000			01992nam a2200253 a 4500
001			008304
005			20231009192111.0
008			210902s19801980usaa 000 u eng d
020			_a050025074X
082	1		_aREF 945.51 ACT _2
100	1		_aActon, Harold _d(1904-1994)
240	1	0	_aToller Cranston Collection
245	1	0	_aThe last Medici _c/ Harold Acton
260			_aNew York _b: Thames and Hudson _c, 1980
300			_a327 p. _b: illus. _c; 25 cm
500			_aIndex included
520			_aIn his account of the last Medici, Harold Acton (1904-1994) takes up the causes which led to the disappearance of a house which has left indelible traces on the art, literature and commerce of the world; and his book was one of the first attempts to deal with this despotic dynasty in a scholarly and impartial spirit. Much has been written about the phenomenal career of the early Medici: and there are many biographies of Lorenzo the Magnificent, Cosimo I, and the Medicean Popes. But less has been written of the final phase, and Acton demonstrates the hand of death overshadowing the great family in a series of unfortunate marriages - how one by one they vanished into the void. "The Last Medici" centres mainly round the fantastic figures of Princess Marguerite-Louise d'Orleans and her husband Cosimo III, most fatal of all the Medicean sovereigns. The last act closes on Gian Gastone, their cynical younger son, bedridden in the Pitti Palace, a florid figure of despair, with the Powers of Europe ever on the alert for the sound of his death-rattle. Full of brilliant colour, rich comedy and lurid tragedy, "The Last Medici" is at the same time a scientific contribution to the records of an extraordinary and unforgettable period.
546			_aTranslated from Italian to English
600	1	4	_aCosimo _bIII _cGrand-Duke of Tuscany _d(1642-1723)
600	1	4	_aGian Gastone _cGrand Duke of Tuscany _d(1671-1737)
650		4	_aMedici, House of
942			_cMO
999			_c227943 _d227943