Italian diplomat (1753-1833). Letter signed. Paris. 4to. 2 pp.
$ 375 / 350 €
(87236/BN57687)
To an unidentified French scientist, announcing four letters of recommendation for the recipient's journey to Sicily: "J'ai reçu avec beaucoup de plaisir la lettre que vous m'avez adressée, Monsieur, en date de Grenade du 20 Décembre et je suis très flatté des marques de votre souvenir au milieu des Voyages intéressants que votre zèle constant et votre amour pour les sciences et les beaux-arts vous font entreprendre. Je suis enchanté surtout d'apprendre que vous vous proposez d'aller voir ma patrie et les monumens précieux qu'elle possède.
Je m'empêche en conséquence de vous transmettre diverses lettres de recommandation qui pourront vous être utiles [...]". - Mastrilli de Gallo equipped the recipient with letters to his nephew, the Count of Rocca Marigliano, the Neapolitan prime minister Sir John Acton (1736-1811), the Sicilian Viceroy Alessandro Filangieri, Principe di Cutò, and the Neapolitan court astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi (1746-1826), who is most famous for the discovery of the dwarf planet Ceres in 1801. - Marzio Mastrilli de Gallo was the most important Neapolitan diplomat at the turn of the 19th century. As the new Neapolitan embassador, he accompanied Princess Maria Theresa of Naples and Sicily to Vienna for her marriage with Emperor Francis II in 1795. Mastrilli di Gallo gained high esteem at the Imperial court and was even assigned to negotiate for the Emperor with Napoleon when the French army approached Vienna in 1797. Thus, the Italian diplomat became an Austrian signatory both of the preliminary Treaty of Leoben on 18 April and the Treaty of Campo-Formio on 17 October 1797, ending the War of the First Coaltion. In 1799, Marzio Mastrilli de Gallo served as Viceroy of Sicily, but he soon took the charge as Neapolitan ambassador in Paris. There he assisted in the coronation of Napoleon in 1805. Following the French invasion of Naples in 1806 and the proclamation of Joseph Bonaparte as King of Naples and Sicily on 30 March, Mastrilli de Gallo was named Minister of the Exterior, a position he retained under Joachim Murat. The Bourbon restoration did not end Mastrilli de Gallo's diplomatic career, and he returned to the service of King Ferdinand IV. - With a brown stain touching the text. Minimally dust- stained..