10.26180/5dba5a2ad8501
John Bigelow
John
Bigelow
Discordant Notes on Raphael's Slate
Monash University
2019
Plato
Raphael
History of Philosophy
2019-10-31 03:51:05
Journal contribution
https://bridges.monash.edu/articles/journal_contribution/Discordant_Notes_on_Raphael_s_Slate/10093679
<strong><em>
</em></strong><p>This is an English version of a paper that has been published in the Russian journal,<em> Ideas and Ideals </em>(2019). </p><p>
<b>Abstract:</b> </p>
<p>In the Vatican there is a room, the <i>Stanza della Segnatura</i>, that contains
works of art; and the room, too, is a work of art, but it is an art object of a
very different kind. There are abstract geometric and arithmetic relationships
among the frescoes and other decorations in this room; those interlocking
interrelationships collectively constitute a kind of ‘abstract object’ that can
be grasped more fully by the intellect than by merely passive vision alone.
Some of these abstract patterns are described on a slate that is depicted
within one of the frescoes in this room, which is known as <i>The School of Athens</i>. </p>
<p>
We may never know for certain whether Raphael was the one who invented
all the mathematical patterns that can be found in this room, or whether he was
merely implementing arithmetical plans that had been imposed upon him by the
Pope or the Pope’s advisors. Nevertheless, we can establish without any
significant room for doubt that the visual iconography in the <i>Stanza della Segnatura</i> does align,
within a credible ‘margin of error’, against central features of the
mathematical music theory that is described in Plato’s <i>Timaeus</i> and teased out on Raphael’s <i>Slate</i>. If Raphael’s <i>Stanza
della Segnatura</i> is indeed ‘the Room of the Signature’, then that
‘Signature’ is the musically harmonious ‘World Soul’ of Plato’s <i>Timaeus</i>. </p>