{"product_id":"2026200007473-secondhand-the-last-medici","title":"The Last Medici","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition remarks:\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBook: Good                          \u003cbr\u003eJacket: Worn\/faded, no tears\u003cbr\u003ePages: Good                  \u003cbr\u003eMarkings: No markings\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eA masterwork of historical biography, The Last Medici chronicles the twilight years of one of history's most celebrated dynasties, tracing the decline of the Medici family through the reigns of Cosimo III and his ill-fated successors in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Florence. Harold Acton brings his characteristic elegance and wit to bear on a court consumed by religious fanaticism, political impotence, and eccentric personalities, painting a vivid portrait of a once-magnificent dynasty in irreversible decay. With the precision of a scholar and the flair of a storyteller, Acton details the bizarre and often tragicomic lives of Cosimo's children — the dissolute Ferdinando, the reclusive Anna Maria Luisa, and the grotesque Gian Gastone — whose collective failures sealed the end of Medici rule. Drawing on a wealth of archival sources, the narrative illustrates how the grandeur of Renaissance Florence gave way to stagnation and absurdity, yet also honors the dynasty's final, enduring gift: Anna Maria Luisa's Family Pact, which bequeathed the Medici art collections to the city of Florence in perpetuity. Richly detailed and compulsively readable, this landmark work remains the definitive account of a great family's magnificent, melancholy end.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Secondhand Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48887905911003,"sku":"2026200007473-SECONDHAND","price":15.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0523\/7646\/9701\/files\/231a23eb-c660-4438-b611-d63a62730191.png?v=1781748637","url":"https:\/\/bookgrocer.com\/products\/2026200007473-secondhand-the-last-medici","provider":"Book Grocer","version":"1.0","type":"link"}