Books › Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883 › scan 89
Scan 89
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
4 lines. Read by computer on 30 September 2026. Printed page 75. See the scan on archive.org.
1preservation is concerned, France, with the two above referred to, no doubt carries off the palm.
3The later violins of Stradivari are not held in high esteem by those who seek after better things. It is not that there is so much difference in the model or general pattern, but that there appears to be a falling off in the execution and finish, as if the master had still been able to design or instruct, but was incapacitated by some cause from carrying out, with the certainty of former days, the practical portion of his task. It is said that after his death a number of unfinished instruments remaining in the workshop were sent out by his successors with his name affixed to them, but the productions of the twelve years subsequent to 1725 share more or less in this sort of condemnation; and it is curious to note how unanimous are all writers on the point. As a literary statement, it appears to have originated with Fetis, who made it, either as a result of his own observations, or as an opinion conveyed to him by Vuillaume, who was the chief source of his information in these matters. In this regard one would like to know what has become of that violin in the collection of Count Cozio di Salabue, made one year before Stradivari's death, and containing the ticket affirming his age. If it was bought by Tarisio, as is not unlikely, it would probably be placed by him, who knew so well the value of these violins, in hands capable of appreciating an instrument which, apart from any other merit it may have possessed, was important as indicating the age of a man of whom so little was then known, and regarding whom every scrap of information was eagerly sought. It would set at rest the various conjectures as to this
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