Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze

"Florentine Academy" redirects here. For other uses, see Florentine Academy (disambiguation).
Not to be confused with Accademia delle Arti del Disegno.
For the Accademia art gallery in Florence, see Galleria dell'Accademia.
Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze
The Accademia di Belle Arti seen from Piazza San Marco
TypeAcademy of fine arts
Established1563; 461 years ago (1563)
1784 (combination)
AffiliationGalleria dell'Accademia
PresidentCarlo Sisi
DirectorGaia Bindi
Studentsmore than 1200
Location
Florence
,
Tuscany
,
Italy

43°46′39″N 11°15′33″E / 43.7775°N 11.2592°E / 43.7775; 11.2592
Websiteaccademia.firenze.it

The Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze (ABAFI) (lit. 'academy of fine arts of Florence') is a state art school and the oldest public institution for fine arts education in the world. Founded in 1563 by Cosimo I de' Medici under the influence of Giorgio Vasari, it was subsequently reorganized at the initiative of the Grand Duke of Tuscany and separated from the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno in 1784.[1] Michelangelo, Benvenuto Cellini 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,[2] and falls under the administration of the Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca, the Italian ministry of education and research.[3] The adjacent Galleria dell'Accademia houses the original David by Michelangelo.

History

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16th century

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The Accademia delle Arti del Disegno was founded by Cosimo I de' Medici on 13 January 1563, under the influence of Giorgio Vasari and was the first art school in the world.[4] It was initially named the Accademia e Compagnia delle Arti del Disegno, or "academy and company of the arts of drawing", and was made up of two parts: the company was a kind of guild for all working artists, while the academy was for more eminent artistic personalities of Cosimo's court, and supervised artistic production in Tuscany.[4][5] It was later called the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno. At first, the academy met in the cloisters of the Santissima Annunziata.[5] Artists associated with the school include Michelangelo Buonarroti, Francesco da Sangallo, Agnolo Bronzino, Benvenuto Cellini, Giorgio Vasari, Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli, Bartolomeo Ammannati, and Giambologna. Most members of the Accademia were male. Artemisia Gentileschi was the first woman to be admitted; Angelika Kauffmann became a member in 1762.[6]: 481 

The courtyard of the Florence Accademia di Belle Arti at the end of the XIX Century. Florence, Archivio dell’Accademia di Belle Arti
The courtyard of the Florence Accademia di Belle Arti at the end of the 19th Century. Archive of Accademia di Belle Arti

18th century

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In 1784 Pietro Leopoldo, Grand Duke of Tuscany, combined all the schools of drawing in Florence into one institution, the new Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, or academy of fine arts. The Accademia delle Arti del Disegno was thus suppressed and transformed into the Collegio dei Professori dell'Accademia.[7]

19th century

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In the begging of the 19th century the Accademia awarded Marianne Sessi a gold medal in 1807.[8] After the Unification of Italy in 1871, the Collegio dei Professori dell'Accademia delle Arti del Disegno was again separated from the Regia Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze in 1873.

The courtyard of the Florence Accademia di Belle Arti in the 21st century.

20th century

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Galleria dell'Accademia di Firenze, il David di Michelangelo

The academy became fully independent of it in 1937, and was at the same time divided into three school classes, of architecture, of painting, and of sculpture. Sculpture and painting became separate classes under a new statute of 1953. Since 1971 the Accademia has occupied Palazzo dell'Arte dei Beccai, in via Orsanmichele.[9] The present statute of the organisation was published by decree of the President of the Republic of Italy, and is dated 17 May 1978.

The Galleria dell'Accademia

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Main article: 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 David by Michelangelo since 1873.[10]

In 2001 the "Museo degli strumenti musicali" collection opened. It includes musical instruments made by Stradivarius, Niccolò Amati and Bartolomeo Cristofori which were acquired by the Florence Conservatory.

In 2023, the museum successfully sued a magazine publisher for using an image of Michelangelo's David without the museum's permission, even though the artwork (which is physically in the museum) belongs to the public domain.[11][12] The museum also objected to GQ Italia using a lenticular cover to switch between an image of the statue and Pietro Boselli.[12]

Academics

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ABAFI is an interdisciplinary school, combining art with other fields such as philosophy, psychology, and anthropology. It offers classes in art history, theory and criticism, ceramics, designed, filmmaking, interior architecture, new media, painting and drawing, performance, photography, printmaking, graphic design, sculpture, technology, chromatology, philosophy, psychology, anthropology and art economics.[13]

Notable people

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Notable professors included Antonio Berti, Felice Carena, Galileo Chini, Lazzaro Donati, Primo Conti, Pericle Fazzini, Quinto Martini, Ottone Rosai.[14]

Notable alumni include Amedeo Modigliani, Antonio Catelani, Giovanni Fattori, Giuseppe Bezzuoli, Massimo Bartolini, Mario Puccini, Sandro Chia, Sisley Xhafa, Vittorio Matteo Corcos.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze, Cecilie Hollberg e Michelangelo Pistoletto tra gli accademici d'onore". Agenzia di Stampa Cult. Retrieved 30 August 2024.
  2. ^ Legge 21 dicembre 1999, n.508: Riforma delle Accademie di belle arti, dell'Accademia nazionale di danza, dell'Accademia nazionale di arte drammatica, degli Istituti superiori per le industrie artistiche, dei Conservatori di musica e degli Istituti musicali pareggiati. (in Italian). Gazzetta Ufficiale, 4 gennaio 2000 n.2. Archived 1 October 2011.
  3. ^ Accademie di belle arti (in Italian). Ministero dell'Istruzione, dell'Università e della Ricerca: AFAM – Alta Formazione Artistica, Musicale e Coreutica. Accessed May 2015.
  4. ^ a b Accademia delle Arti del Disegno (in Italian). Ministero dei beni e delle attività culturali e del turismo: Direzione Generale per le Biblioteche, gli Istituti Culturali e il Diritto d'Autore. Accessed October 2014.
  5. ^ a b Francesco Adorno (1983). Accademie e istituzioni culturali a Firenze (in Italian). Firenze: Olschki.
  6. ^ Wendy Wassyng Roworth (Spring 2004). Documenting Angelica Kauffman's Life and Art (review). Eighteenth-Century Studies 37 (3): 478–482. doi:10.1353/ecs.2004.0031. (subscription required).
  7. ^ Z. Wazbinski (1987). L'Accademia medicea del Disegno a Firenze nel Cinquecento (in Italian). Firenze: Olschki.
  8. ^ Mendel (1880). Musikalisches Konversationslexikon: eine Encyklopedie der gesammten musikalischen Wissenschaften für Gebildete aller Stände (in German).
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference aadfi1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Ragsdale, J. Donald (2020). Western European Museums and Visual Persuasion: Art, Edifice, and Social Influence. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 96. ISBN 978-1-5275-5669-0.
  11. ^ Dafoe, Taylor (1 June 2023). "A Florence Museum Won Its Lawsuit Against a Publisher That Used a 'Mortifying and Humiliating' Image of Michelangelo's 'David'". Artnet News.
  12. ^ a b Bandara, Pesala (5 June 2023). "Museum Wins Lawsuit Over Photo of Michelangelo's David". PetaPixel. Retrieved 6 June 2023.
  13. ^ "Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze: Offerta Formativa". Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze. 2024. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  14. ^ "Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze: Offerta Formativa". Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze. 2024. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
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