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Scan 225
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
2 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 211. See the scan on archive.org.
1Walmsley was another maker famed in his time. He was a very clever workman, who sought, by thinning the wood, to imitate the tone of the Cremonese old instruments, with the result that we do not benefit so much by his work as his contemporaries did. Most of his instruments have ink lines instead of purfling. They are chiefly of Stainer model, those with dark brown varnish being reckoned the more valuable. His tickets vary, and his date is about 1727. He had a pupil named Thomas Smith, who made after a similar pattern, but although he did not follow the vicious example which his master set him, his instruments do not command the same attention as Walmsley's. They are considered poor and weak in quality, and a good deal below Walmsley in style; varnish, brownish yellow. He was a favourite at one time, and Pearce says that, not very long ago, two of his violoncellos sold for £30 and £40 respectively. His date is from 1756 to 1799, and he was the instructor of both Norris and Barnes, before mentioned. About this time, there was a John Marshall, who, judging from various tickets, appears to have worked for fifteen or twenty years. He chose the Stainer pattern, and was a good workman. He was also a humorist of a dull sort, as he adds, on a ticket of 1759, "Good Beef 1d. A pound But trades all very Bad." In the beginning of this century, there was an Edward Lewis, whose work is highly commended by all, not only as to wood and varnish, but also with regard to quality and finish. His date is about 1700. There were also two makers called James Brown, father and son, whose dates extend from 1770 to 1860. There is nothing above the ordinary level in their work, although
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