IN 1659, THE MEDICI FAMILY, now well and truly the Grand Dukes of Tuscany, sold their 1400s Renaissance home in Florence, where they had lived when they were bankers and the unoffi cial rulers of the Florentine Republic, to the Riccardi family. Understandably, the new owners immediately renovated. Possibly their most spectacular addition to the palazzo was the magnifi cent gallery they inaugurated in 1689 with a spectacular reception to celebrate their future rulers, Grand Prince Ferdinando de’ Medici and Violante Beatrice of Bavaria’s, marriage. The gallery is a most splendid example of the Baroque style in the city. Luca Giordano, one of the artistic stars of the court of Naples, had been called to Florence by the Corsini in the early 1680s to decorate their private chapel in the Carmelite church and the Riccardi took advantage of the artist’s sojourn to commission him the frescoes on the ceiling of their newly built gallery.
Image by sailko - Self-photographed, CC BY 2.5, https:// commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2007620