One of the Renaissance "trinity," the embodiment of harmony and grace
Named with Leonardo and Michelangelo as the Renaissance "trinity," though far younger than the other two. He drew from all — Leonardo’s softness, Michelangelo’s force — fusing them into his own faultless harmony and grace. His Madonnas are gentle and serene, and his fresco The School of Athens gathers the philosophers of ancient Greece into a grand hall, the finest symbol of classical reason. He died young, at only thirty-seven.
In the Vatican fresco The School of Athens, Raphael painted Plato, Aristotle, Socrates, Pythagoras, and other philosophers who spanned centuries and never shared a room, into a single grand vaulted hall — Plato pointing to the heavens, Aristotle gesturing to the earth, one asking of the ideal, the other of experience. With one painting, he took a "group photo" of the entire age of classical reason.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.