Cosimo III, Margherita Luisa, and the Gran Principe
In 1670, Ferdinando II died at the age of 59. He was succeeded by his son, Cosimo III, who was 28 at the time. Cosimo III had married Margherita Luisa , a French princess, nine years earlier in 1661. At that time, the newly married couple was assigned apartments on the second floor of the palace, as well as a lavish "summer" apartment on the ground floor in the wing to the right of the courtyard. (See also: The Palace-1662) On the second floor, the large room facing onto the piazza, formerly the library of Cardinal Leopoldo, became the “Salone del Truco”, or billiard room. Leopoldo moved to new, larger quarters on the right side of the palace. {See 1662-The Second Floor} In 1666, upon his death, Cardinal Giovan Carlo left his nephew his important collection of incunabili, manuscripts and books, and the time came to organize this rich collection that became the nucleus of the Fondo Palatino of the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale. The old “Salone del Truco” became the site of Cosimo’s new library. Additionally, Cosimo III played a crucial role in reorganizing the extraordinary collection of pictures and bronzes that his family had accumulated. (See also: "Cosimo II and the Reunion of the Family Collections".)
If the marriage of Ferdinando II and Vittoria dell Rovere had not been happy, Cosimo III’s marriage to Margherita Luisa was a complete disaster. Margherita Luisa, Maria de’Medici’s granddaughter, had been raised in the French court, one of the most open and innovative courts in Europe, and she was adored by her cousin, Charles of Lorraine. She could hardly bear being around her introverted husband and his bigoted mother. And so, for almost fifteen years, Palazzo Pitti was the scene of continual emotional outbursts, interrupted only by Cosimo’s frequent travels to the various courts of Europe. The conclusion was inevitable. Notwithstanding the birth of three children, the couple separated in 1672, and the separation became official three years later when Margherita Luisa returned to Paris where she frequently expressed her contempt for both her husband and Tuscany. Eventually, however, her intemperance convinced Louis XIV to send her to a convent in Montmartre where she spent the rest of her almost eighty years in great unhappiness.
If Cosimo’s personality and marital difficulties precluded his taking much of an interest in Palazzo Pitti, his eldest son, Ferdinando (called the “Gran Principe”) continued the family’s great interest in the arts. He was assigned apartments on the piano nobile that had previously been the quarters of Cardinal Giovan Carlo (and later would become the Royal Apartments), as well as the famous mezzanines, and here he assembled a particularly prodigious collection. [See also: "The Gran Principe Ferdinando"]. Ferdinando, lively, spirited, and cultured in all aspects of the arts, was certainly one of the more important figures in the panorama of Medici artistic patronage. Additonally, between 1683 and 1686 under the direction of Diacinto Marmi, Giovan Battista Foggini produced a special room for the prince, decorated with stucco of the most elegant manufacture (now the chapel in the Royal Apartments).
If the marriage of Ferdinando II and Vittoria dell Rovere had not been happy, Cosimo III’s marriage to Margherita Luisa was a complete disaster. Margherita Luisa, Maria de’Medici’s granddaughter, had been raised in the French court, one of the most open and innovative courts in Europe, and she was adored by her cousin, Charles of Lorraine. She could hardly bear being around her introverted husband and his bigoted mother. And so, for almost fifteen years, Palazzo Pitti was the scene of continual emotional outbursts, interrupted only by Cosimo’s frequent travels to the various courts of Europe. The conclusion was inevitable. Notwithstanding the birth of three children, the couple separated in 1672, and the separation became official three years later when Margherita Luisa returned to Paris where she frequently expressed her contempt for both her husband and Tuscany. Eventually, however, her intemperance convinced Louis XIV to send her to a convent in Montmartre where she spent the rest of her almost eighty years in great unhappiness.
If Cosimo’s personality and marital difficulties precluded his taking much of an interest in Palazzo Pitti, his eldest son, Ferdinando (called the “Gran Principe”) continued the family’s great interest in the arts. He was assigned apartments on the piano nobile that had previously been the quarters of Cardinal Giovan Carlo (and later would become the Royal Apartments), as well as the famous mezzanines, and here he assembled a particularly prodigious collection. [See also: "The Gran Principe Ferdinando"]. Ferdinando, lively, spirited, and cultured in all aspects of the arts, was certainly one of the more important figures in the panorama of Medici artistic patronage. Additonally, between 1683 and 1686 under the direction of Diacinto Marmi, Giovan Battista Foggini produced a special room for the prince, decorated with stucco of the most elegant manufacture (now the chapel in the Royal Apartments).
The Gran Principe also commissioned another project from Marmi, a gallerietta, overlooking the small "garden of the Camellias".
In the same period (1687-1688), the Grand Principe commissioned another important pictorial intervention in the rooms on the ground floor on the left of the courtyard, formerly assigned to Leopoldo and Giovan Carlo and then occupied by the ancient Vittoria della Rovere. They were frescoed by Jacopo Chiavistelli, who had been working for thirty years on the other side of the courtyard. A little later (1696), Violante of Bavaria commissioned a precious pavement in pietra dura in the “Gabinetto dei Cristalli" (see below), adjacent to the grand duke's chapel on the ground floor.
About ten years later, Sebastiano Ricci frescoed the ceiling of another room in the Grand Prinicipe’s apartment with the figures of Venus and Adonis.
This was the last important architectural change in Palazzo Pitti during the Medici period. After the premature death of the Grand Principe in 1713, neither his father, Cosimo III, nor his brother, Gian Gastone, took any interest in the royal residence that was essentially abandoned. The decadence of the palace reflected the sorry state of the Medici dynasty, by then almost extinct for lack of an heir.
Marco Chiarini, ed., Palazzo Pitti: l'arte e la storia; Nardine Editore; Florence; 2000-2003.
This was the last important architectural change in Palazzo Pitti during the Medici period. After the premature death of the Grand Principe in 1713, neither his father, Cosimo III, nor his brother, Gian Gastone, took any interest in the royal residence that was essentially abandoned. The decadence of the palace reflected the sorry state of the Medici dynasty, by then almost extinct for lack of an heir.
Marco Chiarini, ed., Palazzo Pitti: l'arte e la storia; Nardine Editore; Florence; 2000-2003.