Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici (11 August 1667 – 18 February 1743) was an Italian noblewoman who was the last lineal descendant of the main branch of the House of Medici. A patron of the arts, she bequeathed the Medicis' large art collection, including the contents of the Uffizi, Palazzo Pitti, and the Medici villas, which she inherited upon her brother Gian Gastone's death in 1737, and her Palatine treasures to the Tuscan state, on the condition that no part of it could be removed from "the Capital of the grand ducal State....[and from] the succession of His Serene Grand Duke."
Anna Maria Luisa was the only daughter of Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and Marguerite Louise d'Orléans, a niece of Louis XIII of France. On her marriage to Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine, she became Electress of the Palatinate, and, by patronising musicians, she earned for the contemporary Palatine court the reputation of an important music centre. After a single miscarriage, her marriage remained childless, which, combined with her siblings' barrenness, meant that the Medici were on the verge of extinction.
In 1713 Cosimo III altered the Tuscan laws of succession to allow the accession of his daughter, and spent his final years canvassing the European powers to agree to recognise this statute. However, in 1735, as part of a territorial arrangement, the European powers appointed Duke Francis Stephen of Lorraine as heir, and he duly ascended the Tuscan throne in her stead. After the death of Johann Wilhelm, Anna Maria Luisa returned to Florence, where she enjoyed the rank of first lady until the accession of her brother Gian Gastone, who banished her to the Villa La Quiete. When Gian Gastone died in 1737, Francis Stephen's envoy offered Anna Maria Luisa the position of nominal regent of Tuscany, but she declined. Her death, in 1743, brought the grand ducal House of Medici to an end. Her remains were interred in the Medicean necropolis, Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence, which she helped complete.
Despite her mother's efforts to induce a miscarriage by means of riding, Anna Maria Luisa de' Medici, the only daughter and second child of Cosimo III de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, and his consort, Marguerite Louise d'Orléans, was born in Florence on 11 August 1667. She was named after her maternal aunt Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier.
Her parents' relationship was quarrelsome; Marguerite Louise took every chance to humiliate Cosimo. On one documented occasion, she branded him "a poor groom" in the presence of the Papal nuncio. The enmity between them continued until 26 December 1674; after all attempts at conciliation failed, a stressed Cosimo consented to his wife's departure for the Convent of Montmartre, France. The contract created that day revoked her privileges as a petite fille de France, and declared that upon her death all her assets were to be inherited by her children. Cosimo granted her a pension of 80,000 livres in compensation. She abandoned Tuscany in June 1675; Anna Maria Luisa, who was less than eight years old at that time, never saw her again. Although Cosimo doted on his daughter, she was raised by her paternal grandmother, Vittoria della Rovere.
In 1669, Anna Maria Luisa was considered as a potential bride to Louis, le Grand Dauphin, the heir-apparent of Louis XIV of France. Cosimo III did not like the idea of a French marriage, and never devoted himself fully to the cause (she was later rejected). Instead, Cosimo offered her to his first choice, Peter II of Portugal. Peter's ministers declined, fearing that Anna Maria Luisa might have inherited her mother's temperament, and may seek to dominate Peter II while being herself intractable to reason. In fact, contemporaries thought her traits to be a combination of those of her father and paternal grandmother, Vittoria della Rovere.
Following refusals from Portugal, France, Spain and Savoy, James II of England put forward his brother-in-law, Francesco II d'Este, Duke of Modena, but the Princess deemed a duke too lowly in terms of protocol for the daughter of a grand duke. Finally, it was Leopold I, Holy Roman Emperor who suggested Johann Wilhelm, Elector Palatine. The Elector Palatine obtained the style Royal Highness from the Holy Roman Emperor for Cosimo III in February 1691. (Cosimo had hitherto been outranked by the Duke of Savoy — much to his anger—who derived royal status from his successful pretendership to the abolished Cypriot throne). Consequently, Johann Wilhelm was ultimately chosen. He and Anna Maria Luisa were married by proxy on 29 April 1691. At the accompanying festivities, a contemporary describes the Electress's physical attributes: "In her person, she is tall, her complexion was fair, her eyes large and expressive, both those and her hair were black; her mouth was small, with a fullness of the lips; her teeth were as white as ivory...."
She departed for Düsseldorf, her husband’s capital, on 6 May 1691, accompanied by her younger brother, Gian Gastone. Johann Wilhelm surprised her at Innsbruck, where they officially married. The Palatinate Anna Maria Luisa arrived in was ravaged by the ongoing Nine Years' War, in which Louis XIV assaulted the Palatinate on behalf of his brother, Philippe I, Duke of Orléans, occupying the city of Philippsburg in the process.
The Electress became pregnant in 1692; however, she miscarried. It is thought incorrectly by some historians that soon after arrival she contracted syphilis from the Elector, which they think explains why Anna Maria Luisa and Johann Wilhelm failed to produce any children. Anna Maria Luisa and Johann Wilhelm, notwithstanding, shared a harmonious marriage. The Electress spent her time enjoying balls, musical performances and other festivities. He commissioned a theatre for her where the comedies of French playwright Molière were performed. Because Anna Maria Luisa patronised many musicians, the contemporary Palatine court enjoyed regard as an international centre of music. She invited Fortunato Chelleri to court and appointed him maestro di cappella ("music teacher"). Agostino Steffani, a polymath, was sponsored by the Electress from his arrival in Düsseldorf, in 1703, until her return to Tuscany; the Conservatorio Luigi Cherubini library in Florence houses two editions of his chamber duets.
Anna Maria Luisa arranged a marriage for her younger brother at the instigation of their father: On 2 July 1697 Gian Gastone de' Medici married Anna Maria Franziska of Saxe-Lauenburg, heiress of the eponymous duchy, in Düsseldorf. Gian Gastone's wife repulsed him, and for that reason, they separated in 1708.
The same year as Gian Gastone's marriage, the Peace of Ryswick ended the Nine Years' War: French troops withdrew from the Electoral Palatinate and Johann Wilhelm received the County of Megen. Following the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, a document which had hitherto given rights to Calvinists, in 1685, 2,000 French Huguenots emigrated to the Electoral Palatinate. Johann Wilhelm, under criticism for his treatment of the Palatine Protestants from the Elector of Brandenburg introduced a Religionsdeklaration in 1705, which sanctioned religious freedom.
Cosimo III wished to alter the male-only Tuscan line of succession so as to allow the accession of his daughter, Anna Maria Luisa, in the event of a male-line succession failure. But his plan was met with fierce opposition from the European powers. Charles VI, Holy Roman Emperor, Tuscany's nominal feudal over-lord, subscribed, but only if he should succeed her. Cosimo and she were at odds with the proposal. Without a concord in sight, the "Tuscan question" became dormant.
Some years later, as the question of the succession became more urgent, Cardinal Francesco Maria de' Medici, Cosimo III's brother, was released from his vows and coerced into marrying Vincenzo Gonzaga, Duke of Guastalla's elder daughter, Eleanor, in 1709. The Electress urged him to care for his health and "give us the consolation of a little prince." However, two years later, he died without issue, taking with him any hope of an heir.