Books › The "Tuscan". A short account of a violin by Stradivari, made for Cosimo de Medici, Grand duke of Tuscany, dated 1690, 1891 › scan 18
Scan 18
The "Tuscan". A short account of a violin by Stradivari, made for Cosimo de Medici, Grand duke of Tuscany, dated 1690, 1891
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1The record of the instrument for the second century of its existence is complete; and there is a strong presumption as to its previous history. The interesting document (a facsimile copy of which is annexed), in the possession of Messrs. Hill & Sons, shows that in 1794 the violin passed from the hands of Signor G. F. Mosell, of Florence, into those of Mr. David Ker, of Portavo, in Ireland, for the sum of about £25.
3Signor Mosell's statement, quoted by Mr. Ker, that the violin originally belonged to the Court of Tuscany, points to the strong probability of its having been one of the Concerto of instruments supplied by Stradivari in 1690 to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, Cosimo III de Medici. The Concerto consisted of five instruments—two violins, a violoncello and two violas. The violins and violoncello were ordered in 1684 by one Marquis Ariberti, but appear not to have been completed until 1690, when they were presented by the Marquis to the Grand Duke, who thereupon gave an order to Stradivari for the two instruments required to complete the Concerto.
5The history of this transaction is contained in a manuscript notice of Stradivari by Don Desiderio Arisi, which contains many interesting particulars of the commissions executed by the great master, and of the works with which we are now concerned. We reproduce here, with a translation appended, an extract referring to the subject of the present notice.*
7* Don Desiderio Arisi was a conventual priest of the order of the Gerolimini, and resided in the convent attached to the famous church of St. Sigismonde outside Cremona. He left several unpublished biographies of his principal contemporaries in Cremona. These manuscripts are now preserved in the Town Library.
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