Books › Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883 › scan 58
Scan 58
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
6 lines. Read by computer on 30 September 2026. Printed page 44. See the scan on archive.org.
1Paolo Grancino, a pupil of Nicolas Amati, lived at Milan in the second half of the seventeenth century. He made a great number of violins, which are said to be dated from 1670 to 1690. They are of large model, ordinary wood, dry varnish, sound holes large and wide, common ribs, negligent purfling, and carelessly finished corners. The arching is flattish, and the scrolls very coarse. His son, Giovanni Grancino, worked in the same place from 1695 to about 1715. A ticket of his runs, "Giovan Grancino in contrada larga di Milano al segno della corona, 16—." Similar in kind is the work of Giovanni Baptista Grancino, son of the preceding, who worked in Milan from about 1710 to 1750; and Francisco Grancino, a second son of the same, worked in partnership with Baptista at the same time. One of their tickets runs as follows: "Gio. e Francesco fratelli de Grancini. In contrada larga di Milano." All the members of this family made after the Amati model, and are not held in particularly high repute. Theirs are good violins of their kind, however, and by no means to be despised when better cannot be had.
3"Joannes Florenus Guidantus, Fecit Bononiae, anno 1724," is a ticket of a maker of the Amati school, whom Fetis is supposed to have indicated by the name of "Florenus Florentus," who worked, he says, in Bologna from 1685 to 1715, but no further information about him is obtainable.
5Sanctus Seraphin (Santo Serafino), another follower of Nicolas, worked at Venice from 1730 to 1745. His work is reckoned of the second order, but that is in itself good praise. His wood is always well chosen, the ribs being frequently beautifully figured. The sound
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.