THE CARTOON FOR THE SCHOOL OF ATHENS AND THE STANZA DELLA SEGNATURA

Mons. Rocca explains what the original function of the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican was.

Generally this is known as the Cartoon of the School of Athens, the fresco that is in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican. Actually, at the beginning, this room was not thought up as the Stanza della Segnatura but it was to be the private library of Pope Julius II. The library was conceived to have four sides; a discipline on each side. Here then, the side of the School of Athens is actually the part dedicated to Philosophy and it is in front of that one dedicated to the Disputation of the Holy Sacrament, which would be better to name Theology. The concept is very clear: philosophy is preparation for theology; God inspires man, creates him in such a way as to be able to understand what He reveals.