The Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze () is an instructional

art academy An art school is an educational institution with a primary focus on practice and related theory in the visual arts and design. This includes fine art – especially illustration, painting, contemporary art, sculpture, and graphic design. T ...

Florence Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence ...

, in

Tuscany Tuscany ( ; ) is a Regions of Italy, region in central Italy with an area of about and a population of 3,660,834 inhabitants as of 2025. The capital city is Florence. Tuscany is known for its landscapes, history, artistic legacy, and its in ...

, in central Italy. It was founded by

Cosimo I de' Medici Cosimo I de' Medici (12 June 1519 – 21 April 1574) was the second and last duke of Florence from 1537 until 1569, when he became the first grand duke of Tuscany, a title he held until his death. Cosimo I succeeded his cousin to the duchy. ...

in 1563, under the influence of

Giorgio Vasari Giorgio Vasari (30 July 1511 – 27 June 1574) was an Italian Renaissance painter, architect, art historian, and biographer who is best known for his work ''Lives of the Most Excellent Painters, Sculptors, and Architects'', considered the ideol ...

Michelangelo Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspir ...

Benvenuto Cellini Benvenuto Cellini (, ; 3 November 150013 February 1571) was an Italian goldsmith, sculptor, and author. His best-known extant works include the ''Cellini Salt Cellar'', the sculpture of ''Perseus with the Head of Medusa'', and his autobiography ...

and other significant artists have been associated with it. Like other state art academies in Italy, it became an autonomous degree-awarding institution under law no. 508 dated 21 December 1999, and falls under the administration of the

Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca The Ministry of Education and Merit (in or MIM) is the ministry of the Italian government for the national education system, the Italian universities and research agencies. The current Italian Minister of Public Education is Giuseppe Valditara ...

, the Italian ministry of education and research. The adjacent (but unaffiliated)

Galleria dell'Accademia The Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze () is an art museum in Florence, Italy. It is best known as the home of Michelangelo's sculpture ''David''. It also has other sculptures by Michelangelo and a large collection of paintings by Florentine a ...

houses the original ''

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

'' by

History

The Accademia e Compagnia delle Arti del Disegno, or "academy and company of the arts of drawing", was founded on 13 January 1563 by

, under the influence of

. It was made up of two parts: the company was a kind of guild for all working artists, while the academy was a more select group of artists responsible for supervision of artistic production in the Medici state. At first, the academy met in the cloisters of the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata. Artists including

Michelangelo Buonarroti Michelangelo di Lodovico Buonarroti Simoni (6March 147518February 1564), known mononymously as Michelangelo, was an Italian sculptor, painter, architect, and poet of the High Renaissance. Born in the Republic of Florence, his work was inspi ...

, Lazzaro Donati,

Francesco da Sangallo Francesco da Sangallo (1494–1576) was an Italian Renaissance sculptor, the son of the architect and sculptor Giuliano da Sangallo. Sangallo was born in Florence. His father took him at the age of ten to Rome where, in 1506, he was present at ...

Agnolo Bronzino Agnolo di Cosimo (; 17 November 150323 November 1572), usually known as Bronzino ( ) or Agnolo Bronzino, was an Italians, Italian Mannerism, Mannerist painter from Florence. His sobriquet, ''Bronzino'', may refer to his relatively dark skin or r ...

Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli (1507 – 31 August 1563), also known as Giovann'Agnolo Montorsoli, was a Florentine sculptor and Servite friar. He is today as often remembered for his restorations of famous classical works as his original crea ...

Bartolomeo Ammannati Bartolomeo Ammannati (18 June 1511 – 13 April 1592) was an Italian architect and sculptor, born at Settignano, near Florence, Italy. He studied under Baccio Bandinelli and Jacopo Sansovino (assisting on the design of the Library of St. Mark ...

, and

Giambologna Giambologna (1529 – 13 August 1608), also known as Jean de Boulogne (French), Jehan Boulongne (Flemish) and Giovanni da Bologna (Italian), was the last significant Italian Renaissance sculptor, with a large workshop producing large and small ...

were members. Most members of the Accademia were male.

Artemisia Gentileschi Artemisia Lomi Gentileschi ( ; ; 8 July 1593) was an Italian Baroque painter. Gentileschi is considered among the most accomplished 17th century, 17th-century artists, initially working in the style of Caravaggio. She was producing professional ...

was the first woman to be admitted;

Angelika Kauffmann Maria Anna Angelika Kauffmann ( ; 30 October 1741 – 5 November 1807), usually known in English as Angelica Kauffman, was a Swiss Neoclassical painter who had a successful career in London and Rome. Remembered primarily as a history painter, K ...

became a member in 1762. The Accademia awarded

Marianne Sessi Marianne Sessi Natorp (died 10 March 1847) was an Italian soprano and canzonetta composer. Her birth date is listed as 1770, 1771, 1773, or 1776 in various sources. She was best known as a member of the musical Sessi dynasty and a renowned operatic ...

a gold medal in 1807. In 1784

Pietro Leopoldo Leopold II (Peter Leopold Josef Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard; 5 May 1747 – 1 March 1792) was the penultimate Holy Roman Emperor, as well as King of Hungary, Croatia and Bohemia, and Archduke of Austria from 1790 to 1792, and Grand Duke of Tusca ...

Grand Duke of Tuscany Grand may refer to: People with the name * Grand (surname) * Grand L. Bush (born 1955), American actor Places * Grand, Oklahoma, USA * Grand, Vosges, village and commune in France with Gallo-Roman amphitheatre * Grand County (disambiguation), se ...

, combined all the schools of drawing in Florence into one institution, the new Accademia di Belle Arti, or academy of fine arts. It was housed in a former convent in via Ricasoli, premises which it still occupies. In 1873 the Accademia was divided into two separate bodies: the teaching institution, the Accademia di Belle Arti; and the college of academicians, which was named the

Accademia delle Arti del Disegno The Accademia delle Arti del Disegno ("Academy of the Arts of Drawing") is an academy of artists in Florence, in Italy. It was founded on 13 January 1563 by Cosimo I de' Medici, under the influence of Giorgio Vasari. It was initially known as ...

The Galleria dell'Accademia

The Galleria dell'Accademia was founded in 1784; it adjoins the Accademia di Belle Arti in via Ricasoli, but is otherwise unconnected with it. It has housed the original ''

'' by

since 1873.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Accademia Di Belle Arti Firenze 1784 establishments in Italy Art schools in Italy Educational institutions established in 1784 Galleria dell'Accademia Learned societies of Italy 1784 establishments in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany

History

The Galleria dell'Accademia

See also

References