Books › The varnishes of the Italian violin-makers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their influence on tone;, 1904 › scan 25
Scan 25
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.
1CHAPTER II.
3DESCRIPTIONS OF THE OLD VARNISHES—MODERN OPINIONS AND IMITATIONS.
5It is not a little surprising that, among the many descriptions of the appearance of the old varnishes, only one can be said to be perfectly correct; this was given by a violinist, not by an expert. It is to be found in Fétis' book (Vol. I. 82). Writing of the violins made by Andreas Amati (who was alive and working about 1550), M. Fétis writes:—"Cartier, "qui a vu deux de ces violons, affirme que rien ne "surpasse la perfection de leur travail. Ils étaient "revêtus d'un vernis à l'huile d'un ton doré, avec des "reflets d'un brun rougeâtre."* The Cartier here referred to was Jean Baptiste Cartier, born at Avignon, May 28, 1765, who came to Paris in 1783, where he became a pupil of Viotti, afterwards violinist to Marie-Antoinette. He died in Paris in 1841. The violins in question formed part of the Royal collection—"les vingt-quatre violons du Roi"—so frequently mentioned in history.
7This is an undoubted description of a dichroic varnish.
9For another description which approaches this for
11* Cartier, who saw two of these violins, affirms that nothing could surpass the perfection of their workmanship. They were clothed in an oil-varnish of a golden tone, with reflections of reddish brown.
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