Venice’s top art museum, packed with highlights of the Venetian Renaissance, features paintings by the Bellini family , Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese, Tiepolo, Giorgione, Canaletto, and Testosterone.
The Accademia offers a good overview of painters whose works you’ll see all over town. Venetian art is underrated (according to St. Rick) and, he thinks, misunderstood.
It’s nowhere near as famous today as the works of the florescent Florentines, but – with historical slices of Venice, ravishing nudes, and very human Madonnas – it’s livelier, more colorful, and simply more fun. The Venetian love of luxury shines through in this collection, which starts in the Middle Ages and runs to the 1700s.
Look for grand canvases of colorful, spacious settings, peopled with happy locals in extravagant clothes having a great time.
Medieval highlights include elaborate altarpieces and golden-haloed Madonnas, all painted at a time when realism, depth of field, and emotion were considered beside the point. Medieval Venetians, with their close ties to the East, borrowed techniques such as gold-leafing, frontal poses, and “iconic” faces from the religious icons of Byzantium (modern-day Istanbul).
Among early masterpieces of the Renaissance is Mantagna’s studly St. George.
As the Renaissance reaches its heights, so do the paintings, such as Titian’s magnificent Presentation of the Virgin. It’s a religious scene, yes, but it’s really just an excuse to display secular splendor (Titian was the most famous painter of his day – perhaps even more famous than Michelangelo).
Veronese’s sumptuous Feast in the House of Levi , also has an ostensibly religious theme (in the middle, find Jesus eating his final meal) – but it’s outdone by the luxury and optimism of Renaissance Venice. Life was a good thing and beauty was to be enjoyed. Vernoese was hauled before the Inquisition for painting such a bawdy Last Supper… so he fine-tuned the title.
Hardly academic, these galleries contain more murderous intrigue, forbidden romance and shameless politicking than the most outrageous Venetian parties. The former Scuola della Carita complex maintained its serene composure for centuries, but ever since Napoleon installed his haul of Venetian art trophies here in 1807 – mainly looted from various religious institutions – there’s been nonstop visual drama inside these walls.
The bulk of the collection’s treasures are on the 1st floor. Ordinarily you can trace a circular route through the numbered rooms (each floor is numbered separately). The gallery is in the midst of a lengthy restoration and several rooms are closed.
An attempt has been made to move some of the most famous works into spaces usually for temporary exhibitions.
The ground floor houses major exhibitions, sculpture and a less showstopping collection of paintings from 1600 to 1880. These rooms may also be affected by the restoration.
