Books › The Hawley Collection of violins, 1904 › scan 67
Scan 67
The Hawley Collection of violins, 1904
8 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1GIUSEPPE (JOSEPH) ANTONIO GUARNERI
3one for him when opportunity occurred. It was not until May 28, 1878, that Mr. Hart was able to fulfill his desire. The Jarnowick is now in the possession of Mr. Frank Davidson. Its dimensions will be found in the table of measurements.
5The color of the varnish used by Guarneri at this period has not the rich shade of red which he was wont to employ in the preceding epoch, but varies from a light brown with just a tinge of red to a chestnut brown. In 1743 Guarneri completed the instrument made famous by Nicola Paganini, now preserved in the Municipal Palace at Genoa. The arching of this violin is slightly more rounding than in the 1741 example. The wood throughout is of the choicest description, both as regards its acoustic properties and its beauty; the color of the varnish is almost a seal or chestnut brown. This is the violin, which, in the hands of the great Maestro Paganini, delighted so many thousands in every part of Europe. It was one of the last violins to come from the shop of the great master.
7Guarneri died in the year 1745 in his house, No. 5, Piazza San Domenico, leaving neither son nor pupil upon whom his mantle might fall. His violins alone were left to justify his claims to immortality. We have before alluded to the curious fact that beside having no pupils, as far as known, he had no helpers. The legend of his dying in prison, not being substantiated by a particle of evidence, we do not deem worthy of discussion. Through the exertions of Lancetti, Vuillaume, Fetis, and others, many facts regarding the life and work of Stradivari have been given to the public, but during all these hundred and fifty years, little save the date of his birth and death, discovered by M. Vuillaume, has been learned regarding Guarneri's personal history. The only reference to him in the records of the church occurs in the register of the Chapel of Ease of the Cathedral, where he was baptized June 11, 1683. This interesting fact is mentioned by Mr. Hart in his book. M. Fetis, the learned littérateur, in his article on Guarneri, criticises the thickness found in the backs of Guarneri violins of the 1735 to 1740 period. He bases his remarks upon information which had reached him by the way of Benedetto Bergonzi (grandson of Carlo, who was, be it remembered, a contemporary of Guarneri after the death of Stradivari, and his competitor in business), through Tarisio and Vuillaume. This information, coming down through the years in a straight line, is of great interest as showing how Guarneri's rival, Carlo Bergonzi, regarded his original ideas. It is an interesting fact that Bergonzi, tutored by and imbued with the Stradivarian forms, should immediately after Stradivari's death adopt Guarneri's sound hole in its boldest form. We were astonished to find the thickness of the back of the King Joseph in the middle as heavy as the backs of some violoncellos. One can easily picture the amazement of Carlo Bergonzi when he saw the back of the King in process of construction. Doubtless he shook his head harder than ever at the radical ideas of Guarneri. Very likely Guarneri was a staple topic of criticism between himself and his family friends, and so after a century it reached Benedetto, the last member of the Bergonzi family. Tarisio would scarcely fail to mention such an interesting matter to his great friend Vuillaume, and so it comes down to Fetis. The explanation of this peculiarity is not difficult when the measurements of the belly and its quality and that of the back are taken into consideration. We have before spoken of the particularly virile quality of Guarneri's tops. The back of the King is of maple of soft texture and cut on the slab. Now, taking into consideration the arching, we have
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