Books › A short account of a violin by Stradivari, dated 1690 : now in the possession of Messrs. W. E. Hill & sons, 1889 › scan 23
Scan 23
A short account of a violin by Stradivari, dated 1690 : now in the possession of Messrs. W. E. Hill & sons, 1889
12 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1On another occasion it was shown to the great English maker, Fendt, who is reported to have exclaimed "If it is not a Strad it is something better;" and about twelve years ago it was seen by the head of the present firm of Messrs. Hill & Sons, whose experienced eye at once recognised the rare beauty of the instrument.
3To return to 1847; the violin was put into playing order by Vuillaume, and it could not have been entrusted to better hands. It then remained in the custody of Mr. Ricardo, by whom it was little used but carefully preserved, until the year 1875, when it was acquired by that gentleman from Captain Alfred Ker, a great-grandson of the original purchaser, and in the summer of 1888 it was bought by the firm who are its present owners.
5The following details of the construction and dimensions of the violin are of some interest:—
7The back is in one piece, supplemented a little in width, at the lower part, after a common practice of the great makers, and is cut from the handsomest wood that Stradivari possessed. The ribs are of the same wood, while the belly is formed of two pieces of soft wood of rather fine and beautifully even grain.
9The f holes, cut with perfect precision, exhibit much grace and freedom of design. The scroll, though less varied in curve than is often the case with the later violins, is very characteristic and beautifully modelled, and harmonizes admirably with the general modelling of the violin.
11The measurements given below are the same as those of the Dolphin Strad (1714), formerly in the Adam Collection, but now in the possession of R. Bennett, Esq., and described in Mr. Hart's well-known work.
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