Detail showing Plato or Leonardo da Vinci, (left) and Aristotle or Michelangelo (Right), from "The School of Athens" by Raffaello Sanzio da Urbino. 1509-1511. Fresco in the Apostolic Palace, Vatican City, Rome. The School of Athens (Italian: Scuola di Atene) is one of the most famous frescoes by the Italian Renaissance artist Raphael. It was painted between 1509 and 1511 as a part of Raphael's commission to decorate the rooms now known as the Stanze di Raffaello, in the Apostolic Palace in the Vatican. The Stanza della Signature was the first of the rooms to be decorated, and The School of Athens, representing Philosophy.