GUICCIARDINI, Francesco (1483-1540). Letter signed ('Franc[iscu]s Guicciardinus') to an unidentified recipient, Parma, 12 December 1526, 4 lines on one page, folio, on a part bifolium (lacking address panel), clear impression of Guicciardini's papered seal (some light spotting). Provenance: Sotheby's, 8 November 1977, lot 116; Albin Schram collection; his sale, Christie's, 3 July 2007, lot 78.

GUICCIARDINI, Francesco (1483-1540). Letter signed ('Franc[iscu]s Guicciardinus') to an unidentified recipient, Parma, 12 December 1526, 4 lines on one page, folio, on a part bifolium (lacking address panel), clear impression of Guicciardini's papered seal (some light spotting). Provenance: Sotheby's, 8 November 1977, lot 116; Albin Schram collection; his sale, Christie's, 3 July 2007, lot 78.

A letter of recommendation for Count Ruberto Boschetto, in whom the recipient is to confide as in Guicciardini himself: 'Andando el S. Conte Ruberto Boschetto al Ca[m]po ho ordinato parli co[n] v[ostra] ex[cellenza] delle cose che occorrono. quella sia contenta prestarli fede in tutto come a me proprio'. Boschetto is mentioned in book 13 of Guicciardini's magnum opus, The History of Italy. Guicciardini had been nominated as governor of Parma by Leo X in 1517: the present letter no doubt relates to his role as lieutenant-general of the papal army, to which he had been appointed by Clement VII in the turbulent period which preceded the sack of Rome in the following May.