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The Galleria dell’Accademia was founded by the Grand-Duke Leopoldo di Lorena in 1784. Its purpose was to facilitate the Florence Academy of Fine Arts’ students in their study of classic and modern, paintings and sculptures.
The space for the Galleria dell’Accademia was taken partly from the building which once housed the San Matteo hospital and the adjoining ex-convent of San Niccolò in Cafaggio.
The collection was modified greatly over the next two centuries. Many works of art were acquired from convents that were being closed while others were obtained as donations or loans from galleries in Florence, in particular the Uffizi.
In 1873 "The David", by Michelangelo, was moved to the Galleria dell’Accademia from its original position in piazza Signoria to protect it from weather and pollution. It was placed below a monumental apse, designed by the architect De Fabris, expressly for "The David".
Later, at the beginning of the 20th Century, other important works by Michelangelo were moved to the Galleria dell’Accademia, including "San Matteo", the " Quattro Prigioni", and the "Pietà di Palestrina".
Today the Galleria dell’Accademia hosts an important collection of paintings, in addition to the well-known works by Michelangelo; exquisite paintings by 15th and 16th century Florentine painters such as Fra’ Bartolomeo, Filippino Lippi, Bronzino, Ridolfo del Ghirlandaio and Iacopo Pontormo as well as assorted works from Byzantine and late 13th and 14th century religious art.
Following a chronological itinerary, the gallery visitor first views a unique set of stylized paintings with heavy gold leafing, dated to the late 14th or early 15th century, showing the style and technique of the late Gothic period. These rooms also house a rare icon collection, gathered by the Grand-Duke of Lorena. The collection is heterogeneous in its origins, authorship and quality.
The three Florentine rooms display a series of 15th Century paintings which document, in a brief, but articulated way, the pictorial production of the guilds ("botteghe") which were active in Florence during the time of Masaccio, Piero della Francesca and Botticelli.
The room of the "Colosso", whose name is derived from the plaster copy of the Dioscuri of Monte Cavallo in Rome, hosts the paintings of Florentine artists of the first part of the 16th Century. Among these paintings you can find Fra' Bartolomeo, Andrea del Sarto and Perugino.
Surrounding the David, there are paintings by Florentine artists of the 16th Century. They document the pictorial style during the years of Michelangelo's activity, and the period of the Counter-Reformation that followed.
In the "Salone delle Toscana", there are 19th century paintings by students of the Florence Academy of Fine Arts and an interesting collection of the original plaster models of Lorenzo Bartolini and Luigi Pampaloni.
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