History
The Accademia delle Arti del Disegno (initially named Accademia e Compagnia delle Arti del Disegno ("Arts of Drawing Academy and Company"), as it was divided into two different operative branches) was founded in 1563 by Cosimo I de' Medici under the influence of Giorgio Vasari. At first, the Academy met in the cloisters of the Basilica della Santissima Annunziata.
While the Company was a kind of corporation which every working artist in Tuscan should join, the Academy was constituted only by the most eminent artistic personalities of Cosimo’s court, and had the task of supervising the whole artistic production of the medicean state.
The extraordinary contribution of academics, including Michelangelo Buonarroti, Francesco da Sangallo, Agnolo Bronzino, Benvenuto Cellini, Giorgio Vasari, Bartolomeo Ammannati, and Giambologna, increased the prestige of this institution.
It was taken for granted at the outset that all the members of the Accademia were male; when the Accademia welcomed Artemisia Gentileschi to membership, it was a signal honor to a woman.
Pietro Leopoldo, Grand Duke of Tuscany, decreed in 1784 that all the schools of drawing in Florence be combined under one roof, the new founded Accademia di Belle Arti ("Academy of Fine Arts"), while the Academics College of the prestigious medicean institution changed its name to Accademia delle Arti del Disegno, conserving the task of artistic formation and supervision of artistic production of the Grand Duchy of Tuscany.
The Accademia di Belle Arti and the adjoining Gallery still occupy the premises that were assigned in Via Ricasoli, a former convent and hospice, while the headquarters of the Accademia delle Arti del Disegno nowadays is Palazzo dell'Arte dei Beccai. The Grand Duke also decided to include among the arts protected in this way, a conservatory of music (the Cherubini Conservatory) and, more extraordinary, a school of art restoration (the Opificio delle Pietre Dure).
Read more about this topic: Accademia Di Belle Arti Firenze
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