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Raphael's Platonic Vision

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 October 2020

JOHN BIGELOW Open the ORCID record for JOHN BIGELOW [Opens in a new window]  and
MARTIN LECKEY Open the ORCID record for MARTIN LECKEY [Opens in a new window]
JOHN BIGELOW
Affiliation:
MONASH UNIVERSITYjohn.bigelow@monash.edu
MARTIN LECKEY
Affiliation:
UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNEmjleckey@unimelb.edu.au
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Abstract

The four frescoes by Raphael in the Stanza della Segnatura in the Vatican Museum visually embody close approximations of several numerical ratios that are of deep significance in the material grounding of musical harmonies in the physics of natural harmonics. Of special significance is the Pythagorean musical frequency ratio of 9:8, the (discordant) whole tone interval, which in Plato's Timaeus is called the epogdoôn (‘and an eighth’).

Keywords

phil of artphil of musicancient philRenaissance philPlato
Type
Articles
Information
Journal of the American Philosophical Association , Volume 6 , Issue 4 , Winter 2020 , pp. 410 - 430
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Copyright
Copyright © American Philosophical Association 2020

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