What is Genius?

A READER WRITES: “I am at a loss as to how you managed to exclude Rome from your list of Ten Best Cities!!! Is there an as yet unmentioned reason for this? Or did you just simply forget?”

BB SAYS: Yes, the Eternal City belongs on the list of course. Largely because it is home to the world’s greatest painting. Painting is visual philosophy, and Raphael’s Stanza della segnatura is philosophical genius of the highest order. The painting is a room in the Vatican. The four walls of the room are painted with frescoes by Raphael.

The paintings on the two largest walls face each other across the room as equals – on one wall the School of Athens (pictured above); on the other wall the Disputation of the Holy Sacrament. The School of Athens represents Philosophy, the Disputation represents Religion. The former contains paintings of great figures from the pagan Greek era, the latter contains great figures from the Christian era. So here, Reason and Faith face each other as equally valid ways of life – Raphael suggests that the choice between philosophy and religion, between reason and revelation, is the most important one that a human being needs to face.

This is a Renaissance painting. What does that mean? The Renaissance was the moment that existed between the Middle Ages (i.e. the great age of Christianity) and the Enlightenment period that followed it (i.e. the Age of Reason). The Renaissance was the moment between these two eras when religion and reason faced each other as equally valid choices. Raphael’s Stanza della segnatura is the graphical representation of that moment – the moment when Renaissance humanists conceived of a harmony between the teachings of Greek philosophy and Christian theology.

At the centre of the School of Athens are the two greatest philosophers of Ancient Greece, Plato and Aristotle. This-worldly Aristotle, the proponent of the Golden Mean, extends his hand in a balanced, moderate fashion. Other-worldly Plato, the idealist, points his arm to the skies and towards eternity. On the lower level of the painting there are representations of scientific figures such as Pythagoras and Euclid. On the higher level are philosophers – such as Socrates, who is painted in conversation with a group of youths. There is also a portrait of the great Muslim philosopher Averroes, a controversial figure who was suspected of being an atheist. So here, at the very heart of institutional Christianity, at the centre of the Vatican, Raphael has painted a portrait of a man who was heretic, who was either a Muslim or an atheist.

To the right, hidden amongst all these figures in the School of Athens is a self-portrait of Raphael himself. The message could not be clearer – Raphael is saying: “I am a philosopher. I belong with the Ancient Greeks - and maybe even with Averroes”.

The Disputation, which represents religion and faith, is also divided into a higher and lower section, although here the division is more definite. At the centre of the higher level we have the Holy Trinity (the father, the son and the holy ghost), surrounded by the Virgin Mary, angels and biblical figures such as Moses. On the lower level are popes and theologians such as Augustine and Aquinas, discussing the meaning of the Eucharist. So even here, discussion and philosophical disputation are present.

What about the other two smaller walls of the room that join the School of Athens to the Disputation? One is devoted to poets and the muses, and the other to law and political virtue. Raphael suggests that art and politics mediate between reason and revelation, between philosophy and religion. The depictions of the poets include Homer (the greatest poet of the pagan Greek era) and Dante (the greatest poet of the Christian era). Art and music (including Raphael’s art) are the means by which harmony can be achieved between Reason and Faith. The fourth wall contains a representation of the four Greek Cardinal virtues – Moderation, Courage, Justice and Wisdom. Again, these practical virtues mediate between Reason and Religion. Later, Christians added three cardinal Theological virtues to the four cardinal Philosophical virtues - those Theological virtues are Faith, Hope and Charity - making a total of seven Cardinal Virtues.