Betty Freeman, a fiercely independent philanthropist and photographer often described as a Medici for contemporary classical music, supported a Who’s Who of modern composers, including John Cage, Philip Glass, Pierre Boulez and John Adams. Freeman made more than 400 grants and commissions over the last four decades to help composers develop new works, pay for daily living expenses and subsidize performances and recordings. A number of composers she supported dedicated music to her. Among those works, the best known are Cage’s “The Freeman Etudes” and Adams’ opera “Nixon in China.” She was the inspiration for the David Hockney painting “Beverly Hills Housewife” (1966), a 12-foot double canvas that shows the pink-sheathed collector on her patio, flanked by a zebra-print lounge chair and an abstract sculpture. It was featured in a 2006 exhibition of Hockney portraits at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.