Galleria dell'Accademia - Accademia Gallery

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Galleria dell'Accademia

Must see's:

• Michelangelo's David and Prisoners
• Giambologna's Rape of the Sabines
• Botticelli's Madonna and Child and Madonna of the Sea

On the Accademia...

In 1784, the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Pietro Leopoldo, converted the friary of San Matteo and the convent of San Niccolò di Cafaggio to house the Gallery so students in the adjoining Accademia delle Belle Arti (Fine Arts Academy) could study the greatest works of the past.

Today, it is visited by most people who want to see Michelangelo's David. Undoubtedly the world's most famous sculpture, the museum also houses five other Michelangelo sculptures - the four unfinished Prisoners and St. Matthew - and a collection of Gothic and Renaissance paintings that were once in the Medici collections.

David

Michelangelo's David arrived in 1873, moved here from the Piazza della Signoria in order to better conserve it. A copy of the statue still stands in Piazza della Signoria where it formerly was displayed. Despite the familiarity of the statue's image, the sheer size of the marble statue comes as a surprise. Commissioned by the Opera del Duomo in 1501, the work was deliberately designed to symbolize the virtues of Republican Florence and freedom from foreign and papal domination. Recently, it has come to symbolize the ultimate symbol of the artistic and intellectual ambitions of the Renaissance.

The 16-foot high block of marble was transformed in 3 years into the work of art that was to establish, along with the Pietà displayed at the Vatican, Michelangelo's reputation as the foremost sculptor of his day. David was always intended as an outdoor sculpture which explains some of the extraordinary physical distortions evident in the statue, such as the overly large hands and head. Even the eyes are made to be looked at from below; when examined from statue eye level, in fact, the two eyes were found to be looking in different directions.

Also at the Accademia...

Among the other works housed in the Galleria are Giambologna's Rape of the Sabines (copy located in the Loggia dei Lanzi in Piazza della Signoria), Botticelli's Madonna and Child and Madonna of the Sea, and a few works by Perugino, Filippino Lippi, Pontormo and Bronzino.

Recently, the treasured collection of musical instruments from the "Luigi Cherubini" Conservatory of Music has been added to the collection, enhancing the museum's holdings.

Visit the official site on the Galleria dell'Accademia from the Firenze Musei website.

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