Gallerie dell'Accademia

The Accademia Galleries and the City of Venice enjoy a long-standing relationships: the halls contain many masterpieces originally held in local churches, schools and public buildings; a visit to the city might be considered an extension to a visit to the Accademia collections (or vice versa) because only this way can the visitor fully understand the significance for the painter of the destination and theme of a particular painting. In some cases, the works on display in the Galleries represent the only surviving evidence of churches that were demolished during Napoleon's domination. Some of the more famous private paintings included in the collection (the San Girolamo by Piero della Francesca, or several Venetian cityscapes by Pietro Longhi, for example) came to the Accademia thanks to the generosity of illustrious Venetian collectors. In 1816, the Accademia Gallery was the recipient of a bequeath from Girolamo Molin; Felicita Renier made her donation to the Museum in 1833 (executive as of 1850); in 1838, Girolamo Contarini devolved 188 of his paintings to the Galleries. The Museum management has consistently increased its collections, including with recent acquisitions.