The School of Athens (1835 engraving by J. & T. Bartlett)

What it is

This is an 1835 engraving by J. and T. Bartlett, printed in Oxford for T. Kelly of London. It reproduces Raphael's painting The School of Athens and carries the inscription 'Frontispiece to the Oxford Encyclopedia'. The print shows a grand arched hall with statues in niches and many robed figures gathered on steps and across the floor, some reading, writing or talking. A figure at lower right bends over a diagram on the floor. The curator's note says Pythagoras is among the philosophers shown. The print is held by the Wellcome Collection in London.

Why it matters

Engravings like this one carried Raphael's imagined crowd of Greek thinkers into books and classrooms. Readers who met Pythagoras here saw an image made by artists centuries after he lived, not a record of his appearance. The print shows how later generations pictured ancient philosophy as a shared, public conversation.

Look closer

• Which figures are placed near the centre, and how does the composition show who is important?
• Why might an encyclopedia choose this scene as its frontispiece?
• What does this print leave out about what Pythagoras actually taught or wrote?