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The Reading Images Project |
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The Reading Images Project |
Iconography: Content
The analysis of works of art through the study of the meanings of their images in the context of the culture in which they were made. There are three general approaches to determining iconography: 1) the function of a work and how its message is determined by its context; 2) the content or "subject" of a work, that is, what figures, forms and actions it depicts (including the narrative, if it has a narrative); 3) the symbolism of a work, both its direct use of cultural or individual symbols and the associations it might be intended to evoke within its culture. After explaining the program - the general subject of a work of art - identifying the characters, action, and narrative is a critical step in iconographical analysis.
We don't know what the original title of the fresco was; "The School of Athens" is first documented in the 17th century. In 1508, just a year before the fresco was painted, however, a professor from the University of Rome gave an oration to Pope Julius II in which he described contemporary Rome as the "new Athens," which preserved not only Latin wisdom, but also that of Ancient Greece.(32) The School of Athens represents an imaginary gathering of ancient Greek philosophers from different times. In literature Dante describes such a gathering of philosophers in hell (Inferno, IV, 130-144), but the subject had not been depicted in Renaissance art before; the closest visual parallel is the relatively common decorative theme, Famous Men. Although not every one of Raphael's figures can be identified, many are recognizable (for links, click on specific figures or names below). Since this scene does not illustrate any specific narrative, the way the figures are represented (their actions and relationships to each other) can be examined to deduce Raphael's message.
1.Plato 3.Diogenes 4.Euclid 6.Raphael |
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7.Heraclitus 9.Apollo 10.Socrates 11.Minerva |
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