Bow & Bridge

Ouvrard, Jean

As printed

  1. A dictionary of violin makers (1896)

    Ouvrard, Jean. A maker in Paris about 1725-46. Pupil of Claude Pierray. A violoncello is known, beautifully made, with very fine golden-coloured varnish; also a small six-stringed viol dated 1726, and a five-stringed viol labelled “place de l’Ecole, à Paris, 1745.”

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    2. Otto, Louis, son of Carl August Otto; b. July 15, 1844, Ludwigslust. Pupil of his father in Ludwigslust, 1860-65; worked with his cousin, Ludwig Otto, in Cologne, 1865-66, then went to Hanover, where he worked with Aug. Riechers till 1872. In the same year started his own business in Düsseldorf, at 16, Schützenstrasse, where he still works, assisted by two workmen. He is very skilful at repairs, and has repaired about 850 fine old instruments. For his new instruments he uses beautiful wood, not less than twenty years old, and follows the Stradivari model, large pattern, using good oil varnish, orange colour, of his own invention; the tone is of fine, full quality. He himself accurately determines the thicknesses of back and front, cuts the sound-holes, places the sound-posts, carves the scroll, and does the varnishing. About 238 violins, 13 violas, and 33 violoncellos have been made. He gained first prizes at the Exhibitions in Düsseldorf, 1880; Melbourne, 1888; and Chicago, 1893. His son now works under him.
    4. Ouvrard, Jean. A maker in Paris about 1725-46. Pupil of Claude Pierray. A violoncello is known, beautifully made, with very fine golden-coloured varnish; also a small six-stringed viol dated 1726, and a five-stringed viol labelled "place de l'Ecole, à Paris, 1745."
    6. P.

  2. A dictionary of violin makers (n.d.)

    Ouvrard, Jean. A maker in Paris about 1725-46. Pupil of Claude Pierray. A violoncello is known, beautifully made, with very fine golden-coloured varnish; also a small six-stringed viol dated 1726, and a five-stringed viol labelled “place de l’Ecole, à Paris, 1745.”

    scan page 79, line 7; scan page 79, line 13See the scans: 79, 79source record

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    scan page 79, line 7

    1. Otto, Jacob August, b. 1764, Gotha; d. 1830, Jena. Pupil of Franz Anton Ernst at Gotha, later settled in Weimar, and was appointed maker to the Court. Worked also in Halle, Leipzig, Magdeburg, Berlin, and finally in Jena. Was especially skilful in repairing old instruments, and made very good violins and violoncellos; six violins, one alto, and one violoncello were made by him for the Royal Orchestra of Copenhagen. He published two books on violin making: "Ueber den Bau und die Erhaltung der Geige und aller Bogeninstrumente" (Halle, 1817); and "Ueber den Bau der Bogeninstrumente und über die Arbeiten der vorzüglichsten Instrumentenmacher" (Jena, 1828); the latter was translated into English by John Bishop in 1848. His five sons all became violin makers.
    2. Otto, Ludwig, son of Georg August Gottfried Otto; b. Sept. 16, 1821, Jena; d. Feb. 9, 1887, St. Petersburg. First worked in Cologne, but after 1871 settled in Petersburg. He exhibited three violins, a viola, violoncello and double-bass in London, 1862. They were all well made and were moderately priced.
    3. Otto, Louis, son of Carl August Otto; b. July 15, 1844, Ludwigslust. Pupil of his father in Ludwigslust, 1860-65; worked with his cousin, Ludwig Otto, in Cologne, 1865-66, then went to Hanover, where he worked with Aug. Riechers till 1872. In the same year started his own business in Düsseldorf, at 16, Schützenstrasse, where he still works, assisted by two workmen. He is very skilful at repairs, and has repaired about 850 fine old instruments. For his new instruments he uses beautiful wood, not less than twenty years old, and follows the Stradivari model, large pattern, using good oil varnish, orange colour, of his own invention; the tone is of fine, full quality. He himself accurately determines the thicknesses of back and front, cuts the sound-holes, places the sound-posts, carves the scroll, and does the varnishing. About 238 violins, 13 violas, and 33 violoncellos have been made. He gained first prizes at the Exhibitions in Düsseldorf, 1880; Melbourne, 1888; and Chicago, 1893. His son now works under him.
    4. Ouvrard, Jean. A maker in Paris about 1725-46. Pupil of Claude Pierray. A violoncello is known, beautifully made, with very fine golden-coloured varnish; also a small six-stringed viol dated 1726, and a five-stringed viol labelled "place de l'Ecole, à Paris, 1745."
    5. P.
    6. Pacherele, Michel. A maker in Paris in 1779. He followed the pattern of Guersan. His instruments were fairly well made, slightly arched, with yellow varnish. His name is branded on the top of the back, and he used a MS. label: "Michel Pacherele, luthier rue d'Argenteuil à Paris, 1779."
    7. Pacherele, Pierre, b. 1803, Mirecourt; d. Dec. 31, 1871, Nice. Was a fellow-apprentice of J. B. Vuillaume at Mirecourt. After 1830 he moved about, working first at Nice, then at Genoa, then at Turin with Pressenda the violin maker, finally returning, in 1839, to Nice. He made a great many violins, altos, and violoncellos, all of good workmanship, but the varnish was thick and heavy; he often took Stradivari for his model. He was also a clever repairer of instruments.

  3. Dictionary of Violin makers (1928)

    OUVRARD (Jean) — Paris towards 1740. Pupil of Claude Pierray who is a credit to his master. His gold-yellow varnish lacks suppleness. No 131.

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    2. ORINTHIO D'ESSANTIER — Nancy xviiith century. Lute maker.
    4. OUVRARD (Jean) — Paris towards 1740. Pupil of Claude Pierray who is a credit to his master. His gold-yellow varnish lacks suppleness. No 131.
    6. P
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  1. Old violins (1905)

    OUVRARD, Jean. 1725-46; pupil of Claude Pierray. Transition maker, but true violoncello pattern, though continued to make viols.

    scan page 288, line 33See the scan

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    scan page 288, line 33

    2. OTTO, Louis, son of Carl August Otto; b. July 15, 1844, Ludwigslust. Pupil of his father in Ludwigslust, 1860-65; in Cologne, 1865-66, then went to Hanover, 1872; then still there (1898); careful in selection of wood; large Stradivari pattern; excellent work; has made 238 violins, and many tenors and 'cellos. First prizeman, Chicago and Melbourne.
    4. OUVRARD, Jean. 1725-46; pupil of Claude Pierray. Transition maker, but true violoncello pattern, though continued to make viols.
    6. PACHERELE, Michel. A maker in Paris in 1779; followed Guersan; slightly arched; yellow varnish.

Named in 4 books printed between 1896 and 1928. Read by software from scans of those pages, not yet checked by a person against the page. Entries from 4 books stand under this name, and the software judged them likely the same person. Tell us if that is wrong and we will split the record.

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Details and sources

Record note

Printed in A dictionary of violin makers (1890); A dictionary of violin makers (1890); A dictionary of violin makers (1896); Dictionary of Violin makers (1928); Old violins (1905), and nowhere else on this site: that is the entire basis of this maker’s record. Entries from 4 books stand under this name, and the software judged them likely the same person. Tell us if that is wrong and we will split the record. No claim beyond the printed naming is invented here — not established is the accurate word for it, and we want to hear from you if that can change.

What the books say

Places and dates of work
Ouvrard, Jean. A maker in Paris about 1725-46. Pupil of Claude Pierray. A violoncello is known, beautifully made, with very fine golden-coloured varnish; also a small six-stringed viol dated 1726, and a five-stringed viol labelled “place de l’Ecole, à Paris, 1745.” reported1
Places and dates of work
Ouvrard, Jean. A maker in Paris about 1725-46. Pupil of Claude Pierray. A violoncello is known, beautifully made, with very fine golden-coloured varnish; also a small six-stringed viol dated 1726, and a five-stringed viol labelled “place de l’Ecole, à Paris, 1745.” reported1
Places and dates of work
Ouvrard, Jean. A maker in Paris about 1725-46. Pupil of Claude Pierray. A violoncello is known, beautifully made, with very fine golden-coloured varnish; also a small six-stringed viol dated 1726, and a five-stringed viol labelled “place de l’Ecole, à Paris, 1745.” reported1
Places and dates of work
OUVRARD (Jean) — Paris towards 1740. Pupil of Claude Pierray who is a credit to his master. His gold-yellow varnish lacks suppleness. No 131. reported1
Places and dates of work
OUVRARD, Jean. 1725-46; pupil of Claude Pierray. Transition maker, but true violoncello pattern, though continued to make viols. reported1

How the pages were read

5 of the 5 lines here were read from machine text (software that turns a photo of a page into words), not by a person looking at the page image. 2 of them rest on a section heading above a list of names, not on a trade word printed on their own line: “A DICTIONARY OF VIOLIN MAKERS.”, “DICTIONARY OF VIOLIN MAKERS”.

Notes

  1. Read from machine text (software that turns a photo of a page into words, or a typed transcription), not by a person looking at the page image. ↩

The books behind this record

This record draws on 4 sources. Each is listed below with how it was read, because a claim read from a photo of the page is stronger than one read from machine text.

  1. Stainer, C. (Cecie), 1867-1937, A dictionary of violin makers (London: Novello, n.d.). archive.org, dictionaryofviol00stai. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofviol00stai.machine textcited for 1 linesource record

    scan page 79, line 7

  2. Stainer, C. (Cecie), 1867-1937, A dictionary of violin makers (London: Novello, n.d.). archive.org, dictionaryofviol1899stai. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofviol1899stai.machine textcited for 1 linesource record

    scan page 79, line 13

  3. Stainer, C. (Cecie), 1867-1937, A dictionary of violin makers (London ; New York: Novello, Ewer, 1896). archive.org, dictionaryofviol00stai_0. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofviol00stai_0.machine textcited for 1 linesource record

    scan page 77, line 13

  4. Arnold Sewell, Dictionary of Violin makers (1928). archive.org, dictionaryofviol0000arno. https://archive.org/details/dictionaryofviol0000arno.machine textcited for 1 linesource record

    scan page 158, line 9

  5. Haweis, H. R. (Hugh Reginald), 1839-1901, Old violins (Edinburgh, Grant, 1905). archive.org, oldviolins00hawe. https://archive.org/details/oldviolins00hawe.machine textcited for 1 linesource record

    scan page 288, line 33