Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici
Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici was an Italian noblewoman who was the last lineal descendant of the main branch of the House of Medici. A patron of the arts, she bequeathed the Medicis' large art collection, including the contents of the Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti and the Medici villas, which she inherited upon her brother Gian Gastone's death in 1737, and her Palatine treasures to the Tuscan state, on the condition that no part of it could be removed from "the Capital of the grand ducal State....[and from] the succession of His Serene Grand Duke."
Portrait by Jan Frans van Douven
Anna Maria Luisa in Portrait of Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici with flowers by Antonio Franchi, c. 1682–1683
Anna Maria Luisa and her husband, Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, from a painting after Jan Frans van Douven, 1708
Anna Maria Luisa in The Electress Palatine in mourning dress by Jan Frans van Douven, 1717. She points to the portrait of Johann Wilhelm's remains, adorned with the Palatine regalia, in the milieu.
The House of Medici was an Italian banking family and political dynasty that first consolidated power in the Republic of Florence under Cosimo de' Medici, during the first half of the 15th century. The family originated in the Mugello region of Tuscany, and prospered gradually until it was able to fund the Medici Bank. This bank was the largest in Europe during the 15th century and facilitated the Medicis' rise to political power in Florence, although they officially remained citizens rather than monarchs until the 16th century.
Giovanni di Bicci de' Medici, founder of the Medici bank
The Confirmation of the Rule, by Domenico Ghirlandaio
Cosimo Pater patriae, Uffizi Gallery, Florence
The Medici Wedding Tapestry (1589).