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Scan 154
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 140. See the scan on archive.org.
1the French capital about 1655, and to have made good instruments, but all trace of his work seems to have disappeared. Jacques Dumesnil, in Paris about the same time, is esteemed as a clever workman, and a pochette of his, bearing date 1655, is cited by Vidal as a most artistic production. The date 1670 is found on another pochette in the form of a rebec, bearing the inscription "Jacques Quinot à Paris." In a volume published in Paris in 1691, a maker to the King, called Rozet, is mentioned, and in the Conservatoire there is a tortoiseshell guitare bearing the name of Voboam, and the date 1693.
3There were several makers in Paris of the name of Médard, the first of whom, François, is said to have acquired his trade in the workshop of Stradivari. Jean and Nicolas Médard, his brothers, are also reckoned to be good makers. The dates accorded to these three embrace but a short period of twenty-five years (1690 to 1715). Their instruments are described as of small pattern, and are distinguished by the beauty of their varnish; the quality of tone is comparatively poor, and they are chiefly esteemed as historical remnants of the art in France of that time. François is said to have been commissioned to make for the chapel of Louis XIV., and the violins by him which are known are modelled after the manner of those of the earlier Amatis. At the time when he is said to have been with the great Cremonese, the latter was only emerging from the traditions of the Amati school in which he was trained. Nicolas Médard was at Nancy as well as at Paris, and all three appear to have originally come from Lorraine.
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