How can art be a mirror of society?
In the fresco ‘The School of Athens’ by Raphael, includes classical architectures and artistic techniques, which reflects the Renaissance society. The most impressive architecture in this painting is the “rounded arches” which the blueprint was rediscovered by a greatest architect, Fillipo Brunelleschi during the Renaissance. Rounded arches were the great technique to support and decorate the building. They started to be used in buildings after this rediscovery. Also there were many artistic techniques used by Renaissance artists to improve their own works. One of the techniques discovered was the linear perspective, which was another discovery made by Brunelleschi. Perspective adds depth into the painting and made viewers focus on the focal point. The fresco, ‘The School of Athens’ painted by Raphael contained many classical architectures and different artistic techniques that were discovered during the Renaissance era. In the middle ages, paintings included simple backgrounds and had only few colors, but after the Renaissance era, artworks evolved. Renaissance artworks included more detailed backgrounds and displayed many varieties of colors. All of the artworks reflects the society in each era.
If I were part of the fresco ‘The School of Athens’ I would be Euclid. He was a Greek Mathematician, and many people saw him as the father of geometry. He went to Plato’s school during the Ancient Greece. After finishing school, he went to Alexandria, where he discovered and wrote his theories on geometry. In this fresco, Euclid is shown as the mathematician trying to obtain a deeper understanding about the universe by using geometry, which are shapes and lines. Same as Euclid, I have a great interest about the universe. I always thought that using telescope could help discovering ideas of universe. But I was surprised how Euclid tried to use geometry as a key to discover new ideas. This way of determination made me gain more interest in discovering the universe. I want to discover new theories and ideas that can help other people to study like Euclid did.
