Books › The varnishes of the Italian violin-makers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their influence on tone;, 1904 › scan 19
Scan 19
The varnishes of the Italian violin-makers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their influence on tone;, 1904
14 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1"belle couleur brun clair. Ce vernis est remarquable "par sa finesse."* (Vol. V. 400.) A reason for this divergence will be hereafter suggested.
3The earliest instruments of Brescia and Cremona were of a brown colour; although the later examples of Maggini are described and represented as inclining more towards yellow and orange, a brown tint always prevails. Among the later instruments of Cremona, Rome and other Italian cities, a recrudescence of this brown colour or tint is often to be observed.
5As the form and workmanship of the violins improved, the varnish gradually exhibited purer tints of yellow and orange, brown shades became more rare, until the warm tones of Stradivari and his contemporaries appeared towards the end of the seventeenth century.
7From this time until the quality of the varnish began to decline, these tints of orange and red prevailed among the Cremonese and Venetian makers.
9About the year 1750, the varnish which the violin-makers had used for more than two centuries almost entirely disappeared, leaving no trace of its mode of manufacture. A few rare examples appeared a little later (before the close of the eighteenth century); these are supposed to have been produced at the solicitation of noble clients of the violin-maker (Guadagnini).
11Apart from colour, the quality of this unrivalled varnish, the composition of which is now unknown, is excellent in every respect. When dry it still remains slightly soft, and is always elastic. If the wood on
13* The greater part of these instruments are varnished with a spirit varnish, of a fine light-brown colour. This varnish is remarkable for its fine quality.
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