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Scan 72
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
2 lines. Read by computer on 30 September 2026. Printed page 58. See the scan on archive.org.
1to die away, so to speak, in the effort to get to the corners, which are not so prominent nor so much brought round as those of the great Antonius. Some of Joseph's scrolls are also quite remarkable for the magnificent curve of the volute, reminding one of the majestic pose of those tightly-reined horses' heads in which John Flaxman used to delight in his illustrations of the works of Homer and Æschylus. There is a power in their design and execution which appears to me lacking in those of Stradivari. Indeed, the artistic sense of del Jesu seems to have altogether a bolder and more masculine turn than that of his great rival. All these features make the grand specimens of Joseph very graceful, and where the tone is equal in quality to that of Stradivari it may not appear so surprising that some eyes are better pleased with a Guarnerius than a Strad. At South Kensington a magnificent example of this maker was exhibited in 1872. It was called "Le Violon du Diable," from an opera of that name in which it had been played upon with wonderful effect by an artist named Saint Leon. It was purchased in Italy in 1820 by a M. Rossel de Minet, and, at his death, passed into the hands of dealers. It was then bought by M. Saint Leon, above mentioned, and was, at the period of its exhibition, the property of a Madame Fleury, who lent it to the Council through the instrumentality of the late M. Vuillaume. The date of this violin was 1734. One or two other examples of del Jesu were exhibited at the same time, and there are some splendid specimens of his work in this country. The name on the ticket of this master is, like so many others, Latinised. It is, in Italian, Giuseppe Antonio Guarneri. He did not use the second Christian name,
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