Raphael's "The School of Athens"

This is one of the most famous paintings by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate with frescoes the rooms in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. It shows the greatest philosophers, scientists and mathematicians of classical antiquity. Plato and Aristotle are in the center because they were consisdered most important. Plato is pointing upwards because of his interest in the heaven and Aristotle is pointing downward, indicating his interest in earthly things.