Scan 144
Musical instruments, historic, rare and unique, 1888
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1through whose hands the instruments may have passed. Paolo was a cloth merchant, not a violin-maker, but he succeeded to his father's house after the decease of his brothers.
3The "King Joseph" Guarnerius del Gesù Violin (del Gesù on account of his signing his violins with the device I.H.S.), of which back and front views appear to the right of the Plate, also belongs to Mr. Laurie, who has allowed this fine instrument to be drawn for comparison with the no less fine specimen of Stradivarius. The differences in the construction of the instruments of these famous makers are, to the practised eye, considerable. In general, the violins of Guarneri are smaller than those of Stradivari. There is a marked difference observable in the outlines of the two makers, the Stradivarius being somewhat square in the shoulders, the C's, or inward curvings of the sides of a violin which resemble that letter, and in the lower part, while all those features in the Guarnerius are more curved. The head of the latter is bolder, less symmetrical and quaintly original. The "f's," the sound-holes in violins assuming the form of that letter as an italic, which are beautifully curved by Stradivarius, are by Guarnerius often sharply pointed at top and bottom. It might be expected that this peculiarity of the "f's" would be detrimental to the artistic effect, but it is not. The arching of the belly and back is with Guarnerius less marked than with Stradivarius. Generally speaking, Guarnerius left his bellies thicker than those of Stradivarius. As may be expected, there is a decided difference in tone between a Guarnerius del Gesù and a Stradivarius. I am indebted to Dr. William Huggins, F.R.S., for the following interesting comparison. The Stradivarius possesses, as a rule, a brighter tone with unlimited capacity for expressing the most varied accents of feeling, "welling forth like a spring (says Dr. Joachim in Mr. Payne's 'Stradivari,' Grove's Dictionary, vol. iii., p. 733) and capable of infinite modifications under the bow." The tone of Guarnerius has intense individuality, it is powerful and somewhat contralto in quality, with a superb mellow richness strongly tinged with melancholy.
5The famous "King Joseph" Guarnerius del Gesù was formerly in the celebrated collection formed by the late James Goding. It was sold after his decease in 1857 to the Viscomte de Janzé, from whom Mr. Laurie obtained it. The Tourte bow, mounted with gold, tortoiseshell and mother of pearl, shown in the same Plate, is also Mr. Laurie's.
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