AZARA, JOSÉ NICOLÁS DE, MARCHESE DI NIBIANO

AZARA, José Nicolás de, marquis of Nibbiano. Aragonese politician and diplomat, b. 1730, d. 1804. He was a follower of the philosophy and systems of the Encyclopedists. Appointed general agent of Spain in Rome in 1765, he resided there for a full thirty-two years, taking an extremely active part in all the affairs of his nation, beginning with the suppression of the Society of Jesus. He was much involved in the conclave that elected Clement XIV. He also undertook some diplomatic missions to the Bourbon courts of Parma and Paris; but in 1776 we find him again in Rome as chargé d’affaires of Spain with Pius VI, and from 1784 as ambassador, always a friend of leading scholars and artists and even of the popes. In 1806 he obtained from General Napoleon that the city of Rome be spared from occupation; in gratitude the city struck a medal in his honor and also conferred on him the title of Roman patrician. When Rome was taken two years later, following the assassination of General Duphot, and Pius VI was exiled, he did all in his power for the city, for Pius VI, and for Pius VII both in Italy and in France, where he served twice as ambassador, leaving Rome with regret—he called it his second homeland. He published the works of the painter Mengs (Madrid 1780), those of Virgil, Horace (Parma 1791, 1793), and other Latin classics; he wrote on Garcilaso de la Vega, on the Venerable Palafox, and on other subjects.