During the High Renaissance time period in Italy, Pope Julius II summoned Raphael Sanzio of Urbino, then a relatively unknown artist, to paint in the Vatican Palace of Rome. Of the many frescoes that Raphael painted in Rome, The School of Athens is renowned as Raphael's greatest masterpiece. Set within the Greek era with distinguished philosophers and mathematicians in attendance, Raphael's The School of Athens perfectly embodies the classical spirit of the High Renaissance. Harmony between Christianity and Greek pagan philosophy is present throughout this work of art. The philosophers are gathered in a building that illustrates the typical architecture of Italy and the Renaissance. The faces of the personages in this painting are images of many artists and Raphael's friends and patrons, in the guise of great philosophers and mathematicians of the ancient Greek world; Greek philosophy and art provided inspiration to Raphael and so he painted...