Accademia Galleries

Major sights in Venice

The Accademia Galleries are an important collection of venetian patinings from Century 14th to 18th, including masterpieces of the most famous masters like Bellini, Giorgione, Carpaccio, Tiziano, Tintoretto, Veronese and Tiepolo.

In Venice, many paintings of local school from 14th to 18th Century found were rescued from dispersion and sale by the Accademia picture gallery, that functioned as didactic collection institute for young artists. In order to include a systematic panoramic of national art, Accademia tried to purchase works from most important Italian picture schools, but at the end of the century it was decided to privilege the regional production.

The Venetian Academy of Painters and Sculptors, created on 1750, had seat on Fonteghetto della Farina at San Marco, but, in 1807, Napoleon's government chose as seat of the Venice Academy of Fine Arts the Compendio della Carità, formed by the ancient church of Santa Maria della Carità, the Convent of Canonici Lateranesi and the Scuola Grande della Carità.

On August 10th 1817 the picture gallery was opened to the public. The first nucleus of the collections were formed by works from the old Academy, some paintings of the Scuola della Carità, and the Farsetti's plasters collection. Some paintings were recovered from France, while others were taken, for security reasons, from venetian churches as San Giobbe's. The museum increased it collection with private donations and new acquisitions of significant works.

The widening project began in 1819 and was completed in 1856. Two big halls were constructed to the left of the convent, divided by four marble columns. Convent was enlarged and in 1830 the Carità emblems of the facade were substituted by Accademia symbols. The big hall of the ground floor was divided to create a separate entrance for Gallery, independent from the School.

On March 13th 1882, the galleries and the school became autonomous, and a radical reorganization of the galleries was taken on 1895. The 1800's artists were taken off and a chronological order was set up. The Galleries became independent from the School and the Academy on 1906.

The link between the Academy Galleries and Venice is very deep: rooms keep many works from churches, schools and public magistratures that help the public to understand the solutions created by a painter for a specific destination and meaning of a painting. In some cases, the shown works are the only testimony remained from churches destroyed in the Napoleon period, and some of the most famous paintings of private houses form part of the collections thanks to the generosity of private collectors.

Visit the official website (in Italian only) of the Accademia Galleries in Venice