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Scan 85
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
4 lines. Read by computer on 30 September 2026. Printed page 71. See the scan on archive.org.
1dated 1702, was, a good many years ago, in the possession of Messrs. Schott Bros., in Brussels. It was bought in 1790 by Giovanni Gagliano from the family of Stradivari, and was then unvarnished. In 1820 this violin was seen by Paganini, and adjudged by him to have been made by the hands of Stradivari, a decision which almost implies that some doubt as to its identity had by that time crept into its annals. A celebrated connoisseur, Prince Youssoupow, bought it in Naples in 1854. In 1855 one of the best Viennese makers finished it, without injuring in any way the purity and quality of its tone, this result being attested by the violinists, De Beriot, Vieuxtemps, Haumann, Mayseder, Helmesberger, and other distinguished artists in Germany, Belgium, and Italy. It was afterwards in the palace of the above Prince at St. Petersburgh, and, if it is the instrument now possessed by Mr. Croall, quite an interesting history attaches to it, and it may claim to have as authentic a record as one may reasonably expect in the matter of a fiddle. It was known at that time as "The King of Instruments." There used to be in Russia some fine examples of this master, but I dare say most of those which were to be bought have come recently to this country, or have gone to America or France, and, as I have said before, the great fiddle hunt is well nigh over.
3Perhaps the most renowned examples of Stradivari in existence are the two shown by Vuillaume at the 1872 Exhibition. They are named respectively "The Maid" and "The Messiah," the latter being a name which, one would think, an ordinary sense of decency would have sheltered from such trivial misuse, and which could only
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