Pinturicchio's Dispute of Saint Catherine (Borgia apartments), but there is also a legend that Anaxagoras believed in palmistry, which includes the areas of the backs of the fingers. The back of the index finger, which appears to be used here by Anaxagoras, is said to be governed by Jupiter. It pertains to philosophy, religion, and matters of the spirit. If such studies were known to Raphael or his advisers, one could also interpret Anaxagoras' gestures as an allusion to palmistry, which, like astrology and the so-called occult sciences, were new areas of intellectual interest among a few of the humanists during the late Renaissance. For Anaxagoras and palmistry, see Charles Gattey, Visionaries and Seers, Bridport, England, 1988, 189.

17. See, e.g., Diog. Laert. 2.24, 28; and Plato, Sym. 174b, 219b ff. There is a preparatory drawing of this figure (ca. 1509-10, Frankfurt, Stadelsches Institut) which shows that a young man posed for it; see Joannides (74, [ILLUSTRATION FOR FIGURE 21 OMITTED]). In another sketch, the Ambrosiana drawing (ca. 1510), Raphael aged the figure and drew an older "portrait" of a philosopher on its shoulders; see Joannides (endpapers).

18. "In this work are depicted all the sages of the world . . . among them is Diogenes with his cup, lying on the steps, lost in thought"; Vasari (as in n. 2) 885-87. However, Vasari was wrong about many identifications, including those of at least two of the philosophers in the foreground as Evangelists assisted by angels (886).

19. Diog. Laert. (6.37) states that they were eventually thrown away as superfluous by this rigorously antimaterialistic philosopher. In any event, a cup or bowl as a symbol for Diogenes is a very minor attribute, and neither appears in either ancient or postclassical art with any certainty until Nicolas Poussin's Landscape with Diogenes, ca. 1648 (Louvre); see Christopher Wright, Poussin Paintings: A Catalogue Raisonne, New York/London, 1984, pl. 84.

20. The best source for information on the scene of the death of Socrates is the last chapter of the Phaedo. In it, Plato describes the cup as a kylix (117b), which has a foot and handles. It was given to Socrates by prison officials, and he drank from it without emotion (117a-c). Could Raphael's cup be the sacred marble kylix which was sent from Delos, the birthplace of Phoebus Apollo (58a-d), for the execution of Socrates? Given the dubious nature of Greek translations in the Renaissance, as well as the scarcity and poor understanding of ancient examples of pottery ca. 1500, it is impossible to be certain what model Raphael had in mind.

21. See Phd. 115b-118a. Jones and Penny (80) cautiously suggest that "the elegant youths on the steps . . . might be Epicurus and Aristippus."

22. Both Plato and, to a lesser extent, Aristotle were influenced by Socrates. The titled works held by Plato and Aristotle have seldom elicited comment, but they could be interpreted as links to the philosophy of Socrates. For instance, Socrates is the most distinguished speaker in the Timaeus (17b-c), and he sets the agenda for its dialogue. It is not clear whether Aristotle is intended to hold the Nicomachean or the less important Eudemian Ethics, but Socrates is cited more than once in the former (Nico. Eth. 3.8.6ff) as a man of courageous moral character; the moral and legal dilemmas of suicide are also discussed (Nico. Eth. 5.11.1ff). Incidentally, Diogenes is not mentioned in either Plato's Timaeus or Aristotle's Ethics.

23. See Phd. 60c-61b; and Diog. Laert. 2.42. One should also remember that Apollo and Apollo Helios were favorite Neoplatonic symbols for Christ. See also n. 20 above.

24. Inf. 4.131-38; Dante Alighieri, The Inferno, trans. J. Ciardi, New Brunswick, N.J., 1954, 49-54.

25. Perhaps on the basis of his reading of Laertius, Passavant (91-92) seems to have been the first to identify Heraclitus, and he is probably correct. According to the ancient sources (e.g., Diog. Laert. 9.1ff), Heraclitus was a lonely and pessimistic philosopher who sometimes wrote philosophical truths in the form of fables. Descriptions such as these, along with the contemporary clothing, point to a "portrait" here of Michelangelo (who also had aspirations to be a writer); see Barolsky, 14-16, and n. 27 below.

26. It has often been pointed out that this figure does not appear in the Ambrosiana drawing, and that the surface of the fresco clearly shows signs that the plaster was cut and the figure with the stone block added later. See, e.g., Raffaello e Michelangelo, intro. Anna Tempesti, exh. cat., Casa Buonarroti, Florence, 1984, 59, n. 64.

27. Socrates has also been described as a muscular, broad-shouldered man, the son of a sculptor. Early in life, he may have been a sculptor himself. These accounts are based on many ancient sources cited by Richter (198-99) and Barolsky (14). Also, the sitting/reclining position of Socrates and the reference to writing are repeated in the figure of Michelangelo as Heraclitus. Michelangelo as an inspiration for this figure was first suggested by D. Redig de Campos, "Il pensieroso della Segnatura," in Michelangiolo Buonarroti nel IV Centenario del "Guidizio Universale": Studi e Saggi, Florence, 1942, 205-19, and de Campos appears to be correct. Why did Raphael not make his Socrates on the steps an obvious portrait of Michelangelo? Perhaps because Michelangelo was thirty-seven in 1512 and Socrates was about seventy when he drank the hemlock. Possibly as another example of Raphael's overriding desire to idealize his figures, his "Michelangelo" is depicted here without his famous broken nose,just as Socrates is shown without his pug nose.

28. Pigler (as in n. 3), II, 432-33. The subject reached its peak in popularity during the 18th century, when self-sacrifice and the search for truth were important ideas in society. The most famous example is Jacques-Louis David's Death of Socrates (1787, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). See also Jean Seznec, Essais sur Diderot et l'antiquite, Oxford, 1957, 15-22; and Robert Rosenblum, Transformations in Late Eighteenth-Century Art, Princeton, NJ., 1970, 73-75.

29. Evidently, the iconography of Diogenes appears in the postclassical era only after Raphael's time. Diog. Laert., however, names nearly all of the philosopher's attributes: a large barrel in which he lived (6.23), a dog (6.40, 45), a walking stick (6.21, 23), a wallet (6.22-23), and a lantern with which to search for an honest man (6.41). According to Pigler (as in n. 3), II, 432, and Bartsch (XXVIII, 200if), the first certain picture of Diogenes (neither source attempts to identify him in the School of Athens) is found in a lost and undated work by Parmagianint) (ca. 1524-27). Engravings of the late 1520s by Ugo da Carpi and Giovanni Caraglio after Parmagianino show Diogenes as an old man in a shaggy beard, dressed in animal skins and a cloak. He is surrounded by a large barrel, a lantern, books, and a featherless fowl - no bowl is seen; see Bartsch, XXVIII, 200, fig. 61. See also A. E. Popham, Catalogue of the Drawings of Parmagianino, New Haven/London, 1971, 12, figs. 16, 17. There are other depictions of Diogenes (or philosopher-types which have been called Diogenes) by Agostino Veneziano, Taddeo Zuccaro, Salvator Rosa, and others, but they also postdate the era of the School of Athens; see Bartsch, XLVA, 342-43. For Zuccaro, see John A. Gere, Taddeo Zuccaro: His Development Studied in His Drawings, Chicago, 1969, pl. 129a.

30. If this figure is Diogenes, then the old man walking behind him could be Onesicritus of Aegina with his two sons, Androsthenes and Philiscus (who recorded some of Diogenes' sayings). All three came to Diogenes toward the end of his life and remained his followers (Diog. Laert. 6.75-76). Gombrich (100) refers to this "strange group" on the extreme right as a "mysterious sage," a "woman rushing out," and a "man with an enigmatic errand." Gould (176) has speculated that "this bearded philosopher" (my suggested Diogenes) is a portrait of Julius II, with his "astonishing beard" of 1511. However, many figures in this painting are similarly old and bearded; even Gould (178) has to admit that the figure might not be "in propria persona" for Julius II. This would be especially true if the pope could recognize himself as the friendless and impoverished Diogenes. And if Gould is using the "astonishing beard" of 1511 to assist his identification, how can he explain that this bearded figure appears in the Ambrosiana drawing before 1511? All things considered, Gould's identification of Julius II seems implausible; see also n. 42 below.

31. Diog. Laert. (6.66, 77) informs us that the Macedonian general Antipater gave him an army blanket. The red-brown color and plainness of this garment suggest an army blanket, and indeed, no other figure is dressed in a simpler cloak or robe.

32. "What sort of man do you [Plato] consider Diogenes to be? 'A Socrates gone mad,' said he"; Diog. Laert. 6.54.

33. Laertius reports that according to Favorinus, Diogenes "held that we should neglect music, geometry, astronomy, and the like studies, as useless and unnecessary" (Diog. Laert. 6.73).

34. For Diogenes' general physical description, see, e.g., Diog. Laert. 6.23. Some hold that Diogenes wrote nothing; for a list of his possible lost works, see Diog. Laert. 6.80-81.

35. Passavant, 90. When modern identifications are supported by a clear analysis of iconography (i.e., Euclid has his compass and Plato his Timaeus), they seem to validate Passavant's theory. Passavant's chronological theory is generally endorsed by Oberhuber, 54.

36. This conclusion is also supported by Perugino's self-portrait in the Cambio; see Pietro Scarpellini, Perugino, Milan, 1984, 98, fig. 166.

37. Such ideas may have begun with Gemisthus Pletho (ca. 1360-1452), who was much admired by Ficino and the Florentine Neoplatonists. For more information, see the chapter "Ecco Homo: Socrates and Jesus" in Agnes Heller, Renaissance Man, trans. Richard Allen, Boston, 1978, 139-45. Heller (139) links the ethical and moral examples of Socrates and Jesus: "together," she states, "[they] form the moral paradigm of the Renaissance."

38. For Pletho's remarks, see Heller (as in n. 37), 139. The Ambrosiana drawing shows that Raphael's first inclination was to draw the cup of Socrates somewhat taller and with a wider rim, i.e., more like a chalice. It was also sketched a little closer to the center of the scene but presumably for compositional reasons Raphael changed its shape and position; see Joan-nides (endpapers).

39. Florentine intellectuals as diverse as the humanist Ficino and the Christian reformer Savonarola were attracted to the legend of Socrates as a prefiguration of Christ's life, teachings, and death; see Barolsky (40). In addition to Heller (as in n. 37 above), the importance of Socrates in early Humanist thought is also cited by J. P. Praag, Foundations of Humanism, trans. Judy Herget, Buffalo, N.Y., 1982, 21, where Socrates is described as "the father of Humanist thought"; and John D'Amico, Renaissance Humanism in Papal Rome, Baltimore, 1983, 204.

40. E.g., "The solemn progress of the two supreme philosophers, Plato and Aristotle, through the whole personified dialectic of ancient philosophy ideally had to finish at the foot of the altar on which the small Host is elevated in its bare essentiality"; see Luisa Becherucci's fine essay in Complete Work (97-99ff). Of course, Becherucci misses the identification of the reclining philosopher with the cup, but if she had correctly recognized him as Socrates, her analysis would have been greatly strengthened. Also, Gombrich (86-89) helps to re-create the sequence of ideas for the entire fresco series. He includes the suggestion that the stanza program should be read from the ceiling downward (87).

41. Socrates and Christ freely accepted their unjust fates. Socrates could have tried to escape, but he chose to remain in prison to teach and to die an honorable death in accordance with his own philosophy; see Diog. Laert. 2.24.

42. For other reasons, concurrent planning is also suggested by Jones and Penny (74). If this hypothesis is correct, some of the surviving drawings from the School of Athens, particularly the Ambrosiana drawing, should possibly be dated closer to 1508-9, the date for the Disputation of the Holy Sacrament. Gould (176-78) seems to accept the traditional dating of ca. 1511-12 for the Ambrosiana drawing.

43. Among them are allegories of Theology, Poetry, Philosophy, and Justice; see Complete Work, pl. 80, and details: figs. 82-88.

44. For a detail of the monstrance, see ibid., 84, fig. 89.

Frequently Cited Sources

All classical sources are from the Loeb Classical Library.

Barolsky, Paul, Michelangelo's Nose: A Myth and Its Maker, University Park, Pa., 1990.

Bellori, Giovanni, Descrizzione della imagini dipente da Raphael d'Urbino nelle camere del Palazzo Apostolico Vaticano (Rome, 1695), facsimile ed., Farnborough, 1968.

Complete Work The Complete Work of Raphael, intro. M. Salmi et al., New York, 1969.

Diog. Laert. Diogenes Laertius: Lives of Eminent Philosophers, trans. R. D. Hicks, London, 1925.

Gombrich, E. H., Symbolic Images: Studies in the Art of the Renaissance (London, 1972), rev. ed., Chicago, 1985.

Gould, Cecil, "The Chronology of Raphael's Stanze: A Revision," Gazette des Beaux-Arts, CXVII, Nov. 1991, 171-82.

Bartsch The Illustrated Bartsch, gen. ed. J. T. Spike, 164 vols., London, 1978-92.

Joannides, Paul, The Drawings of Raphael, with a Complete Catalogue, Berkeley, 1983.

Jones, Roger, and Nicholas Penny, Raphael, New Haven, Conn., 1983.

Oberhuber, Konrad, Polaritat und Synthese in Raphaels "Shule von Athen," Stuttgart, 1983.

Passavant, Johann David, Raphael of Urbino and His Father Giovanni Santi (Leipzig, 1839), rev. ed., New York, 1978.

Richter, Gisela, The Portraits of the Greeks (London, 1965), rev. ed., R. R. R. Smith, Ithaca, N.Y., 1984.

Daniel Orth Bell is an independent scholar who received his Ph.D. in art history from the University of Georgia in 1991. He has published on Tiepolo and is the author of the forthcoming A Pious Bacchanal: Affinities between the Lives and Works of John Flaxman and Aubrey Beardsley [189 Hardin Drive, Athens, Ga. 30605].

COPYRIGHT 1995 College Art Association
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group