Portrait of Ferdinando de' Medici, Grand Prince of Tuscany

This is the portrait of a man who had been dead for nearly a decade when it was made. Ferdinando de' Medici, eldest son of Cosimo III and heir to Tuscany, died in 1713 without ever ruling, and this official likeness dates from around 1722, painted for the family's gallery of grand dukes and princes. In life he was the great music lover of the Medici. He drew leading composers and instrument makers to Florence, and among the craftsmen on his payroll was Bartolomeo Cristofori, keeper of the court's keyboards. Around 1700, working for Ferdinando, Cristofori built a harpsichord that struck its strings with small hammers instead of plucking them, so a player could at last play soft and loud by touch alone. That instrument, made for this prince's court, is the one we now call the piano.