The Electress Palatine Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici was the last descendent of the Medici dynasty and a very important person for the city of Florence.
Especially her last years were bound up with the present and future of Florence. Anna Maria Luisa had lived in Mannheim, Germany, from 1691 to 1716, where she was married to Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm von der Pfalz – Neuburg.
The marriage produced no children. She returned to Florence in 1717 after her husband’s death. When her brother, the last Medici Grand Duke Gian Gastone died in 1737 childless she remained the last descendent of the Medici dynasty. Her last years she devoted to the families heritage and drafted the “Family Pact”, the fundamental document that left the entire Medici heritage to the city of Florence. The only condition she imposed was the guaranteed protection and conservation of the heritage of the Medici within their city. None of the enormous treasures should ever leave the city. She’s to be thanked for, that Florence today is still rich of cultural highlights.
The new exhibition is going to show the person Anna Maria Luisa and her life and influence on the arts and politics of Florence. The show is divided into four sections. The first section briefly illustrates her childhood and education in Poggio Imperiale, where she spend her early youth with her brothers, uncle and grandfather in one of the family’s villa. The second section shows her as a bride and her life in Germany on the side of Elector Palatine Johann Wilhelm. It opens with the fine portrait of Anna Maria Luisa as Flora by Antonio Franchi.
The third section constitutes the core of the exhibition. It illustrates Anna Maria Luisa’s return to Florence and her commitment to the family’s heritage, especially the San Lorenzo church. She significantly affected the complex of San Lorenzo by important commissions: the bell-tower, the painting of the cupola of the basilica, the project for the decoration of the ceiling of the Chapel of the Princes (never carried through) came into being. This period was the very last season of Medici patronage in the city of Florence. The show ends with her death on the 18th of February 1743. Contemporary engravings and publications illustrate her funeral ceremonies.
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