From 1980 onwards, the Gallery underwent various large-scale extensions: in 1985, the works of the professors of the 19th-century Academy were exhibited in the huge hall on the ground floor, known as the Salone delle Toscane, in suggestive surroundings formerly the Women's Ward of the Hospital of San Matteo; also on permanent display here the collection of plaster casts donated to the Italian State by the heirs of the sculptor, Lorenzo Bartolini, after his death in 1850.
Bartolini's works have been joined by the plaster casts of another great 19th-century Tuscan sculptor, Luigi Pampaloni.
On the first floor, four rooms, not previously used for permanent displays, now house the precious collection of Late Gothic Florentine art and the rare collection of Russian icons originating from the private collections of the Grand Dukes of the Lorraine family.
The nucleus of the collection was formed in 1784 when the Grand Duke Pietro Leopoldo donated to the Accademia a group of antique paintings belonging to various schools of art and intended to serve as models for the students.
In 1785, and in 1808-1810, the Gallery's collection was enlarged through the acquisition of works following the suppression of religious orders during that period.

In 1873, the David formerly standing in front of Palazzo Vecchio, in Piazza della Signoria, was moved to the Gallery. Exposure to atmospheric pollutants had caused considerable damage to Michelangelo's masterpiece, but this was not the only motive for its transfer to the Academy.
In fact, preparations were being made for a great exhibition on Michelangelo to be held in 1875 on the occasion of the fourth centenary of his birth, after which the intention was to establish a museum on Michelangelo containing original works, casts, and drawings. From then on the Accademia began to turn into a Michelangelo Museum.
The Pietà rediscovered in the Barberini Chapel of Palestrina was acquired in 1939 although many modern experts now cast doubts upon its attribution to Michelangelo.

The collection of the panels with gold backgrounds housed in the Byzantine Rooms on the ground floor and in the four first-floor rooms provide an ample panorama of art in Florence during the period from Giotto to Masaccio.
The works include the the panels illustrating the Stories of the Life of Christ and of St Francis by Taddeo Gaddi, St Laurence and St Bartholomew by Bernardo Daddi, and the Pentecostal triptych by Andrea Orcagna.
Works of particular interest are the Adimari Chest, attributed to Giovanni di ser Giovanni also known as Lo Scheggia, St Stephen between Saints Jacob and Pietro del Ghirlandaio, The Madonna and Child with the Child St John and two angels by Botticelli, the Assumption of the Virgin by Pietro Perugino, the Venus and Cupid by Jacopo Pontormo.