Brielle - Raphael

School of Athens
(1510-1511)

In this painting Raphael used vanishing point perspective. Because the image is so small, it's a little difficult to see how the lines of the columns in the background all meet at a single point.The tiles on the floor also all have a single vanishing point. He also creates 3-dimensional space by making the figures in the front appear larger than those in the back. His use of domes also conveys this sense of space - the large dome makes it appear closer, while the smaller domes in the painting appear further away. This use of relative size in conjunction with overlapping many of the people in the painting all produce a 3-dimensional sense of space.