Leonardo da Vinci,

Last Supper, 1495-98

Painted on the wall of a refectory (dining hall) of a convent in Milan

there was an actual-size early (1515) copy of the Last Supper by

Giampietrino, a close follower of Leonardo

Diagram of Last Supper showing orthogonals converging on the head of Christ

Andrea del Castagno, Last Supper (c. 1450)

Frescoes by Raphael representing the four principal fields of Renaissance learning:

• Philosophy

• Theology

• Poetry (or Literature)

• Law

Stanza della Segnatura (“Room of the Signature”) in the Vatican Palace, Rome. Originally the study of Pope Julius II: nephew of Pope Sixtus IV and patron of Raphael, Michelangelo, and Bramante. Raphael painted it from 1508 to 1511.

The School of Athens (“Philosophy”)

Note: Plato holds a copy of his treatiseTimaeus (labeled TIMEO); Aristotle holds a copy of his Ethics (labeled ETICA).

Detail: Pythagoras and others, including Pope Julius’s nephew, Francesco Maria della Rovere

Detail: “spherical” group of figures, including Bramante—the great High Renaissance architect—in the guise of the philosopher-mathematician Euclid

Raphael, Galatea

Frescoes in the “Room of Galatea” in the Villa Farnesina, Rome

A villa is a rural or suburban residence: a sort of country estate.

The Villa Farnesina was originally owned by Agostino Chigi, banker to three successive Renaissance popes.

Botticelli, Birth of Venus (c. 1485)

Titian, Pesaro Altarpiece, 1526