Bow & Bridge Violin and bow makers, as the old books printed them

Books › The varnishes of the Italian violin-makers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their influence on tone;, 1904 › scan 20

Scan 20

The varnishes of the Italian violin-makers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their influence on tone;, 1904

12 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.

1which it was spread was not perfectly seasoned at the time of its application, when the grain rose the varnish neither cracked nor fissured—it followed the most minute undulations of the wood.
3For the sake of brevity, the varnishes of Brescia and Cremona will be spoken of as Cremonese. The varnish of Venice is described as very similar to that of Cremona. It is not certain that experts are capable of distinguishing the one from the other; it will be designated as Venetian.
5It has been observed that some of the varnish of Stradivari is a little harder (more inclined to chip) than the generality of the Cremonese (Hill's "Stradivari," 174). It would have been interesting had the information on this point been more definite, especially if the dates and colour of the instruments possessing this peculiarity had been noted.
7At some undefined period after the varnishes already mentioned had reached their zenith, varnish of a slightly different character was introduced by the violin-makers of Naples, Bologna, &c. It is less transparent than the earlier varieties when of a red colour, and, generally speaking, is not so soft or elastic. Much of it is yellow in colour, some of it red, of a deeper tint than the warmest tones of the Cremonese or Venetian varieties. This varnish will be called Neapolitan to distinguish it.
9For a century the modes of preparation of these varnishes—Cremonese, Venetian, Neapolitan—have been lost. Violin-makers, chemists, amateurs, all sorts and conditions of men, have in vain attempted to re-discover the secret.
11Apparently from superficial observation, an opinion

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