Horatio Nelson, Viscount Nelson (1758-1805) - photo 1

Horatio Nelson, Viscount Nelson (1758-1805)

Lot 58
10.12.2025 12:00UTC +00:00
Classic
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CHRISTIE'S
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
ID 1514430
Lot 58 | Horatio Nelson, Viscount Nelson (1758-1805)
Estimate value
£ 3 000 – 5 000
Horatio Nelson, Viscount Nelson (1758-1805)
Autograph letter signed (‘Bronte Nelson of the Nile') to Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet, [Palermo], 3 June 1800
Half page, 243 x 190mm, bifolium.

On his Sicilian estate at Bronte and 'the bad news from the Austrians'. 'I intended last night giving Your Excellency the enclosed papers about my private affairs at Bronte but the bad news from the Austrians put it entirely out of my head', thanking Acton for 'settling these matters for me'.

Sir John Acton, 6th Baronet (1736-1811) was the prime minister of Naples, and had been instrumental in the recent grant to Nelson of the feudal estate and dukedom of Bronte in Sicily, in gratitude for Nelson's services to the royal family of Naples. Nelson was proud of the title (incorporating it into the varying forms of his signature, as here in a relatively rare variation he used between March and November 1800), but never visited the estate. The 'bad news from the Austrians' is presumably of Napoleon's lightning advance into northern Italy, which had enabled him to capture Milan on the previous day, and was to lead to the victory at the Battle of Marengo on 14 June.
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
Preview
10.12.2025 – 10.12.2025
Phone +44 (0)20 7839 9060
Email
4FQ.AYGKAGLUQ@FO3G@
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