In 1637 the regent for Duke Charles Emmanuel II, Christine of France (aunt of Louis XIV), chose it as her personal residence. She commissioned the covering of the court and a revamping of the inner apartments. Sixty years later another regent, Marie Jeanne of Savoy, who was known as 'Madama Reale', lived in the palace. She conferred upon it definitively the nickname of "Madama" (Italian for "Madame"). She invited many artists to renovate the building which the duchess wanted to turn into a sumptuous royal palace. The artist Domenico Guidobono became the undisputed protagonist of the decorations of the halls on the first floor of Palazzo Madama, known as the Guidobono halls – the Madama Reale’s Chamber, the Chinese Cabinet, and the Southern Veranda. The duchess also asked architect Filippo Juvarra to design a new Baroque palace in white stone, but the works halted in 1721 after only the front section had been completed.