Books › The "Tuscan". A short account of a violin by Stradivari, made for Cosimo de Medici, Grand duke of Tuscany, dated 1690, 1891 › scan 12
Scan 12
The "Tuscan". A short account of a violin by Stradivari, made for Cosimo de Medici, Grand duke of Tuscany, dated 1690, 1891
10 lines. Read by computer on 29 August 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1A SHORT ACCOUNT
2OF A
3VIOLIN by STRADIVARI.
5HIS remarkable instrument, one of the finest examples of Stradivari's work, is probably unique in the preservation, in every detail, of the original beauty of its form and workmanship.
7The violins of Stradivari, like most other old works of art, have almost all suffered from the accidents of time. Even in exceptionally well preserved instruments, cracks have appeared in the soft wood of the belly, the sound holes have often lost some of their accuracy of outline, and the varnish has been rubbed off the parts most exposed to wear. It has consequently been difficult to realise, even from the best specimens, how a violin looked and spoke when fresh from the hands of Stradivari.
9But the condition in which this instrument has been preserved, for nearly two hundred years, enables us to stand, in imagination, as contemporaries of the great master, and to see and handle a violin just as it left his workshop; for, excepting only the longer neck and larger bass-bar demanded
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.