How Can Art be a Mirror of Society?
The renaissance was an era of change, rediscovery of lost classical knowledge. Art which was produced during this time period mirrored the setting of society during the Renaissance. Art is an indirect representation of what the artist or the people of the society feel. In Raphael's famous fresco, 'The School of Athens' the image of many notable renaissance men were depicted each in their own spot teaching and exchanging knowledge with one another. The Renaissance was a time of inquiry, exploration and discovery. These people chosen to be displayed in Raphael's painting were all people who contributed greatly i
n the development of the Renaissance. Plato and Aristotle are in the center of the collection of notable figures. These main idea of the painting, the focal point. The painting starts from these two figures, a wise age old teacher along with his pupil Aristotle, a rather younger person. Plato points upwards into the majestic sky whilst Aristotle's hand faces horizontally. Just these small changes to the body is thought to show each of their theories, Plato's theory of forms and Aristotle's empiricist views. As the painting expands, there are many visible figures who are also eager to learn, or eager to teach.
Who Would I Be?
If I were to choose who from these several figures shown in the painting would best describe myself, I would choose Pythagoras, the father of numbers. Pythagoras founded theories and had discovered knowledge which none other could have thought of. Pythagoras was widely known for his skills in mathematics. I feel I could rather connect to this as I find mathematics fairly ea
sy, however I like to challenge myself and push myself to attempt at succeeding, achieving a greater goal. Pythagoras had believed that everything had a link to numbers, and I can too relate to this as I can always tell that behind even the simplest of things, are numbers used to either make use of it, or prove it to be functionable etc.
However, Pythagoras was not only widely known due to his knowledge in mathematics, but he was also known as the founder of the Pythagorean tuning. I believe that I can link to Pythagoras himself musically as I myself play 4 different instruments. I find myself rather musically active, and continuously attempting to discover new things by even just creating it. Like Pythagoras himself, I feel I am a continuous thinker. All reasons why I feel I could link to him specifically the most out of all the figures in the painting, 'The school of Athens'
