Scan 200
Antonio Stradivari, his life and work (1644-1737), 1909
9 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 176. See the scan on archive.org.
1which you have so generously presented me with.* have exhibited it my salon, where it remains an object of great interest to many admiring amateurs!' Secondly the Bible, inside the cover of which was written, in the handwriting of Antonio Stradivari, the famous recipe for the varnish and the way to apply it, was destroyed. Previously, however, I made a faithful copy of the same which I have jealously guarded, and which I have never been willing to part with, notwithstanding the repeated solicitations of M. Vuillaume and others. Thirdly, I have no datum to offer about the quarrel you allude to [Signor Mandelli had inquired whether he could throw any light upon the supposed ill-feeling said to have existed between Antonio Stradivari's sons and the town authorities of Cremona†]; but I recall the fact that one of my brothers gave to Signor Motta, Professor of Drawing, all the moulds and patterns which existed in the attic of our house, and which subsequently passed from Motta's possession to that of the violin-maker Enrico Ceruti. Fourthly, nothing else concerning my ancestor based on fact or tradition can I quote, because the family documents have undergone the inexorable ravages of time: I mean to say that by transmission from generation to generation they have gradually diminished in number and got lost."
3In answer to Signor Mandelli's further entreaties, made with a view to obtaining for publication some inkling of the contents of this interesting recipe, Signor Stradivari again wrote to him thus:—
5"You make an impossible request, one which I cannot
7* The testimonial referred to is the title of appointment given by the Archbishop of Benevento. (See reproduction.)
8† See Hart, "The Violin: its Famous Makers, etc.," art. 'Stradivari.'
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