雅典学院
The School of Athens
宏伟威严的雅典学院拱门中，各个时代伟大杰出的学者跨越时空，在梵蒂冈博物馆高耸的墙壁上思考、讨论，为人类不断追求着智慧与真理。 这便是拉斐尔于1509-1510年所作的《雅典学院》表现的内容，画作存于梵蒂冈博物馆签字大厅，是其为当时梵蒂冈宫绘制的著名壁画。
Under a magnificent arch, the most renowned scholars of ancient Greece discuss truth and pursue wisdom for all mankind in The School of Athens. Created by High Renaissance painter Raphael in 1509-1510 , this fresco on a high wall of the Apostolic Palace of Vatican City soon became one of the most celebrated masterpieces of the Renaissance.
拉斐尔•桑西（Raphael Santi），是意大利文艺复兴三杰中最为年轻的一位。 拉斐尔以绘制圣母像而闻名遐迩，他的风格在当时独树一帜，画笔下的人物典雅秀丽、柔和优美，作有《圣母的婚礼》（1504）、《西斯廷圣母》（1513-1514）等作品流传于世，是古典主义的典范。
Raphael Santi was the youngest of the three great masters of the Italian Renaissance. He developed a singular graceful style in his early years and became famous for his portraits of the Madonna. His works, such as Wedding of the Virgin (1504) and Sistine Madonna (1513-1514), have developed reputations as masterpieces throughout the world and are today regarded as paragons of classicism.
《雅典学院》以古希腊哲学家柏拉图所建的雅典学院为背景，表现了一个理想的、美的世界。 壁画规模宏大，透视空间宽阔，纵深展开的高大拱顶建筑作为背景，左右分别雕刻着音乐之神阿波罗与智慧女神雅典娜。 透视学的精确运用扩大了画面的空间感，中心透视的层层拱门，直通向遥远的天际。 两位中心人物从远处走来，左边的柏拉图指向天空，右边的亚里士多德掌心对地，似乎在表达着他们不同的哲学观点及灵感源泉。 二人两侧及前方共描绘了50多位历史上各“黄金时期”的著名哲学家、科学家、思想家，包括苏格拉底、毕达哥拉斯、欧几里得、托勒密等等，人物形象、性格各异，丰满而生动。 拉斐尔精心地组织个体和群体之间的关系，画面中人物的自信和高贵传达出理性的特征，文艺复兴思想所具有的均衡与和谐正是他们所尊重的哲学的核心。 《雅典学院》流畅的线条、协调的色彩、精确的造型、优美的形象，将古代文化、基督教文化以及欧洲现代文化完美结合，是最能体现文艺复兴时期知识氛围的伟大作品。
The actual School of Athens that inspired Raphael’s masterpiece was founded by the ancient Greek philosopher Plato. In his depiction of the fabled academy, Raphael strived to present an ideal and beautiful world. The fresco was created on a large scale and integrates a wide perspective. It uses a series of high arch structures in the background to build a vast depth. Applying the theory of perspective, Raphael opens the fresco’s sense of space, with the central arches merging into an endless sky. Large sculptures of Apollo, the god of music, and Athena, the goddess of wisdom, are seen on the left and right sides of the first arch.
Emerging from under the arch are two of ancient Greece’s great scholars: Plato, on the left, points to the sky while Aristotle, on the right, positions his palm toward the ground. The gestures seem to express two contrary philosophical views and sources of inspiration. Surrounding the two scholars are nearly every known philosopher and scientist of ancient Greece, nearly 50 in total, including Socrates, Pythagoras, Euclid and Ptolemy. Each of these wise figures is vividly depicted with unique character. Raphael also elaborately organized the relationships between the individuals and groups in the fresco. The confidence and dignity in the figures reflects the virtue of rationality.
The School of Athens uses flowing lines, harmonious color and precise gestures, and the resulting balance and harmony reflects the philosophies of ancient Greece and the Renaissance. The fresco combines ancient culture, Christian culture and the European culture of its time, producing what is thought of today as one of the true masterpieces of the High Renaissance.
1520年，37岁的拉斐尔于罗马病逝。 为世人留下的，除了那精美绝伦的画作，更有传奇般短暂却又灿烂的一生。 正如其墓志铭所雕刻的那般：“在他生前，大自然感到了败北的恐惧；而当他一旦溘然长逝，大自然却又无比惋惜。”
In 1520 Raphael died of illness in Rome at 37 years old. In his short but legendary life, he gave the world a new understanding of the relationships between culture, philosophy and aesthetics. As his epitaph reads, “Here lies that famous Raphael by whom Nature feared to be conquered while he lived, and when he was dying, feared herself to die.”
