The Pietro Vannucci Academy of Fine Arts in Perugia is the second oldest after Florence, founded as the Academy of Drawing in 1573 by the painter Orazio Alfani and the architect and mathematician Raffaele Sozi. Since 1901, it has been housed in the ancient Convent of San Francesco al Prato, a prestigious location next to the Oratory of San Bernardino by Agostino di Duccio, which since 1974 has also been the exhibition venue for the prestigious art collections, organized into three sections: Gipsoteca (or plaster gallery); Painting Gallery; Cabinet of Drawings and Prints. The first core of the collections was formed by the monumental Michelangelo-style Plasters (Aurora, Day, Twilight, Night), casts from the Medici Chapel in Florence within the complex of the Basilica of San Lorenzo, made and donated in the sixteenth century by the Perugian Vincenzo Danti. During the Napoleonic era, works from the suppressed religious orders entered the academy’s holdings, the initial core of the art collection that would become the National Gallery of Umbria. After the Unification of Italy, the Academy became the artistic guide and engine of creativity in Umbria and increased its collections through donations from institutions and private individuals, especially artists and academicians. After a closure due to the 1997 earthquake, the Academy Museum was reinstalled in the same location according to modern and rational criteria: it now displays over two hundred works from its collection with the same division into Plasters, Paintings, Drawings, and Prints and includes spaces for temporary exhibitions. Among the plasters, exceptional for craftsmanship and variety, stand out the gigantic Farnese Hercules, The Three Graces by Antonio Canova, an original copy donated by the artist, The Laocoön, The Shepherd Boy by Bertel Thorvaldsen, The Boxer Damosseno by Canova, Cupid and Psyche. Among the paintings, notable works include Self-Portrait with Parrot by Mariano Guardabassi, and paintings by Annibale Brugnoli, Domenico Bruschi, Armando Spadini, Mario Mafai, Alberto Burri, Gerardo Dottori.
Information about the Academy of Fine Arts Museum
Piazza San Francesco al Prato,
Perugia (Perugia)
biblioteca@abaperugia.org
https://www.abaperugia.org/
Source: MIBACT
