Books › Notice of Anthony Stradivari, 1864 › scan 81
Scan 81
Notice of Anthony Stradivari, 1864
4 lines. Read by computer on 24 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Two things are equally worthy of attention in the labours of Anthony Stradivarius; namely, the excellence and the almost infinite number of his instruments. It is true that the multiplicity of his productions is explained by the great age to which he arrived, and by his perseverance in working, which he maintained to the end of his life. Stradivarius was one of those few men who, in aiming at perfection, so far as it is possible for humanity to attain to it, never swerve from the path which may conduct them thereto: men who suffer nothing to divert or turn them aside from their object; who are not discouraged by fallacies, but who, full of faith in the value of the object they have in view, as well as in their ability for its realisation, continually recommence that which they have done well, in order to arrive at the best possible result. To Stradivarius, the making of stringed instruments was the whole world; thereon he concentrated his entire self. In this way only can a man raise himself, when aptitude answers to the will. The prolonged existence of ninety-three years, which was that of the artist who is the subject of this notice, was entirely passed away in a quiet workshop, before a bench, with compass or tool in hand.
3We have before seen that Anthony Stradivari finished a violin at the age of ninety-two years, in 1736. For some years previously, he had been preparing himself for death, having made ready his tomb in 1729. The proof of this is to be seen in the following extract from the book of inscriptions of Cremona (Inscriptiones Cremonenses universae), which has been already mentioned. The extract runs in these terms:
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