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Scan 86
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
2 lines. Read by computer on 30 September 2026. Printed page 72. See the scan on archive.org.
1have been appropriated in a moment of shallow or affected enthusiasm. "The Maid," so called because of its perfect state of preservation, was brought to Paris in 1840, and was bought from a dealer by a M. Leray Banquier, and, at his death, became the property of M. Glandaz, who owned it at the time it was exhibited. Its date is 1709. It is a most complete instrument, the lines of its contour being, if anything, sweeter and simpler than those of "The Messiah." The upper corners of the middle boughts are square, coming almost straight out from the top curve of the ellipse, while the deflection of the curves of the lower corners is much more obtuse. The f holes are very beautiful, having all that tender grace so characteristic of Stradivari's work. The outline of the portion of this violin, where it leaves the lower corners of the boughts, begins with a sudden indentation rather than a curve, which as suddenly recovers, then swells out and sweeps round the end of the tail piece, not unlike the same features in the Joseph Guarnerius, already described, and called "Le Violon du Diable." The scroll of this violin also resembles that of the same Joseph in being strong and heroic in its treatment. "The Messiah" is a unique instrument. As already stated, it was one of the six discovered by Vuillaume at Tarisio's farm, in 1855. The description given of it in the catalogue, and which in great part was taken verbatim from that published by Fetis twenty-six years ago, is as follows: "This instrument has hardly been played. It was bought about 1760 by Count Cozio di Salabue, a distinguished amateur, who always respected and preserved it until his death. His heirs sold it to Luigi Tarisio, a
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