Scan 75
Antonio Stradivari, his life and work (1644-1737), 1909
2 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1of Stradivari's life: the instrument known as the "Betts." On looking at this violin, one cannot but be struck by the beauty of the formation of the long and relatively slender corners. It recalls to our minds some of the happiest efforts of Antonius and Hieronymus Amati, with the addition of a certain grandeur which they lack. The corners are not really longer that those of some of the violins of the preceding years, 1698–1703, but the fact that the bouts are a little more curved, in addition to a pronounced drooping of the corners, especially of the top ones, which are also a little longer than the others, gives that effect. In order that they should not have a too protruding appearance, Stradivari pushed the mitres of the purfling to the extreme limit—we have seen but few other specimens treated in this way—and when he failed to get the mitre right up the groove cut out for it, he filled it in with a black mastic, which perfectly completes the appearance he sought to obtain. The uniformity of the outline presents the perfection of symmetry: the full, rounded model swells away from the edge with but a semblance of hollowing round the purfling; the "f" holes, cut with masterly decision and placed in a comparatively upright position, seem to fall naturally into complete harmony with the surrounding features; the head, though cut as Stradivari only knew how to cut it, lacks something,—there is a squareness in the design, the fluting is wanting in breadth, the throat is hesitatingly cut; in a word, it does not rise to the greatness of the occasion. The beauty of the materials from which this instrument is made leaves nothing to be desired. The back and sides are of handsome maple, with well-pronounced broad curl; the back in two pieces, with the figure slanting from the joint in an upward direction—a feature but rarely met with in instruments of earlier date. The pine of the belly
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