CANOVA (Antonio). Autograph letter signed to Father... Lot 50

CANOVA (Antonio). Autograph letter signed to Father Daniele Francesconi. Rome, August 9, 1806. 1 p. in-4, address on the back. VERY BEAUTIFUL POLITICAL AND ARTISTIC LETTER FROM THE GREAT SCULPTOR. "QUI PURE S'IGNORANO LE CONDIZIONI DELLA PACE TRA LA RUSSIA E NAPOLEONE: i nostri desideri vogliono farcele sperare propizie alla nostra patria, e le apparenze lontane sembrano dar corpo a queste lusinghe, amoreggiate peraltro dalle desolazioni presenti, e crescenti . LA STATUA DI NAPOLEONE È PER ESSER FINITA, e spero con qualche successo , giacché pare che ne siano contenti i migliori professori che l'hanno veduta... "Translation: "HERE ALSO WE IGNORE THE CONDITIONS OF PEACE BETWEEN RUSSIA AND NAPOLEON: our desires want to make us hope that they are favourable to our homeland, and distant appearances seem to give substance to these illusions, married to the present and growing desolations... [In fact the negotiations failed and led to the Polish military campaign in 1807.] The status of Napoleon is nearly over, and, I hope, with some success, since it seems to have pleased the best teachers who have seen it... "[This is undoubtedly his Emperor's Marble, completed in August 1806, which was to be exhibited in October, and which, later seized by the English, is now kept in the Wellington Museum in London].] He also mentions the residences acquired in Veneto by the Viceroy of Italy Eugène de Beauharnais, the ducal palace in Venice and the Villa Pisani in Strà, which were then to be fitted out. In this respect, he quotes the engineer Giuseppe Mezzani, the title architect of the royal palaces of Venice and Strà : "Scrivete al s[ignor]e Mezzani, che non perda tempo a presentare il suo grazioso e nitidissimo disegno della principale facciata di questo palazzo di Venezia alla vice-regina... "Write to Mr. Mezzani, that he lose no time in presenting his gracious and very brilliant drawing of the main facade of this palace to the vice-regent [Auguste-Amelie of Bavaria, wife of E