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Scan 62
The Hawley Collection of violins, 1904
13 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 40. See the scan on archive.org.
1THE HAWLEY COLLECTION OF VIOLINS
3known, and only then will divulge who the owner is. The price we will keep to ourselves, if you wish it. It will make quite a stir when it is known I have sold it.
4Yours truly, JOHN P. WATERS.
6P. S.—I don't wish to send this violin by express. If it should be broken no money could replace it. I would rather pay the expenses to have it sent to you by hand. Could you spare your porter or clerk? I will deliver it to your order, and wrap the case to prevent it from scratching. Mr. Geoffry has just called. He is going to publish a book, and the Plowden King Joseph will be mentioned. He is getting up a collection of Cremonas for exhibition in Philadelphia.
8The King Joseph remained the recipient of the most tender care of Mr. Hawley until his death, after which, with the entire collection, it was purchased by Mr. Ralph Granger, of San Diego, California. Mr. Granger, an enthusiastic amateur, erected on his estate, in the beautiful Paradise Valley, near San Diego, a magnificent music hall, in which, in a fire and burglar proof vault, the violins were placed. Here they were exhibited to many hundreds of visitors every season. A winter spent in California was not complete without the trip to Paradise Valley. The collection passed into the possession of Lyon & Healy in April, 1902. When the transfer became known we were the recipients of letters from interested persons from all parts of the world. The King, in April, 1903, became the property of Mr. H. O. Havemeyer, of New York.
10Another celebrated violin of this period is that of the renowned violinist, M. Eugene Ysaye.
12In the year 1738 Guarneri finished the violin known as the Fountaine, the model of which resembles the King. A lull occurred in the activity of Guarneri's career in the year 1739, but in 1740 he originated a model different in style from any that had hitherto left his hands. In 1741 the celebrated violin known as the Jarnowick, of the Hawley collection, was made. Giovanni Maru Jarnowick was a pupil of Lotti, and a violinist of great repute in his day. Born in Palermo, 1745, he died in St. Petersburg in 1804. His greatest triumphs were won upon his beloved Guarneri. This violin of Jarnowick's is a splendid specimen of the last type of the master. The general effect of this final model of Guarneri is of robustness rather than of elegance. They are "pugnacious, impudent looking fiddles," as one author terms it. In actual size they are no larger than the 1737 type, but owing to the arrangement of the arching, they have a broader appearance. They are much flatter around the edges, this flatness extending inward from the purfling for quite a distance. In this particular, Guarneri returned to his model of 1727, but this feature is much more pronounced in the later instruments. The sound hole is more angular and is wider than in the works of any preceding period. The wood of the back is of plainer figure, and in the Jarnowick is in one piece. The upper and lower wings of the sound holes are very prominent, which, while not tending to beautify the instrument, give a certain homely strength and dignity to it, which is one of Guarneri's chief charms. The scroll is larger, the boss is medium size, but the volute is wide and flaring, and from it to the edge of the back of the scroll it is thicker. The peg box is also heavier and more chunky than in preceding violins. An ear mark often found in the scrolls of Guarneri is the mark of the chisel which in many cases is plainly visible. These marks are seen in the recesses of the volute, and in some violins are more noticeable than in others. Mr. Hawley desired to secure a good specimen of the last work of Guarneri, and so commissioned Mr. Hart to buy
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