'I heard about the negotiation with Agostini': Leopoldo de' Medici and the acquisition of Leonardo Agostini's collections (1667–1673).

This article examines the protracted negotiations between 1667 and 1673 through which Prince-Cardinal Leopoldo de' Medici acquired the majority of the antiquary Leonardo Agostini's collections, including medals, intaglios, cameos, and ancient metal objects. Central to the process was Ottavio Falconieri, Leopoldo's agent in Rome, whose extensive correspondence with Leopoldo—recently uncovered in the Fengjiang Codex—provides new insights into the negotiations' complexities, strategies, and delays. The acquisition unfolded in three main phases involving different categories of objects and fluctuating terms, reflecting both parties' mutual trust and occasional disagreements. Despite Leopoldo's distractions and hesitations, the deal ultimately expanded the Medici grand-ducal collections significantly, although negotiations continued even after the deaths of the principal figures. The article highlights the importance of archival sources in reconstructing seventeenth-century art collecting and patronage practices.