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About This Work
Two men in early 16th-century attire are shown at the edge of the philosophical assembly. Raphael, on the left wearing a dark cap, looks directly at the viewer, while his companion in a white cap—often identified as the painter Il Sodoma—looks toward the center of the scene.
By including his self-portrait among the astronomers and natural philosophers, Raphael asserts that painting is an intellectual pursuit on par with the liberal arts. The larger fresco represents the Renaissance synthesis of Neoplatonism, Aristotelianism, and classical science within a Christian framework.
Connected Texts
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
His syncretic philosophy, which sought to harmonize all schools of thought, is the intellectual basis for the gathering depicted in the fresco.