The fascinating collection covers a period of five centuries and provides a complete glimpse of the Venetian school, as well as an accurate picture of the customs and traditions of the past.
It includes paintings from the 14th century Gothic and Byzantine, Renaissance, Baroque-Rococo, preserving works by artists such as Paolo Veronese, Vittore Carpaccio, Giorgione, Giovanni Bellini, Tiziano, Tintoretto, Tiepolo and many others.
The rooms are organized in a chronological order, with the exception of the final rooms, which refer to the Renaissance period. "It was the inevitable fate of Venice, to be painted and with passion," wrote the American writer Henry James around 1880.
The most precious jewel in the gallery is La Tempesta del Giorgione, from 1506, a famous painting that portrays a woman intent on breastfeeding a child and a young soldier concentrated looking at the stormy sky in the background. The complex that today contains the large galleries of the Academy is composed of the church of Santa Maria della Carità, its monastery and the areas of the Scuola Grande.
Its constitution dates back to the twelfth century, and over the centuries it passed into the hands of the canons of Santa Maria in Porto first, and from the Augustinians who undertook several campaigns to renovate both the church and the monastery later.
To work between these prestigious spaces there were names of very high thickness, such as Andrea Palladio, who modified a wing of the building and Giorgio Massari, who renovated a large part of the complex. It was only in 1807 that the entire structure of Santa Maria della Carità became state property, thanks to a Napoleonic law, thus creating the seat of the Academy of Fine Arts in Venezia.
Gianbattista Piazzetta, who was the first president and Gianmaria Morlaiter and Gianbattista Pittoni, who were the first advisers, was sanctioned in 1750 for the birth of the Venetian Academy, with respective statutes, among the great exponents and professors to be part of the college. Over the years many excellent works came from the Accademia gallery from the convents and churches of the Veneto region.
