Thomas II de Gadagne



Thomas II de Gadagne, known as Thomas the Magnificent (1495, Florence - 1543, Avignon) was an Italian banker active in France.

Life
He inherited a large fortune from his uncle Thomas I de Gadagne as well as solid commercial and financial positions. He increased this fortune, allowing him to lend to major French nobleman and even Francis I of France himself, who made him a counselor and 'maître d'hôtel ordinaire' in his household. In 1537 he founded the Basilique funéraire Saint-Laurent de Choulans hospital, with its pavillon Saint-Thomas for plague sufferers. He commissioned The Incredulity of Saint Thomas for his uncle's burial chapel.

Thomas II let out the hôtel de Gadagne to the Pierrevive family from 1538. His son Guillaume and Thomas III later became its owners from 1545 to 1581. He also owned the Beauregard estate in Saint-Genis-Laval, the Saint-Victor la Coste estate in the Comtat and the Hôtel de Sade in Avignon. He married Peronette Berti, with whom he had five children.