Maria Maddalena, Grand Duchess of Tuscany

This painting depicts Maria Maddalena, who was both the Grand Duchess of Tuscany and the Arch Duchess of Austria. It is a cultivated embodiment of her many roles. The duchess, a scion of the powerful Habsburg family whose members included the Holy Roman Emperor, married Cosimo II de’Medici in 1608, forging a formidable alliance between the Dukes of Tuscany and the Habsburgs. After the duke’s untimely death, Maria Maddalena ruled alongside her mother-in-law, Christine de Loraine, as co-reagent for seven years until her eldest son reached adulthood. This was the only time during Medici sovereignty that Tuscany would be ruled by women.