Books › Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883 › scan 71
Scan 71
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
4 lines. Read by computer on 30 September 2026. Printed page 57. See the scan on archive.org.
1moment somewhat thoughtful. He then tried it, and asked Vuillaume to sell it to him, and the bargain was concluded for 500 francs. This copy Paganini, at his death, left to his pupil Sivori, who played on it ever after. Such is the authentic story.
3The great violins of Joseph Guarnerius are graceful in the extreme, and, when they have been permitted to remain entire, there are some which it would be hardly possible to distinguish from those of Antonio Stradivari, were it not for some striking peculiarities which reveal themselves to the eyes of a connoisseur more readily, perhaps, than to those of an ordinary observer. For example, the \( f \) holes (see Frontispiece, Joseph del Jesu) are sensibly longer, and have the upper turn suddenly swept downward from the apex of the ascending outer curve, giving this portion somewhat the appearance of a miniature Gothic arch, with the point where the two limbs of the arch would meet softened off and rounded. The inner curves, also, of this upper turn keep faithfully together at the same distance, until one sweeps finally round in a beautiful circle to meet the inner limb of this little Gothic arch, which gracefully follows the square-cut corner, filling up the space. Neither is the width of these \( f \) holes maintained the same at any two places between the upper and lower turns, in consequence of their inner lines curving slightly inward towards the centre, and then back again towards their normal direction, while the outer lines maintain a clean descending sweep. The middle boughts of Joseph del Jesu are also peculiar, their elliptical form being more obtuse than those of Stradivari, the lower curves especially seeming
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