The
most enlightened prince of the Lorraine family
that ruled over Tuscany for over a century, the
Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo, united in 1784 all
the Florentine drawing schools into one Academy.
He also founded a gallery to exhibit earlier paintings
with the aim of facilitating the study of the
Academy's pupils. The seat chosen is the present
location of the Museum, a building that originally
housed the Hospital of St. Matthew, enlarged in
time through the addition of several adjoining
spaces.
The consistency and composition of the collections
displayed in this museum has changed over time
due to the addition of works of art removed from
suppressed convents, but also due to loss of works
temporarily given or returned to other Florentine
museums, in particular to the Uffizi (Botticelli's
Primavera was displayed here for many years).
Over time the Gallery has become one of the main
museums in town, also thanks to the acquisition
of some extraordinary masterpieces, such as the
Pietà by Giovanni da Milano (14th century);
the Annunciation by Lorenzo Monaco (15th century);
the splendid frontal called Cassone Adimari showing
a sumptuous marriage procession (c. 1450) and
the Madonna of the Sea attributed to Botticelli
(1445-1510).
It is evident that the museum started to become
the favourite gallery of tourists in 1873, when
Michelangelo's David was exhibited for the first
time on a specially arranged tribune. For protection
purposes, the statue was in fact removed from
Piazza Signoria where it had represented for over
four centuries the strength and dignity of the
Florentine Republic. In the early years of the
20th century, this statue was joined by other
extraordinary works of art by the same artist,
such as St. Matthew and the four Prisoners originally
made for the tomb of Pope Julius II in Rome, but
placed in the grotto of the Boboli gardens at
the end of the 15th century, and finally by the
Pieta di Palestrina (whose attribution to the
master is still somehow controversial). A capillary
organisation and restoration of some of the rooms
on the upper floor have allowed the museum to
recently integrate the collection with a series
of paintings from the 14th to the 16th centuries
and to open a room displaying the chalk models
of famous 19th century sculptors like Lorenzo
Bartolini and Luigi Pampaloni.
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