Customer Reviews

Raphael's Stanza della Segnatura: Meaning and Invention

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Raphael's "School of Athens" is one of the best-known works of art in the Western world, yet it has been little understood until now. Many figural attributions, which appear in the standard art history textbooks, are either conjectural or just plain wrong. And even the best of these former writings, have not carefully considered the relationship of the "School of Athens" to Raphael's other three paintings in the same room. Fortunately, Dr. Joost-Gaugier has written this book to set us all straight. Her scholarship is impeccable, and she considers the Stanza in the full context - historical, artistic, literary, and philosophical - of its time. Her book will appeal to many different audiences - art historians, students, scholars, and really anyone who is interested in the art and thought of the Renaissance.

I looked forward to reading this work, but was disappointed by the tendentiousness of the author and apparent evasion of aspects of these paintings that don't fit her models. For example, in her discussion of the School of Athens, which the author argues almost solely depicts greeks, she does not discuss, much less attempt to identify, the turbaned figure which is part of the "Pythagoras" group. This figure is generally described by others as a depiction of the arab, Ibn Sina (Avicenna). Although discussing, and often criticizing, the attributions often given to some figures thought to represent portrits of contemporary figures in the guise of classical ones, she makes no comment as to whether the Heraclitus figure is a representation of Michelangelo. This seems to be the current consensus, as even the style in which this figure is painted appears to be an imitation (homage or parody) of Michelangelo's.

Overall, the author is given to making sweeping statements about a variety of issues, but unfortunately the utility of these judgments is undermined by weaknesses such as those noted above. The book has few (and small) color reproductions, and no pictorial "key" to the frescos, but does include a rather useless (and somewhat inaccurate) reproduction of a 19th century line drawing of the fresco...is short, save your money.

I used this book extensively for my research thesis on Raphael's Stanza della Segnatura frescoes in the Vatican - very thorough, interesting and illuminating piece of criticism. Highly recommend it!