Books › the history of the violin, 1864 › scan 261
Scan 261
the history of the violin, 1864
2 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 239. See the scan on archive.org.
1of merit; they generally attended to the elegance of form, and excellence of the varnish, but their instruments were inferior in tone to those of Cremona. One of their most distinguished makers was Dominico Montagnana. His instruments, especially his violoncellos, are of large size, and his varnish exceedingly brilliant. The work altogether is excellent, and the figure or mottle of the wood large and beautiful. The late Mr. Frederick Perkins had a fine violoncello by this maker, which was originally sold as a Joseph Guarnerius; it had been reduced in size, but not judiciously. It was purchased by Mr. Alfred Guest, the professor, a pupil of Lindley, who fully appreciates and does justice to its excellent qualities. Montagnana worked at Venice in 1725, and there are tickets of that date; but in later years he appears to have moved to the Tyrol, as we have the following ticket, "Dominicus Montagnana sub signo in Ab prope Oenipontum, fecit, Anno 1730." Santo Seraphino, of the same period, was an excellent workman; his instruments are generally good and prized, the wood beautiful, and of small mottle or figure, and the varnish a good yellow with a brown tinge; which may have been caused by age. Two brothers, Matteo and Francisco Gofriller, in the early part of the century, made strong and good instruments after the Cremona model, but were inferior to the two last-named makers. Pietro Valentino Novello, and Marco Antonio Novello, have acquired a well merited reputation, the violins of the latter especially are good and rare. Other Venetian makers are the brothers Carlo and Giovanni Tononi, Pietro Anselmo, Bellosio, and Bodio. At Padua was Pietro Bagatella, about 1766, of no great merit; but Antonio Bagatella, a few years later, was not only a good maker, but published, in 1782, a valuable work on the construction of instru-
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