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Scan 173
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
2 lines. Read by computer on 30 September 2026. Printed page 159. See the scan on archive.org.
1where he was employed by Vuillaume for some time. In 1844 he began business on his own account, and continued to make good violins until 1858, when he committed suicide under the influence of cerebral fever. He had obtained a medal of the second class in 1855. His brother was established in London. Joseph Louis Germain, born in Mirecourt in 1822, was another maker of ability. He went to François Gand in Paris in 1840, and afterwards to Vuillaume, whom he left in 1850, returning to the firm of Gand Fils. In 1862 he commenced in his own name, and returned to Mirecourt in 1870, where he died the same year. He appears to have been an extremely diffident man, whose modesty did him considerable injury in business, as his instruments are now recognised to be of a superior kind. He is one of many illustrations of the truth of the old Scottish proverb, "Spare to speak and spare to speed." Another Mirecourt apprentice was Charles Mennégand, who was born at Nancy in 1822. He went to the French capital in 1840, and became a workman with Rambaux, with whom he remained five years. He was also employed by Maucotel, and in 1852 he removed to Amsterdam, where he is said to have made a number of fine instruments. Returning to Paris in 1857, he continued there to produce good work, especially violoncellos. Mennégand was a second-class medallist in 1855 and 1867. Claude Augustin Miremont, a native of Mirecourt, went to Paris in 1844 and remained there until 1852, when he emigrated to America, and settled in New York. He returned to Paris in 1861. He is reputed to be one of the best modern French makers, and is a medallist of various international exhibitions.
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