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Scan 291
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
6 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 277. See the scan on archive.org.
1Violin Varnish.
3It is, of course, impossible now to say definitely by what means the old Cremonese makers succeeded in charging their varnishes with those brilliant tints which they apparently possessed, and which may be sometimes even yet seen on well-preserved specimens of their work. Whatever the means employed, they so completely combined the colouring matter with the varnish that the coats are perfectly transparent, and, as I have before remarked, the veins of the wood can be seen through these coats almost as through a glass. That their varnish was not an "oil varnish," as we now understand the term, may be taken as fairly well demonstrated, for they employed none but soft resins, which may be corroborated by rubbing any of the violins of that time with spirits of wine. The subject is an interesting one, and as similar results in combining these colours with the varnish have been recently obtained, I may be permitted to give an account of the experiments which brought them about.
5It is well known that the essential oil of turpentine neither combines nor mixes with any kind of colour, whether it be bruised in oil, powdered, or mixed with the varnish. It is the same with the essential oils of lavender, aspic, or rosemary. These last take a little colour, but so feebly that they show none when put in use. It is almost certain, however, that the varnish of the old masters was made with one of these essences, and that they had been obliged, in order to colour them, to employ other substances than the lacs, which do not combine either with the vehicles. If these are employed, bruised in oil, they appear, at first, to mingle with the essences and with the resins, but
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