DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.51585#0135
RAPHAEL SANZIO d’uRBINO.
131
him are three philosophers of the different sects,
the Cynic, the Epicurean, and the Platonic; be-
yond, a group of sophists disputing among each
other. On the right are seen the half-figures of
Dionysius the Areopagite and the woman Damaris,
of whom it is expressly said that they “ believed
and clave unto him.” On the same side, in the
background, is seen the statue of Mars, in front of
a circular temple. In point of pictorial com-
position this cartoon is one of the finest in the
series. St. Paul, elevated above his auditors,
grandly dignified in bearing, as one divinely in-
spired, lofty in stature and position, “ stands like a
tower.” This figure of St. Paul has been imitated
from the fresco of Masaccio in the Carmine at
Florence. There Paul is represented as visiting
St. Peter in prison. One arm only is raised, the
forefinger pointing upward; he is speaking words
of consolation to him through the grated bars of
his dungeon, behind which appears the form of
St. Peter. Raphael has taken the idea of the
figure, raised the two arms, and given the whole
an air of inspired energy wanting in the original.
The persons who surround him are not to be con-
sidered a mere promiscuous assemblage of indivi-
duals ; among them several figures may each be
said to personify a class, and the different sects of
Grecian philosophy may be easily distinguished.
Here the Cynic, revolving deeply, and fabricating
131
him are three philosophers of the different sects,
the Cynic, the Epicurean, and the Platonic; be-
yond, a group of sophists disputing among each
other. On the right are seen the half-figures of
Dionysius the Areopagite and the woman Damaris,
of whom it is expressly said that they “ believed
and clave unto him.” On the same side, in the
background, is seen the statue of Mars, in front of
a circular temple. In point of pictorial com-
position this cartoon is one of the finest in the
series. St. Paul, elevated above his auditors,
grandly dignified in bearing, as one divinely in-
spired, lofty in stature and position, “ stands like a
tower.” This figure of St. Paul has been imitated
from the fresco of Masaccio in the Carmine at
Florence. There Paul is represented as visiting
St. Peter in prison. One arm only is raised, the
forefinger pointing upward; he is speaking words
of consolation to him through the grated bars of
his dungeon, behind which appears the form of
St. Peter. Raphael has taken the idea of the
figure, raised the two arms, and given the whole
an air of inspired energy wanting in the original.
The persons who surround him are not to be con-
sidered a mere promiscuous assemblage of indivi-
duals ; among them several figures may each be
said to personify a class, and the different sects of
Grecian philosophy may be easily distinguished.
Here the Cynic, revolving deeply, and fabricating