The vertiginous social ascent of the Florentine Medici dynasty was assisted and secured through prestigious marriage alliances.
In the sixteenth century, when this family of bankers had only just managed to turn the Republic of Florence into a principate, foreign brides from noble families were not only potential political allies, but also important status symbols. Similarly, the conclusion of marriage matches between Medici women and rulers of European states reflected the new international standing of the dynasty. The numerous princesses who crossed the borders in this “elite traffic in women” imported the cultural traditions of their birthplace and amalgamated them with those of their new home countries in order to serve personal and cultural, political and dynastic interests. This book explores the ways in which Medici women contributed to the cultural exchange among the courts of Europe, including not only exchange in the visual arts, music and literature, but also economic, political and religious exchange.
The volume, which gathers the papers of an international conference held in Florence at Villa I Tatti (The Harvard University Center for Italian Renaissance Studies) and at the Kunsthistorisches Institut (Max Planck Institute), focuses on the French queens Caterina and Maria de’ Medici, on the Electress Palatine Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici and on the Florentine grand duchesses Joan of Austria, Christine of Lorraine and Maria Magdalena of Austria.
Contents
Medici Women as “Artful Allies”
Christina Strunck
“La Florentine” or “La bonne Françoise”: Some Sixteenth-Century Commentators on Catherine de’ Medici and Her Patronage
Sheila ffolliott
Conspicuous Absences. Transnational Relationships in Catherine de’ Medici’s Portrait Collection
Henri Zerner
'Magnificentissimum spectaculum'. Caterina de’ Medici e le feste parigine del 1573
Luisa Capodieci
From Caterina de’ Medici to Maria Magdalena of Austria: The Politics of Danced Spectacle
Iain Fenlon
Expressing a Habsburg Sensibility in the Medici Court: The Grand Duchess Giovanna d’Austria’s Patronage and Public Image in Florence
Lisa Kaborycha
Christine of Lorraine and Cultural Exchanges in the Countryside: International Customs in Local Settings
Suzanne B. Butters
How Chrestienne Became Cristina. Political and Cultural Encounters between Tuscany and Lorraine
Christina Strunck
Maria de’ Medici. La costruzione di una regina
Maria Fubini Leuzzi
Liberalità calcolate: politiche del dono tra corte di Francia e corti italiane al tempo di Maria de’ Medici
Jean-François Dubost
Maria Maddalena d’Austria e il culto delle reliquie alla corte dei Medici. Scambi di modelli dinastici ed ecclesiastici
Ilaria Hoppe
Maria Maddalena d’Austria’s Pilgrimage to Loreto: Visuality, Liminality and Exchange
Alice E. Sanger
Iconografie politiche nella stanza della Stufa a palazzo Pitti. Maria Maddalena d’Austria e la circolazione di modelli internazionali
Elisa Acanfora
“Ritratti fatti per mano del Bronzino, pittore di … singulare eccellenza et fama”: Medici Women and Court Portraits by Cristofano Allori as Gifts
Lisa Goldenberg Stoppato
Anna Maria Luisa de’ Medici e la corte di Düsseldorf
Ulrike Ilg
Index of Places
