DELL'ACCADEMIA GALLERY

One of Italy's finest painting galleries, this former convent, once the School of Fine Arts, is a vast edifice facing the Accademia bridge. It houses the region's most important collection of Venetian paintings from the ^14th to the early ^19th centuries. Created by order of the Senate in 1724 "to attract artists on their way to Florence, Bologna or Rome", the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice became, over the centuries, a leading artistic center, directed by artists such as Giambattista Piazzetta and Gianbattista Tiepolo. It was only in 1805, with Napoleon's return to Italy, that the Viceroy Eugène de Beauharnais decided to give the "Accademia" a more appropriate home, transferring it to the current architectural complex. This comprises the Convent of the Canonici Lateranensi, designed by Andrea Palladio, the disused Gothic church of the Carità, rebuilt by Bartolomeo Bon in 1452, and the Scuola della Carità, the first of Venice's grandiose scuole, founded in 1260. The Accademia's collection grew over time, although it suffered considerable amputations, notably during the French occupation(Le Repas chez Lévi, by Veronese, was not returned until 1838) and after Italian unification, when many of its paintings were sent to the Accademia de Brera in Milan and to the homes of the Savoys. Today, the exhibition is arranged chronologically in 34 rooms. The exhibition is spread over two floors, following a chronological itinerary.

Room 1. The former meeting room of the Capitolo della Scuola Grande di Santa Maria della Carità, a lay brotherhood dedicated to the poor, was decorated (ceiling) between 1461 and 1484 with the faces of angels, each different from the next. This transition is clearly visible in the paintings by Antonio Vivarini and Paolo Veneziano, including the so-called Lion Polyptych (1325), named after its patron, Domenico Lion, a member of the Venetian Senate.

Rooms 2 and 3. Two rooms featuring paintings by Bellini, Gentile and Giovanni(La Pala di San Giobbe), combined with an altarpiece from the church of San Giobbe. These works marked the beginnings of the Venetian Renaissance, as did several canvases by Cima da Conegliano and two paintings by Vittore Carpaccio.

Rooms 4 and 5. These two rooms are devoted to the theme of the Virgin and Child and its various interpretations by Giovanni Bellini(The Virgin and Child between Saint Catherine and Saint Magdalene); a Flemish interlude with Memling's Portrait of a Young Man, a fine Saint George by Mantegna, and a painting by Piero della Francesca.

Room 8. Entirely dedicated to Giorgione, this room is one of the most exciting in the museum. Here we find one of the most emblematic works in the collection: The Tempest (1500-1510), an allegory and an enigma in equal measure. The difficulty of interpreting this painting has, over the centuries, given rise to a number of hypotheses, none of which has yet succeeded in unravelling its mystery. Some, for example, have believed that the deserted city in the background of the painting represents the terrestrial paradise with its characters, Adam, Eve and their son Cain... The two remains of columns symbolize death, the ultimate punishment for men marked by original sin.

Room 11. Among the masterpieces preserved in this room are fragments of the frescoes by Giambattista Tiepolo that adorned the ceiling of the degli Scalzi church, as well as Tintoretto's paintings dedicated to Saint Mark, including TheAbduction of the Body of Saint Mark, which evokes one of the founding legends of the history of Venice. A pictorial cycle through which the painter made his mark on the Venetian art scene.

Room 20. Another highlight of the visit are the eight immense canvases on the theme of the Miracle of the Cross (1494), which decorated the salons of the Scuola Grande di San Giovanni Evangelista. They were painted by Giovanni Bellini in collaboration with Carpaccio and other painters. A wonderful glimpse of late ^15th-century Venice.

Room 21. Entirely dedicated to Vittore Carpaccio, this is the pictorial cycle created for the Scuola di Sant'Orsola depicting the Golden Legendof the Breton princess Ursula (1490-1495). The Venetian cityscape is rendered with unparalleled richness of detail and brilliance of color.

Room 22. Tintoretto(Adam and Eve; Cain and Abel), Veronese, Vivarini decorate with their works the space originally dedicated to the Santa Maria della Carità church inside the Academy of Fine Arts.

Room 24. The last room on the^1st floor, the former Sala dell'Albergo of the Scuola di S. Maria della Carità now houses Titian's delicate Presentation of the Virgin at the Temple.

Room 2 RC. A room entirely dedicated to Giambattista Tiepolo and his large-scale decorative canvases destined to adorn Venetian palaces.

Rooms 7, 10 and 13 RC. These rooms house a whole series of casts, statues and bas-reliefs by Antonio Canova, one of the most important exponents of Italian neoclassicism.

Room 8 RC. Finally, this room houses paintings by Francesco Guardi, Canaletto and Pietro Falca, known as Longhi. These works are particularly revealing of the successive transformations of Venice over the centuries, as well as of everyday Venetian life in the ^18th century(The Concert, The Apothecary, The Morning of the Venetian Lady, by Longhi).