ACCADEMIA GALLERY, History

Before you begin your visit to the Accademia Gallery, which is mandatory for art lovers from around the world, let me briefly summarize its history.

The museum was founded in 1750 along with the Academy of Fine Arts, which had been equipped with an impressive number of paintings, pottery, and casts of ancient statues for educational purposes. During the age of Napoleon when many convents were suppressed, an extraordinary amount of artwork became available; much of this was sent to Milan for the foundation of the Brera Art Gallery, some masterpieces went to the Louvre, but a large part remained in Venice and was reorganized into a painting gallery at the ancient Scuola della Carità and the adjoining Gothic church, which had been deconsecrated and split in two by a mezzanine floor.

The Gallery underwent a sophisticated reordering intervention in 1960, and the works were arranged in a substantially chronological order, despite having to take account of the canvases' dimensions, at times quite exceptional. In the last rooms you'll find both of the important painting cycles that were made for the School of St. Giovanni the Evangelist and the School of St. Ursula....