Scan 47
A Review Of Ancient And Modern Violin Making, 1899
4 lines. Read by computer on 23 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1will be sustained. From the year 1500 to 1800 was not a period noted for inventions or much improvement. Implements, formulas and manners of procedure in all lines of industry and science were practically the same. If a man pursued a certain line in any calling his great-great grandchildren were in the majority of cases found plodding along in the same path, using the same unimproved methods.
3In the absence of evidence it would be presumptuous to assume that varnish was an isolated exception, while on the other hand it would be very reasonable to suppose that whatever the varnish may have been when first called into use for violins, it passed through the whole violin period without change. It has been claimed that the old makers used great caution in preserving the secret of their varnish. This is entirely a supposition. What was known to one was known to all who followed the same pursuit. All craft knowledge was handed down in legendary form, and there was nothing to prevent the widest spread of any such knowledge among the makers, who were far more numerous at the close of the Cremona period than at any time previous, though they were more scattered.
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