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Scan 163
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
6 lines. Read by computer on 30 September 2026. Printed page 149. See the scan on archive.org.
1these, but it is not known if he was related to them. His work is also described as good, with red-brown varnish.
3Between the years 1760 and 1780, the names of from twenty to thirty French violin makers appear. Among those distinguished for excellence are Nicolas-Augustin Chappuy. He adopted the bad habit of branding his name on his instruments, and sometimes there is a ticket inside bearing the inscription, "Luthier de S. A. R. la Duchesse de Montpensier." The make of his instruments is good, but the varnish (alcoholic), generally of a yellow colour, is bad. The French violinist, Habeneck, played on a violin by this maker, and it is at present in the Paris Conservatoire.
5About the year 1763, the following name, familiar in this country as well as in France, takes rank among the best makers. Fent, of Paris, has proved himself to be a most faithful and conscientious student of Stradivari, and some of his instruments merit classification with the best Italian productions. One of his violins, which was measured, was found in its principal dimensions almost to correspond with those of the famous Stradivari already referred to under the name of "The Messiah," showing that he was, not only in appearance, but in reality, a close observer of that great master. The sound holes alone differ from those of the Cremonese, being placed somewhat higher. Fent does not appear to have dated his tickets, a circumstance which makes it difficult to say precisely at what period he worked. He is generally placed in the second half of the last century, and a careful English writer (Pearce) places him from 1763 to 1780, but I do not know from what sources he derives these figures. A nephew of Fent
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