Introduction

Probably not many of the visitors going to the Galleria dell'Accademia, at no. 60 in Via Ricasoli (the former Via del Cocomero), know the full meaning and the origin of these two words, Gallery and Academy. The term Gallery, which became widely used only in the nineteenth century when constructions designed specifically to house museums were built throughout Europe, was originally used to describe the top floor of the Uffizi: a very long corridor (the word itself is derived from the medieval latin "galilaca," meaning portico) with the rooms opening off it. This inspired architectural design was the work of Giorgio Vasari, whom the Medici had called upon when they decided to set aside a floor of their new palace as a permanent exhibition of their works of art. But the definitive affir- mation of the word Gallery happened in the following century, with the collection in the "Grande Galerie" of the Louvre, inaugurat ed in 1681, which became during the French Revolution the first Museum for the People and was proclaimed Museum of the Republic. In London, Dresden, and later Washington, many other museums were built and to this day still define themselves "Galleries."

The term Academy, on the other hand, comes from classical Greek. It designated an area in northwestern Athens, which took its name from its former owner, Academos. On the land there was a large park, where Plato lectured on philosophy, conversing with his disciples while walking through the trees. The term Academy thus came to mean the Platonic school, which continued to function as an institution of learning even after the philosopher's death. Over the centuries the Athenian Academy lost its prestige, but all in all it survived for more than nine hundred years, until 529 A.D. when the Edict of Justinian decreed the suppression of all philosophical schools. When, during Humanism, there was a re newed interest in classical antiquity, the

term Academy became once again very widely used. The first Art Academy was the one founded by Giorgio Vasari, with the patronage of the Medici prince, in 1563. The Accademia del Disegno (of Drawing). as it was called, was for two commuries the most important institution that contributed to the theoretical codification of the rules of Florentine art. The most successful artists belonged to this Academy: to be a member was a sign of prestige and great honour. But over the years its role as a teaching institution had died out, and in 1784 it was radically reformed by Pietro Leopoldo of Lorraine (the dynasty that had succeeded the Medici). The Accademia delle Arti del Disegno remained, but its functions were now limited, and it became simply a meeting place for established artists. Pietro Leopoldo founded the new Florentine Aca demy, based on the two principles that still stand today: its role as a teaching institution and its possession of works of art from which the students can learn. The Academy of Fine Arts was to be an efficient art school, for it was a general belief that art can be taught and learnt. Today we tend to think that art cannot be taught; but one can doubtless teach artistic techniques. And the possession of works of art was important because at the time the foundation of artis tic training consisted in systematic and re- peated copying of the great masterpieces of the past, the works of artists who had lived centuries earlier.

For this reason, Pietro Leopoldo set up a collection of paintings of great importance, to be used as models by the students. Most of the paintings came from the early Medici collections; others from suppressed religious institutions and the secularization of eccle- siastical property, a practice that became quite common again during the Napoleonic period and after the Unification of Italy. The Academy was housed, and still is today, in that extraordinary architectural complex that assembles under the same roof the ......