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One of Florence’s greatest patrons Anna Maria Luisa De’ Medici
[Susan Glasspool]
You may wonder how Florence came by all its wonderful museum treasures. They were in fact donated by someone the city will always remember - and quite rightly - Anna Maria Luisa, the daughter of Cosimo III de’ Medici and Margherita d’Orléans. A courageous but little known personality, whose fame is linked to her wonderful gift to her city of the entire artistic heritage belonging to the Medici family (practically everything that we can now find in the Uffizi and Academy Galleries, the Pitti Palace and other state museums).Born in Florence on August 11th 1667, Anna Maria Luisa was the only daughter in the family, preceded by an elder brother, Ferdinando and followed by Gian Gastone. Her arranged marriage to William, the Elector Palatine (1658-1716) was held in Innsbruck in 1691. It was a childless match for, in spite of a series of miscarriages, the princess never managed to produce an heir to throne. She lived in Germany until the death of her husband in 1716 when she returned to Florence. Cosimo III died in 1723, followed by Gian Gastone in 1737. As Ferdinando had died several years before his father, Anna Maria, the last of the Medicis, thus inherited the title of Grand Duchess. She was very concious of the fact that, on her death, Tuscany would pass under the rule of Duke Francesco, husband of Maria Teresa of Austria and member of the Lorraine family.
When the Electress died on February 18th 1743 at the age of seventy-five, she was mourned by the entire city. She was the last of the Medici to be buried in the New Sacristy at San Lorenzo. In her will she left all the Medici property - palaces, villas, paintings, statues, jewellery, furniture, books and manuscripts - in other words all the art works assembled by her ancestors, to the new Grand Duke and his successors. However there was a condition. Nothing could ever be taken away from Florence, where the Medici treasures were to remain “as an ornament of the State, for the use of the Public and to arouse the curiosity of foreigners”.
Florence commemorated the Electress with a statue in marble by Raffaello Salimbeni (1954-70) that can be found in Canto de’ Nelli.
She is remembered every year on February 18th with various official celebrations and a procession that moves from Piazza della Signoria to the Chapel of the Princes.
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