Scan 213
Antonio Stradivari, his life and work (1644-1737), 1909
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 189. See the scan on archive.org.
1CHAPTER VIII.
3Stradivari's Method of Construction.
5No task is more difficult than that of defining precisely the features in Stradivari's work which are strictly original. In a broad sense the whole is so; yet the more we analyse, the more do we discover that he was very deeply indebted to those who had preceded him. Perhaps one of his greatest merits was the possession of that power of perception which, as time passed on, allowed him to grasp and to profit by all that is excellent in the works of his forerunners, from Gasparo da Salò to Nicolò Amati.
7That Stradivari was guided in his many and various changes by a knowledge of science as applied to the construction of instruments, we do not for one moment believe. That his intuition was great is unquestionable; and what more natural than to assume that many of his deductions were the outcome of actual experience gained by comparing the numerous already-existing instruments made by the early Brescian and Cremonese makers? It must be remembered that the art of instrument-making had been flourishing, first at Brescia, then at Cremona, for close upon two centuries. Stradivari was therefore in touch with the outcome of well-thought-out experiments, and the traditions which had been evolved and transmitted by the different makers during this long period. Time and
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