ABSTRACT
Each succeeding generation of women in the Medici family was able to act as patrons at an earlier stage of their lives than the previous one. Even though the women in the Medici family could not act in their own right as de facto rulers or heads of state, they were nevertheless sought after as patrons and benefactors because of their ability to influence and to intercede with the men of the family who could exercise that power. Lucrezia had a particular devotion to the Virgin Mary but all the Medici women who received requests were usually addressed in Marian-like terms that at once reflected the gendered character of the patronage process and the boundaries of the Medici women's exercise of power. The importance of maternal authority as the basis for their exercise of power beyond the household made the emulation of the Virgin Mary's intercessory role a particularly apposite one for the Medici women to cultivate.
