The Accademia e Compagnia delle Arti del Disegno, or "academy and company of the arts of drawing", was founded on 13 January 1563 by
Cosimo I de' Medici, under the influence of
Giorgio Vasari. It was made up of two parts: the company was a kind of guild for all working artists, while the academy was a more select group of artists responsible for supervision of artistic production in the Medici state. At first, the academy met in the cloisters of the
Basilica della Santissima Annunziata. Artists including
Michelangelo Buonarroti,
Lazzaro Donati,
Francesco da Sangallo,
Agnolo Bronzino,
Benvenuto Cellini,
Giorgio Vasari,
Giovanni Angelo Montorsoli,
Bartolomeo Ammannati, and
Giambologna were members. Most members of the Accademia were male.
Artemisia Gentileschi was the first woman to be admitted;
Angelika Kauffmann became a member in 1762. The Accademia awarded
Marianne Sessi a gold medal in 1807. In 1784
Pietro Leopoldo,
Grand Duke of Tuscany, combined all the schools of drawing in Florence into one institution, the new
Accademia di Belle Arti, or academy of fine arts. It was housed in a former convent in via Ricasoli, premises which it still occupies. In 1873 the Accademia was divided into two separate bodies: the teaching institution, the Accademia di Belle Arti; and the college of academicians, which was named the
Accademia delle Arti del Disegno. In recent years, the Academy has expanded its programs to include contemporary media and digital arts. == The Galleria dell'Accademia ==