Which Italian Renaissance painter created “The School of Athens”? Raphael created the fresco. He painted it around 1509–1511 for the Stanza della Segnatura, a room in the Apostolic Palace of the Vatican commissioned during the papacy of Julius II.
The monumental scene imagines ancient philosophers gathered inside an idealized classical building. At its center are Plato, pointing upward toward eternal ideas, and Aristotle, gesturing horizontally toward the observable world. The figures represent different strands of ancient philosophy, mathematics, and science, although scholars debate the identities of several secondary figures.
The architectural setting was inspired partly by Renaissance visions of ancient Rome and by designs associated with Bramante. The painting forms part of a program in which walls represent philosophy, theology, poetry, and justice. Michelangelo is a common answer because he was simultaneously painting the Sistine Chapel ceiling nearby, while Leonardo is often linked to the appearance of Plato; neither painted the fresco itself. Raphael also included a likely self-portrait at the right edge.