Scan 15
Catalog of Rare Old Violins, Violas, Violoncellos, Bows of Rare Makes, 1922
14 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1The top is of spruce of exceptional quality. The varnish is of a beautiful orange red color. The scroll is in the master's finest style. This violin is known as the "Colossus." It acquired this title, no doubt, on account of its magnificent tone. It was formerly the property of the celebrated artist, Jacques Thibaud. The instrument is in a splendid state of preservation. (Plate I)
2Price: $15,000
4ANTONIUS AND HIERONIMUS AMATI, CREMONA, 1595
5NUMBER 4913. This violin reaches very far back—almost to the very beginning of violin history. Fifty-five years after the first violin of which there is any record appeared in Brescia in 1540, this instrument, made for Henry IV, King of France and Navarre, was completed by the master builders of Cremona, of their time, Antonius and Hieronimus Amati, in 1595. Nearly fifty years were to elapse before the birth of Antonius Stradivarius. Nicola Amati had not yet been born, and one hundred and thirty-five years were to pass before Joseph Guarnerius would give to the world his great treasures.
7The violin was beginning to attain popularity in Italy, and reports had reached Paris of the remarkable work of the brothers Amati in Cremona. This was thirteen years before a violin part was to appear for the first time in an operatic score. Violins were used to accompany the voice in song and occupied a very unique position in church service.
9So it was that a set of violins was ordered by the King of France, for his chapel. They remained in the possession of the court, with the one known exception of this particular violin, until the French Revolution, when they were destroyed or lost in the attack on Versailles.
11Among the courtiers of the court of Henry IV was a music loving cavalier, Francois de Bassompierre, Marshall of France, and later Ambassador to the court of Queen Elizabeth, at London. His memoirs show him to have been a passionate lover of music and to have had in his suite his own orchestra, composed of the best musicians of the time. When not engaged in one of his many military campaigns he devoted his time to the cultivation of music and other arts.
13This violin passed into his hands—probably as a gift of the king to his music loving favorite—and it remained in the possession of
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