Scan 97
Joseph Guarnerius, his work and his master [Andreas Gisalberti], 1906
10 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 55. See the scan on archive.org.
1With regard to Andrea Gisalberti, he being to us moderns an almost unknown maker, or one whose past reputation has yet to be resuscitated and brought more completely to light, enough specimens of his life's work are not to hand whereby we could classify or divide them into periods. Like all other busy men, there is the greatest probability that there was some distinctive mannerism peculiar to his early working career as distinguishable from his later period.
3Already there seems to be enough evidence to suggest that his fancy, in common with so many, if not a very large majority of makers, was for a lighter or less densely constituted varnish than that used by him in his later days.
5In this respect he was followed by his renowned pupil. The specimen referred to, made in 1706, has a lighter coloured varnish than those of his master with which I have become acquainted. It is transparent, free from the glassy hardness of a large majority of the yellow varnishes of the Milanese and Neapolitan schools, not to mention the occasional ones of almost all the others. As a rule these yellow, and to the eye, most inelastic of varnishes, when examined in a strong light, or with a magnifying glass, prove to be covered with minute fractures, more or less sharp according to the degree of flintiness.
7The varnish of this specimen of Joseph Guarnerius's early work is free from this, and partakes more of the consistency of the soft yellows of the Pesaro makers and some of the other members of the Brescian school. It is clear, although at a short distance it does not strike the eye at once as being very brilliant. The threads of the pine are very distinctly seen, and the curls of the sycamore flash well underneath when the violin is moved about in the light.
9It does not, however, give the impression of having been made or laid on like that of his master; if it is as clear, it is less limpid, and there is not that appearance of liquidity almost suggestive of its still being soft and
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.