The sculptures by the renowned Renaissance artist Michelangelo are undoubtedly the most well-known feature of Florence, Italy’s Galleria dell’Accademia, often known as the Accademia Gallery.
The majority of the hundreds of thousands of tourists the Museum greets each year are drawn in by his Prisoners (or Slaves), his St. Matthew, and, above all, the magnificent statue of David within the Tribune.
Every year the Gallerie dell’Accademia organizes exhibitions on various intriguing topics.
In the past, Accademia has arranged exhibitions focusing on underappreciated artists, including Carlo Portelli and Giovanni dal Ponte.
These exhibitions spread across different periods in human history, from the middle age to the 19th century.
With last-minute entry tickets to the Accademia Gallery, where masterpieces await your discovery, you can enter a world of art and culture and not miss out on these exhibitions.
Read ahead to learn more about the recent and past exhibitions hosted by the Accademia Gallery and its virtual tour of some famous artworks.
The Bronze Effigy of Michelangelo by Daniele da Volterra
It is the first exhibition ever to display all bronze portraits of Michelangelo ascribed to Daniele da Volterra.
The exhibition examines the link between the original, copies and derivatives of the statues.
The authorship and origins of the numerous examples found in various Italian and foreign museums are highly speculative, and these bronze portraits are the same.
The exhibition’s main objective is to create the first scientific catalog of the bronze busts attributed to Daniele da Volterra.
The catalog includes the results of the previous research and the current understanding of the bronze casting techniques of Daniele da Volterra.
The exhibition also provides a rare opportunity to observe the pieces closely.
You can examine their aesthetic and technical qualities, possibly due to technologically advanced studies employing 3D scanning.
Initial Schedule: 15 February 2022 to 19 June 2022
Curated by: Cecilie Hollberg
New acquisitions 2016-2018
The New Acquisitions 2016-2018 is one of the events at Accademia Gallery and adds several masterpieces to the permanent collection.
The newly added pieces include those bought off the market and those received through kind donations.
Other pieces came from the deposits of Certosa di Firenze, while the rest were seized due to illegal export by the Carabinieri Command for the Protection of Cultural Heritage.
Initial Schedule: 22 January to 5 May 2019
Curated by: Cecilie Hollberg
Fabric and wealth in Florence in the fourteenth century. Wool, silk and painting
This exhibit, conceived and curated by the director of the Museum, demonstrates the significance of textiles as an artistic medium in Florence in the 1300s, both economically and artistically.
The 1300s saw the emergence of fashion as a brand-new phenomenon associated with luxury.
The quality of Florentine goods produced of wool and later silk gained overall value that spread all over Europe despite wars, numerous epidemics, financial crises, and social problems.
After the Black Death, fashion swiftly expanded as a symbol of the quest for glory and the celebration of life.
The phenomenon, with its remarkable geographic range and unmatched reputation, was a massive source of revenue for Florence.
As a result, in the 14th century, Florence had the means to invest significantly in textiles, high-end products, architecture, and art.
The exhibition showcases the textiles produced during this era of prosperity and the paintings that captured the time.
The priceless and uncommon pieces of medieval paintings and textiles on show reflect the painters’ expert understanding of textiles and the period’s fashion.
Noteworthy pieces include:
- The ‘Baptism of Christ’ by Giovanni Baronzio, loaned from the National Gallery in Washington, DC
- Fabric fragment decorated with phoenixes and wine leaves from the Museum of Textiles in Prato
- The ‘Coronation of the Virgin and Four Angels’ by Gherardo di Jacopo, also known as Starnina, from the Galleria Nazionale di Parma
- A restored 13th-century Crucifix.
Initial Schedule: 5 December 2017 to 15 April 2018
Curated by: Cecilie Hollberg
Giovanni dal Ponte: Protagonist of late Gothic Florentine Humanism
The first exhibition was devoted entirely to the Florentine painter Giovanni dal Ponte (about 1385–1437), also known as Giovanni dal Ponte.
The collection reviews recent research on the high quality and significant historical, typological, and iconographic value of his work.
With the main objective of highlighting the strong personality that played an essential part in the evolution of Florentine painting of his period, the exhibition delivers a timeline of his work.
Initial Schedule: 22 November 2016 to 12 March 2017
Curated by: Angelo Tartuferi and Lorenzo Sbaraglio
Carlo Portelli, eccentric painter between Rosso Fiorentino and Vasari
The Tribune at the Accademia houses many of Carlo Portelli’s finest paintings in the 1566 altarpiece, ‘Immaculate Conception.’
However, the Florentine painter deserves more recognition for his originality, imagination, and ability to incorporate creative concepts into paintings in the style of Vasari.
The exhibition sets out to improve the gallery’s altarpiece by displaying around 50 Carlo Portelli’s paintings, drawings and documents.
Despite being one of the most involved artists in the significant ornamental schemes commissioned by the House of Medici, his work has never gotten the proper attention.
This exhibition aims to inspire the public to learn about the painter who has previously been known only to experts.
Initial Schedule: 22 December 2015 to 30 April 2016
Curated by: Angelo Tartuferi and Alessandro Cecchi
The Fortunes of the Primitives: Art treasures from Italian Collections between the late eighteenth and nineteenth centuries
This exhibition focuses on this lesser-known topic for the first time.
It aims to offer a clear overview of Italy’s development of taste and collection of art between the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
This significant phenomenon also exerted a vast and direct influence on other major European countries’ public displays of art.
The ‘La Fortuna Degli primitivi, Dal Vasari ai Neoclassici, Turin’ by Giovanni Previtali, first released in 1964, serves as an opening statement.
Visitors will be able to stroll around the collectors of Italy during the late 18th and early 19th century with an animated dialogue.
Along with paintings, the exhibition includes sections dedicated to illuminations and sculpture.
The show will display the work of numerous artists, including Giovanni Bellini, Arnolfo di Cambio, Nardo di Cione, Bernardo Daddi, Beato Angelico, Filippo Lippi, Taddeo Gaddi, Pietro da Rimini, Lippo Memmi and Ambrogio Lorenzetti.
Initial Schedule: 24 June 2015 to 8 December 2015
Curated by: By Angelo Tartuferi and Gianluca Tormen
Franciscan Art: Masterpieces of art and Asian lands from the 13th to the 15th centuries
The exhibition focuses on the origins of the middle age’s most significant religious and cultural phenomena, the Franciscan movement.
Franciscans spread the movement, which made significant contributions to religion and art, to the East, reaching as far as China.
The exhibition displays art relating to St Francis and his 14th and 15th-century followers, along with 14th-century illuminated manuscripts and some intricately carved column tops.
Initial Schedule: 31 March 2015 to 11 October 2015
Curated by: ‘Commissio Sinica’ della pontificia Università Antonianum
Virtual tour of Accademia Gallery exhibitions
The Accademia Gallery offers online virtual tours of some artwork displayed at the gallery.
You can enjoy the following tours free of cost on their official website.
- Masterpieces by Michelangelo: Gaze at David and the Prisoners in this interactive tour.
Note his work’s comprehensive attention to detail and passion for human anatomy.
- The Plasters Cast Collection: Appreciate the plaster cast work of Bartolini in depth.
- The Ages of Painting: Experience the most incredible work from the Renaissance era.
Featured Image: GalleriAaccademiafirenze.it