History
Opened in 1750 as Academy of fine arts, dedicated mainly to Venetian painters, this exemplary collection of masterpieces became a picture gallery called ‘Gallerie dell'Accademia ‘ in 1807, spured by an important historical event : the suppression of convents and religious complexes on the request of Napoleon, which provoked the disassembling of collections in all of North Italy , and the birth, due to necessity, of Academies in Brera, Bologna and Venezia. Situated in the architonic complex formed of the ancient ex-church, the monastery and the so-called ‘Scuola della Carità’, the academy got richer and richer during the years of new masterpieces, always keeping its reputation as the the biggest Venetian collection of paintings in the world. When built it was necessary for the harmony of the surrounding buildings to give it a new facade, to close off the old Gothic church built between 1441 and 1445 by Bartolomeo Bon. The remaining part of the old building is the royal part, built in 1555 by Palladio.

The contents
In the Galleries of the academy you can admire world famous works of art in an extraordinary range of five centuries of Venitian painting. The rout is in chronological order starting in the 300's going up to the 700's.
The rout begins with Bizantine splendor of Paolo Veneziano, the incoronation of the Vergin with scenes from the life of Jesus and San Francesco (1340); following the San Giorgio by Andrea Mantegna (1460) and San Gerolamo by Piero della Francesca (1450) probably painted in Venice. Important example of the evolution of late Gothic to the spacey humanitarialism is the altar pillar showing San Giobbe and the Vergin with Saints (1485) by Giovanni Bellini, also of his work we can see Vergin with baby between Santa Maddalena and Santa Caterina (1490).

From this period there's also the most famous piece in the academy: 'la Tempesta' by Giorgione (1507 approx.) one of the rare works which is certainly his, historical critics have been discussing the meaning for centuries: dipicted is a soldier and a woman cradling a baby and a tempest in the background. By Giorgione there is also the Vecchia, 1508. Other three important works by Giovanni Bellini are the' Vergine degli alberetti', one of the most tender Madonas by the artist, the 'Pietà e la Vergine col bambino tra San Giovanni Battista e una Santa', in which the experts say that they see the influence of his old master. The San Giovanni Battista by Tiziano (1535) initiates the 500's, followed by works such as 'il Gentiluomo con lucertola' (1525) by Lorenzo Lotto, painted in Venice, and the 'Sacra Conversazione' by Palma il Vecchio, influenced by Tiziano, who is said to have finished the painting after the death of the master. The wonderful series of paintings by Tintoretto includes works such as 'San Gerolamo' and 'Sant'Andrea' and 'il San Giorgio e la Principessa', apart from a few other characters from the old testament. The greatest Venitian painter from the 700's, Giambattista Tiepolo, has his 'Serpente di Bronzo', 'Sant'Elena che scopre la Croce', characters on the cieling of the 'Chiesa degli Scalzi'. Two good examples of painting from the 700's are "L'isola di San Giorgio Maggiore" by Francesco Guardi and 'Prospettiva' by Canaletto, given to the academy by the artist, which had welcomed him as one of their members.

The Teleri
The most spectacular part of the picture gallery is the 'Ciclo dei Teleri', which had the double function of representing the life of the patron saints of the Confraternite and important people. The last rooms are dedicated to these big descriptive canvases comissioned by the schools and Venitian brotherhood. The most interesting pieces are the eight 'Storie della Santa Croce', painted by Carpaccio, Gentile Bellini and their pupils for the school of San Giovanni Evangelista which hosted the miraculous reliquia of the cross. In particular, the 'Processione della reliquia in piazza San Marco' (1496), best work of Bellini, offers a historical view of the 'Porta della Carta di Palazzo Ducale', a little after its construction. Other canvases have the same mix of history and architecture such as the 'Guarigione di un indemoniato', 1496, in which Vittore Carpaccio shows the Rialto bridge when it was still in wood, and the 'fondaco' of the Germans, later destroyed by a fire in 1505. By the same Carpaccio the majestic 'Leggenda di Sant'Orsola' (1475-95). The last masterpiece with which we leave the gallery is the only painting of teleri of Tiziano, the 'Presentazione di Maria al Tempio', painted between 1534 and 1538.