In the Fall of 1750, following the decision of the Senate, the Academy opened its doors to the prestigious school with 36 teachers, which were chosen each academic year for the four core subjects. These were "figure", "sculpture", "portrait", "landscape", to which it was added in 1768 "perspective and architecture."

The purpose of the institute was not only to train 'professional' artists at the highest level but also to restore, preserve and safeguard the public works of the Serenissima. From this motivation it was born in 1777 thanks to Academician Peter Edwards "the authentic restoration of the Charter before its time", contributing at the latest, to the "Establishment of a Formal Public School” to restore damaged paintings. In the meantime, the "Venetian Academy of Painting, Sculpture and Architecture" continued to grow and in 1807 it was reformed in the "Royal Academy of Fine Arts”. Needing more space, the institute moved to the former convent, church and school of St Mary of Charity, the work of Andrea Palladio.

The institute of Venice has accumulated a huge amount of works of art especially for educational purposes, manuscripts, plaster, cardboard boxes of his pupils, who formed the nucleus of its collection. This heritage has increased continuously over the years, through donations of collectors, enthusiasts private subjects and public institutions. After the fall of the Serenissima churches and palaces were stripped and this temple of art was a "haven" for the works which may be lost. The museum now houses the largest collection of Venetian paintings from the fourteenth century, from Byzantine and Gothic to Renaissance artists, like Bellini, Carpaccio, Giorgione, Veronese, Tintoretto and Titian, to get to the painters of the eighteenth century like Giambattista Tiepolo, Canaletto, Guardi, Bellotto.

All artists who influenced the history of European painting. In 2004 the Academy moved its headquarters in the former Hospital for Incurable Diseases, in the Dorsoduro district, while since 2005 works are underway in the church Santa Maria della Carità to expand and make available display space. So at the end of the work we will see on an area of 12,000 sqm all the works which were stored so far for the lack of exhibition halls.