Many of the great museums of Paris known to the outside world are situated in former royal abodes, like the Louvre or the Grand and the Petit Palaces. Some are in recently erected buildings specially conceived for the purpose — the Pompidou or the Modern Art Museums, to name only a few … but more of that some other time.

Let us talk today about a private house within walking distance from the Arc de Triomphe and the Champs Elysées. The ample and magnificent residence with its marble staircases and columns and intricate woodwork was built in 1875 on the leafy boulevard Haussmann on orders from Edouard André, a rich businessman close to Emperor Napoleon III and a passionate collector of art.

After André’s death in 1894 his home was converted into a museum following his will. The Musée Jacquemart-André, as it is called today, houses a vast permanent collection of paintings, sculptures, carpets and classical furniture. It holds many unusual, rotating exhibitions every year.

The current show is the result of a generous cooperation with the Jacquemart-André Museum by not only the museums of Florence but also the Royal Collection of London, the Louvre Museum of Paris and the Städel Museum of Frankfurt.

An electrifying exhibition in Paris pays tribute to the Medici family for its astounding contribution to art and culture

The exhibition is devoted to more than 40 portraits done by legendary Florentine painters Rosso Fiorentino, Andrea del Sarto, Alessandro Allori, Francesco Salviati, Jacopo da Pontormo and Agnolo Bronzino. They were encouraged by the ruling Medici family of Florence during the age of enlightenment in the 16th and 17th centuries, to invent their own style, very different from the earlier classical techniques of ancient masters.

The Medici family, at the same time a banking group and a political dynasty that also turned into a royal lineage, began its ascension at the end of the 14th century, later closely being attached with the Catholic Church and producing at least four popes and a number of cardinals. But the name Medici will forever remain linked with the phenomenal accomplishments in the sponsorship of art and architecture. The world would not have been aware of the talents of a Michelangelo or a Leonardo de Vinci had these geniuses not been promoted by the Medici dynasty.

One of the most remarkable portraits in the exhibition is that of Eleonora di Toledo, the Duchess of Florence and her son painted by Agnolo Bronzino. Another portrait of hers is on all the publicity posters of the exhibition and has appeared on the covers of a number of art magazines. The other very important subject is Maria de Medici, the daughter of Francesco I de Medici. She was later married to the French monarch Henry IV in the year 1600 and her son was crowned King Louis XIII of France. This magnificent portrait was done by the Florentine painter Alessandro Allori.

No account of the Medici achievements would be exhaustive unless we talk about their patronage of one of the greatest scientists ever born –Galileo Galilee, the inventor of telescope and discoverer of the four largest moons of the planet Jupiter without the help of today’s satellite technologies. His portrait by Giusto Sustermans is a statement in itself.

This story will remain incomplete should we fail to mention the portrait of Giovanni de Medici, a strong, restless and often tyrannical soldier who added the touch of adventure and military exploits to the family’s legend by organising, in 1516, an expedition against the Duke of Urbano who had dared to challenge the Medici family’s dominance in the political, cultural and financial domains.

Leading his armed men mounted on horses and specialised in rapid and devastating ambushes he defeated, and often personally executed, several rebel barons as well as a number of well-known and much feared generals opposed to the Medici reign. He was popularly known in his own lifetime as Giovanni dalle Bande Nere (Giovanni of the Black Bands). His portrait by Francesco Salviati is one of the main attractions at the Jacquemart-André museum in the current exhibition which is to last until the end of January 2016.

(The writer is a journalist based in Paris: ZafMasud@gmail.com)

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, October 25th, 2015

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