Books › Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883 › scan 325
Scan 325
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
6 lines. Read by computer on 27 September 2026. Printed page 311. See the scan on archive.org.
1CHAPTER XI.
3OLE BULL'S "GASPARO DA SALÒ."
5The story about the decoration of this fine instrument has been so often repeated without any particular corroboration being adduced in support of the statement that Benvenuto Cellini carved the scroll, that it may be as well to examine more minutely the probabilities of its accuracy. The tale, which, in all likelihood, originated in Vienna, is, that Cellini did this work upon the instrument for the Cardinal Aldobrandini. An intimate friend of the late Ole Bull states, in the most positive manner, that the scroll was carved by the great Florentine sculptor, and he has made this assertion presumably on the strength of information supplied to him by its late distinguished owner. The writer who reiterates this, the most recent description of the violin, is Mr. Barnet Phillips, an American gentleman who frequently saw the fiddle in Ole Bull's possession. He goes so far as to hazard the conjecture that it was made about the year 1590, probably forgetting, for the moment, that Cellini died
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