Raphael’s 'The School of Athens' is the ultimate tribute to the intellectual heritage of the Western world. Painted in the Apostolic Palace between 1509 and 1511, this fresco depicts the greatest philosophers, mathematicians, and scientists of classical antiquity sharing a single space. In the center stand Plato and Aristotle; Plato points up to the heavens (symbolizing his theory of Forms), while Aristotle reaches out toward the earth (symbolizing his focus on empirical observation). Raphael famously used his contemporaries as models for the ancient figures: Plato is a portrait of Leonardo da Vinci, and the brooding Heraclitus in the foreground is widely believed to be a portrait of his rival, Michelangelo. This work perfectly embodies the High Renaissance harmony between classical philosophy and Christian art.