Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours

Giuliano de' Medici
Portrait of Giuliano de' Medici, after Raphael.
Lord of Florence
Reign	9 March 1513 – 17 March 1516
Predecessor	Giovanni de' Medici
Successor	Lorenzo de' Medici
Spouse(s)	Filiberta of Savoy
Issue Ippolito de' Medici (illegitimate)
Noble family	Medici
Father	Lorenzo de' Medici
Mother	Clarice Orsini
Born	(1479-03-12)12 March 1479 Florence, Republic of Florence
Died	Florence, Republic of Florence

Giuliano di Lorenzo de' Medici (12 March 1479 – 17 March 1516) was an Italian nobleman, the third son of Lorenzo the Magnificent.

Biography

File:Florenz - Neue Sakristei Giuliano II.jpg

Giuliano's Statue in the Medici-Chapel, created by Michelangelo

Born in Florence, his brothers were Piero and Giovanni de' Medici.

His older brother Piero was briefly the ruler of Florence after Lorenzo's death, until the republican faction drove out the Medici in 1494. Giuliano moved therefore to Venice. The Medici family was restored to power after the Holy League drove the French forces that had supported the Florentine republicans from Italy. This effort was headed by Spain. Giuliano reigned at Florence from 1512 to 1516.

He married Filiberta (1498–1524), daughter of Philip II, Duke of Savoy, on 22 February 1515, at the court of France, thanks to the intercession of his brother Giovanni, now Pope as Leo X, in the same year Francis I of France (Filiberta's nephew) invested him with the title of Duke of Nemours (which had recently reverted once again to the French crown) on the occasion. The French were also apparently grooming him for the throne of Naples (in which the French maintained a historical interest), when Giuliano died prematurely. He was succeeded in Florence by his nephew Lorenzo.

Giuliano left a single illegitimate son, Ippolito de' Medici, who became a cardinal.

His portrait, painted in Rome by Raphael (a painter favored by Leo), shows Rome's Castel Sant'Angelo behind a curtain. (A studio version is at the Metropolitan Museum.)

Giuliano's tomb in the Medici Chapel in the Church of San Lorenzo, Florence, is ornamented with the Night and Day of Michelangelo, along with a statue of Giuliano by Michelangelo. Due to the identical common name (Giuliano de' Medici) which he shares with his uncle, whose tomb is also in the Medici Chapel, his tomb is often mistaken for that of his uncle.

Ancestry

Family of Giuliano de' Medici, Duke of Nemours

16. Giovanni de' Medici               8. Cosimo de' Medici                       17. Piccarda Bueri               4. Piero the Gouty                             18. Giovanni de' Bardi, Count of Vernio               9. Contessina de' Bardi                       19. Emilia Pannocchieschi               2. Lorenzo de' Medici                                   20. Simone Tornabuoni               10. Francesco di Simone Tornabuoni                       5. Lucrezia Tornabuoni                             22. Niccolo Guicciardini               11. Nanna di Niccolo di Luigi Guicciardini                       1. Piero the Unfortunate                                         24. Francesco Orsini, Lord of Monterotondo               12. Orso Orsini, Lord of Monterotondo                       25. Costanza Annibaldeschi               6. Jacopo Orsini, Lord of Monterotondo and Bracciano                             26. Aldobrandino Conti, Signore of Valmontone               13. Lucrezia Conti                       27. Caterina di Sangro               3. Clarissa Orsini                                   28. Giovanni Orsini, Lord of Bracciano               14. Carlo Orsini, Lord of Bracciano                       29. Bartolomea Spinelli               7. Maddalena Orsini                             30. Giacomo Orsini, Count of Tagliacozzo               15. Paola Orsini                       31. Isabella Marzano

See also

• Medici Chapel

External links

• Giuliano de' Medici (1479–1516), Duke of Nemours at the Metropolitan Museum of Art