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Scan 37
The Hawley Collection of violins, 1904
6 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1ANTONIO STRADIVARI. THE HEALY STRAD AND THE EARL STRAD
3quisite wood and varnish. Several were in the Louvre when it was destroyed and were lost for all time. The Stradivari of the Czar of Russia, stolen from his cabinet at St. Petersburg, but restored a few months ago, is a beautiful example of the 1706 period. Stradivari was using at this time his most beautiful maple, a wood having a broadish figure. We can imagine the delight he must have taken in his supply of this choicest of material. Very many of the violins of this period he made in one piece, although there are some in two-piece backs. In the year 1711 Stradivari produced several of his most distinguished instruments, among them the famous Duport Violoncello and the violin which forms so important a part of the Hawley collection, now known as the Healy Strad—a monument to his genius. This is one of the very few perfect Stradivari violins in existence. Although Stradivari was now sixty-seven years of age, a time when most men would have shown the effect of advancing years, no diminution of his skill is noticeable in his work of this period or even ten years afterwards. The sound holes, purfling, and scroll are all done with consummate art. The back of the Healy Strad is formed by one piece of the famous maple that he was using at that time. It has a broadish figure which extends slightly upward from left to right across its width. The wood of the walls is similar to that of the back. The belly is of spruce of the choicest description. The varnish even for Stradivari is remarkable for softness of texture and richness of color. It is a beautiful golden orange. The purfling is done with the greatest possible degree of precision; the miter-joints at the corners are exceptionally exact; the edges are so rounded as to give an appearance of lightness and strength, and are not so wide as his style 1715 to 1718, nor with the narrow rounded margin outside the purfling which is characteristic of his pre-1700 violins. The arching extends from the purfling first with a very slight dip, as seen in the grand pattern of Nicola Amati, and then rises with a graceful sweep to the center, the general effect being one of feminine grace combined with masculine strength. The effect is a tonal quality of rare richness, a subtle, sympathetic, appealing voice, which is unlike that produced by any other model of Stradivari. The scroll is one of those models of design, and in that marked harmony with the body of the instrument, which can be seen only in the work of Stradivari and Amati.
5Stradivari had a true sense of good taste in fashioning his scrolls so as to match the general style of his instruments. Never does one see the comparatively chunky and massive scroll, for example, of the 1720 to 1725 period, placed on the light, graceful instruments of the earlier periods, or vice versa. When he created a new design of edge, corner, sound hole, and arching, he also fitted it with a scroll strictly in artistic keeping with it. Therefore, perfect symmetry and strict proportion are the invariable characteristics of all his work. When they are lacking in any respect, it is well to examine carefully into the genuineness of the different parts. As previously mentioned, Mr. Hawley had always cherished the desire to possess a perfect Stradivari in the highest state of preservation. Mr. Hart had at the time the example known as the Betts violin, which Mr. Hawley had repeatedly endeavored to induce Mr. Hart to part with, but always without avail. Mr. Hart promised, however, that in the event of his securing another real gem of Stradivari, Mr. Hawley should have it. So in the early part of 1882, Mr. Hart wrote Mr. Hawley that at last he had a Stradivari which he was proud to recom-
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