Books › Old violins and violin lore, 1900 › scan 89
Scan 89
Old violins and violin lore, 1900
10 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1OLD VIOLINS
3de Salabue's collection there were two very fine Bergonzi violins, dated 1731 and 1733.
5There were five other Bergonzis—a son and grandsons; they all made fiddles, but they were of no account, and were far surpassed by some other makers who themselves belong to the decline period of the Cremona school.
7Although I have called Bergonzi Stradivari's best pupil, it would be very unfair to ignore the merit of Lorenzo Guadagnini (1695–1740), the only one of that name who poses as a pupil of Stradivari. He was born at Piacenza, but lived at Cremona till about 1740. In about 1795 he removed to Milan after leaving his master at Cremona, but returned to die in his native town. His make is bold, his model flat, his varnish not so rich as his master's, his head original, but without the grace of Antonio.
9His son, Giovanni Battista, born at Piacenza, 1711–1786, made violins which are almost more highly esteemed than his father's. He imitated Stradivari perhaps more closely than his father, but Count Cozio de Salabue, who thought very highly of him and bought several instruments from him, is careful to mention that Giovanni Battista Guadagnini prided himself upon being no mere copyist. In fact, the Guadagnini in the hands of Mr. Willy Hess is quite equal to the best of Lorenzo's work. He was always changing his place of residence, and wandered from Piacenza to Milan, and at last to Turin, where he died. His own explanation was that the envy of rivals made
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