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Maria Salviati

Maria Salviati
Portrait of Maria Salviati by Pontormo, c. 1543. Oil on panel; 87 x 71 cm. Florence, Uffizi Gallery
Born(1499-07-17)17 July 1499
Florence, Republic of Florence
Died12 December 1543(1543-12-12) (aged 44)
Villa di Castello, Republic of Florence
Noble familySalviati (by birth)
Medici (by marriage)
Spouse(s)Giovanni delle Bande Nere
IssueCosimo I de Medici
FatherJacopo Salviati
MotherLucrezia di Lorenzo de' Medici

Maria Salviati (17 July 1499 – 29 December 1543) was a Florentine noblewoman, the daughter of Lucrezia di Lorenzo de' Medici and Jacopo Salviati. She married Giovanni delle Bande Nere and was the mother of Cosimo I de Medici. Her husband died 30 November 1526, leaving her a widow at the age of 27. Salviati never remarried; after her husband's death she adopted the somber garb of a novice, which is how she is remembered today as numerous late portraits show her attired in black and white.[1]

  1. ^ For information on portraits of Maria Salviati see Carl Brandon Strehlke, Pontormo, Bronzino, and the Medici: The Transformation of the Renaissance Portrait in Florence (Philadelphia Museum of Art, 2004) cats. 30 and 46.

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