LOUIS XV. Autograph letter signed to Duke Ferdinand... Lot 42

LOUIS XV. Autograph letter signed to Duke Ferdinand I of Parma. Versailles, April 27, 1767. 3/4 p. in-4, address on spine, red wax armorial seal retained; small marginal loss to address leaf due to opening without affecting text. A BEAUTIFUL POLITICAL AND FAMILY LETTER, WITNESSING THE FRENCH INFLUENCE IN THE DUCHE OF PARMA, AS WELL AS THE EXPRESSION OF A NEW SENSITIVITY, IN THE XVIIIth CENTURY, where intimacy and feelings found a greater place. "My dear grandson, the wind is still northerly, but it's raining a lot, which will be good for the prez, and the small grains. LOUISE has had measles since Thursday, very strong with an assé de fièvre, she is well at present; VICTOIRE had her colic the day before yesterday and yesterday and was bled in the evening at seven o'clock, this morning she is well; here is a family well hipotéquée [Louise and Victoire are two of Louis XV's daughters]; the rest is well. You will have heard about the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spain, and what the King said about it both in his edict and verbally; I don't know if he wouldn't have done better to do more by punishing the culprits severely if there are any, because that leaves a hombre that will make people reason, even if he did deny it. I kiss you very tenderly, my dear grandson..." A LITTLE SON OF LOUIS XV THROUGH HIS MOTHER LOUISE-ÉLISABETH DE BOURBON, FERDINAND IER DE PARME (1751-1802) was also a great-grandson of Louis XIV through his father the Infante Philippe of Spain and Duke of Parma. He was raised in a progressive French environment, with the Abbé de Condillac as his tutor, and in a court dominated by Guillaume Du Tillot, a figure also influenced by Enlightenment ideas. His marriage to a sister of Marie-Antoinette of Austria in 1769 would put an end to French influence in the duchy.