Turning Modern

Author: chad

  • Episode 80: The Scientist Grand Duke

    Despite his unorthodox love life, Ferdinando II is well-liked for his genuine concern for his people and his scientific patronage. However, Tuscany is in decline, and the seeds for the dynasty’s extinction have already been planted.

    A portrait of Grand Duke Ferdinando II by Justus Sustermans circa 1640 (Source: Pitti Palace).
    Ferdinando II with his mother, siblings, and children. From left to right: Mattias, Gian Carlo, Francesco, Ferdinando (wearing the cross of Saint Stephen);, Maria Magdalena, Maria Christina, Marguerita, Anna, and Leopoldo, 1622 or 1623. Artist unknown. (Source: Musée Ingres-Bourdelle, Montauban).
    One of a series of depictions of Ganymede by Baldassare Franceschini (date unknown), possibly with Ferdinando II’s lover, Count Bruto di Tebaldo Annibaldi della Molara. (Source: Private collection).

  • Episode 79: The Judgment

    Cosimo II finally dies after a prolonged illness. Meanwhile, the Church loses its patience with Galileo.

  • Episode 78: Galileo’s Revolution

    Why was Galileo’s scientific work considered both something worth celebrating and a threat to the status quo? Galileo himself must have pondered that question as his work, celebrated as it was by the Medici and even high-ranking members of the Church, nonetheless caught the attention of the Roman Inquisition.

  • Episode 77: The Contentious Scientist

    The celebrity natural philosopher and writer Galileo rises out of a life of near-poverty to become a favorite at the Medici court. But when controversy rears its head, will the Medici actually protect the quarrelsome Galileo?

    A portrait of Galileo in old age sometime around the year 1640 by Justus Sustermans. Source: Royal Museums at Greenwich.
    A portrait of Grand Duke Cosimo II by Justus Sustermans, date unknown. Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art

  • Episode 76: The People’s Grand Duke

    After his brother’s hands-off approach to ruling, Grand Duke Ferdinando I instead tends to the economic health of his state and his people.

    A 1590 portrait of Grand Duke Ferdinando I by Scipione Pulzone. Source: Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
    A portrait of Christine of Lorraine from 1588. Anonymous. Source: Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
    The “Venus de’ Medici”. Source: Uffizi Gallery, https://www.uffizi.it/en/artworks/medici-venus.

  • Episode 75: Day of the Dupes

    Marie de’ Medici believes she finally triumphed over her protege turned archenemy Richelieu and has secured her place as Louis XIII’s benevolent advisor. As the proverb goes, though, pride goeth before a fall…

    The famous “triple” portrait of Cardinal du Richelieu by Philippe de Champagne (c. 1642). Source: National Gallery of the UK.
    The artist Maurice Leloir’s portrayal of the Day of the Dupes, specifically the Cardinal du Richelieu walking in on Marie de’ Medici and Louis XIII’s argument about him, for the 1901 biography of Richelieu written by Théodore Cahu.

  • Episode 74: Baroque Queen

    Marie de’ Medici goes to war against her own son. On a less violent front, she also oversees her most important legacy, a prime example of Baroque art.

    “Victory at Jülich” from the Marie de’ Medici Cycle by Peter Paul Reubens (1622-1625). Source: The Louvre.

  • Episode 73: There Is No Middle Ground

    Marie de’ Medici’s hope of staying in power by keeping her son in line indefinitely falls apart thanks to a love affair, and her friends pay a heavy price. Still, the Medici aren’t known for accepting even the most devastating of defeats, and Marie is no exception.

    A contemporary portrait by Daniel Dumonster of Charles d’Albert, the Duke of Luynes (c. 1620), the likely lover of King Louis XIII. Source: Private collection.
    Louis XIII as a teenager (c. 1616) by Frans Pourbus the Younger. Source: The Staatliche Kunsthalle of Karsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.

  • Episode 72: How to Raise a Teenage King

    Even amidst challenges to her rule, the new queen regent Marie de’ Medici is sure that she has her son, King Louis XIII, firmly in line, at least for now.

  • Episode 71: Royal Dysfunction

    Marie de’ Medici finds herself in a turbulent domestic life with an adulterous husband and a troubled son. And history is going to repeat, propelling her toward a more dramatic role.

    A portrait of Marie de’ Medici with the future King Louis XIII as a child by Charles Martin (c. 1603). Source: Museum of Fine Arts of Blois
    King Henri IV’s portrait by Frans Pourbus the Younger, painted sometime around the time of his marriage to Marie de’ Medici (c. 1600). Source: The Weiss Gallery.