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This book examines one of the masterpieces of the Italian Renaissance and the artist's best known work. Commissioned by Pope Julius II to decorate the walls of his private library, Raphael's fresco 'School of Athens' represents the gathering of the philosophers of the ancient world around the central figures of Plato and Aristotle. Presented in this volume is the early criticism of the fresco, by Bellori and Wolfflin, along with new interpretations, published in this volume for the first time, of its iconography in relation to the other frescoes in the Stanza and in the context of the humanism and rhetorical tradition of the papal court; analysis of Raphael's groundbreaking use of light and color; and an inquiry into the role of Bramante and antique architecture in Raphael's design.