On 11 May 2022 at 4.00 p.m., the Italian Cultural Institute in Amsterdam, in association with WIS (Wergroep Italie Studies), present “Firenze nel Cinquecento: Granduchi, Patrizi e Cortigiani” (Florence in the sixteenth century: grand dukes, nobility and courtesans”) at the Cultural Institute, an event featuring Hans Cools (University of Louvain) and Jan de Jong (University of Groningen). They will analyse the person and administration of Cosimo I de’ Medici (1519-1574), the first Grand Duke of Tuscany, reviewed in light of new information which emerged from archive research carried out in recent years and on the basis of two recent books: “A Companion to Cosimo I de’ Medici” and “A Cultural Symbiosis Patrician Art Patronage and Medicean Cultural Politics in Florence (1530-1610).
Closely connected to the life of Cosimo and his sons and heirs Francesco I (1541-1587) and Ferdinando I (1549-1609), the cultural policies of the great Florentine families will also be analysed; these families included the Pucci, Valori, Ridolfi, Vecchietti and Guicciardini families, and were instrumental in influencing the choices of their Grand Dukes, with their work leaving an indelible mark on the cultural and artistic profile of the city. The meeting will be chaired by Maria Forcellino (University of Utrecht, WIS) and Alessio Assonitis (Director of the Medici Archive Project, Florence), Professor Emeritus Henk Th. Van Veen and Klazina Botke will also attend.
