In Situ (Jan 2021)
L’Accademia Albertina di Belle Arti de Turin
Abstract
An ancient trade guild was given the charter of Academy of painters, sculptors and architects of Turin in 1678. Academicians, men and women, built the first art collection devoted to teaching. In 1778 the Academy was refounded and a French painter taught by the Roman school, Laurent Pécheux (1729-1821), was appointed director. During the Napoleonic period, the Turin Academy was under the direction of the Paris Academy. In 1833, King Charles Albert of Sardinia chose the definitive location of the Academy, where it still remains today. The inventories of 1839, 1846 and 1856 give evidence of the expansion of the plaster models collection, reaching 850 items. The Library has been enriched by publications and manuscripts available for teaching. After 1849, students were allowed to choose among lectures by new competing teachers.An analytical description of the Academy from 1851 lists animal models, skeletons, architectural models, decoration details casts, drawings and engravings of art works, art books collections, watercolors by Giuseppe Pietro Bagetti, sixty preliminary cartoons for Renaissance pictures (placed in a hall especially equipped and illuminated in 2019), two hundred paintings from the Archbishop Mossi di Morano collection. These two groups of art works are shown in the twelve rooms of the present picture-gallery.After the last war bombings, the palace was restored, the picture-gallery re-organized and re-opened, the gypsothèque set up again. Historical Library and Archives were provided with new catalogues and inventories. The drawings and engravings cabinet is accessible for students as well as the photos collections, the artists videos, and the theatre and ballet documentation and capture. Yet, difficulties tend to upset the balance between conservation, frequent use for teaching and enjoyment for general audience.
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