This gathering of ancient Greek philosophers has a few faces that shouldn't be there at all, at least not historically. Raphael snuck his own contemporaries into the room.
What you're looking at
Raphael painted this fresco between 1509 and 1511, showing dozens of ancient Greek philosophers and thinkers gathered together beneath grand classical archways, Plato and Aristotle positioned at the center, walking forward in mid-conversation. It's an enormous, densely populated composition, filled with figures debating, writing, and reading throughout the architectural space.
Real faces from Raphael's own era, hidden among ancient philosophers
Tradition holds that Raphael gave the face of Plato the likeness of Leonardo da Vinci, a tribute from one great Renaissance artist to another folded directly into a scene set in ancient Greece — though, like most figure identifications in this crowded fresco, it can't be proven with certainty. He's also reported to have given the brooding philosopher Heraclitus, seated alone in the foreground, the features of his contemporary rival, Michelangelo.
This kind of hidden portraiture, real Renaissance figures standing in for ancient ones, was a way for Raphael to connect the intellectual achievements of classical Greece directly to the artistic genius of his own era. The fresco was painted for the Vatican and remains there today.
The fresco hangs in the Stanza della Segnatura, one of the rooms Pope Julius II commissioned Raphael to decorate inside the Vatican Palace. Painting real contemporaries into an ancient scene was Raphael's way of arguing that his own era, and his own circle of artists, belonged in the same company as history's greatest thinkers.
One detail to look for
Look for the solitary, brooding figure seated alone in the foreground, resting his head on his hand. That's Heraclitus, reportedly painted with Michelangelo's own features.
See it at its real size
Our canvas print is labeled against the true size of the original. Shop the canvas print.