Model for Two Sides of the Cappella dei Principi

The most important artistic undertaking by the Grand Duke Ferdinando I de’ Medici was the construction of a mausoleum designed to contain the sepulchres of the Medici family members, known as the Cappella dei Principi (Chapel of Princes), begun in 1604 and concluded two and a half centuries later. The unique feature of this project was the plan for decorating its interior entirely from floor to dome with shining semiprecious stones, prepared in the workshop founded by Ferdinando I in 1588. The project was still incomplete when the last descendent of the family, Anna Maria Luisa commissioned this model in 1743 from Antonio Nicola Pillori and Giovanni Filippo Giarr�.