Books › The "Tuscan". A short account of a violin by Stradivari, made for Cosimo de Medici, Grand duke of Tuscany, dated 1690, 1891 › scan 23
Scan 23
The "Tuscan". A short account of a violin by Stradivari, made for Cosimo de Medici, Grand duke of Tuscany, dated 1690, 1891
13 lines. Read by computer on 29 August 2026, twice; the two readings disagreed in places. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1A Short Account of a one of two readings
3(no line here) one of two readings
4belly was found to have been strengthened in several places by the maker, who had carefully notified the fact in the following words, written in his own hand, "Corretta da me Antonio Stradivari"—and added the inscription—
6"Prima. 20 Ottobre 1690 per S. A. da Fiorenza."
8The violoncello is also of a very large pattern and is a splendid instrument.
10How the violin came to be removed from the Court remains a matter of conjecture. When the Duchy, in 1734, passed away from the family of the Medici, the great art patrons of Italy, the musical collections may have been less jealously guarded, and many opportunities may have occurred for the "improper removal" hinted at in the document cited above. But the statement, which we have at first hand, of Mosell's position at the Court, and the peculiar opportunities he must have enjoyed for making a judicious transfer of instruments of which he no doubt had the use in his professional capacity, point to an uncharitable but simple explanation of the means by which this violin came into his hands. Certain it is that the two violins belonging to the Concerto are gone from the Court collection at Florence.
12Although Mosell was undoubtedly aware of the exceptional value of the instrument, Mr. Ker, the purchaser, appears to have had no interest in violins beyond that of a collector of artistic rarities; but, according to his own account, given to members of his family, he bought the Tuscan by the advice of no less a person than Angelica Kauffmann, to whom he was at that time sitting for his portrait (probably at Rome, where she was then living with her second husband, Zucchi). Probably by her aid also he bought at the same time, out of the Pitti Palace, two
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.