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Scan 38
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
8 lines. Read by computer on 30 September 2026. Printed page 24. See the scan on archive.org.
1Giovani Paolo Maggini, the most distinguished representative of the Brescian manufacture, is said to have been born in Brescia, and is conjectured to have been a pupil of Gasparo da Salò. He made splendid violins, and the possessor of a fine instrument by this maker may count himself to be a happy man. He is reported to have worked from about 1590 to 1640. M. Fetis states that it was through the great violinist De Beriot, who possessed and played upon a Maggini, that attention was directed to this maker. His instruments are generally large in size—but there are also medium and even small ones—of strong and long arching, extending
3Paolo Maggini in Brescia
5Fig. 2. Ticket of Giovani Paolo Maggini.
7nearly to the purfling or inlaying, which is generally double—a characteristic of the Brescian school. The rims or sides are somewhat low; the varnish is a clear yellowish brown, or golden yellow and sometimes amber. The backs of his violins are worked in the direction of the grain, and the sound holes are large and very wide. Some of his tickets are not dated; an authentic one runs thus: "Paolo Maggini in Brescia" (see Fig. 2). I need scarcely say that imitations of this maker have been manufactured in thousands—good, bad, and indifferent—and every external trait of his handiwork, except the amber varnish, has been more or less cleverly repro-
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