Scan 29

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

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

1"cases the lustre of the wood of the backs, set in its

2"chasing of deep amber, that unrivalled varnish,

3"may be likened to the effect produced by the setting

4"sun on cloud and wave." Mr. Hart here quotes

5Byron's description of sunset in "Childe Harold."

6"The varnish on such instruments is of a rich golden

7"hue, highly transparent; it is lightly laid on."

9"Stradiuarius, Antonius, Cremona, 1644—1737.

10"The varnish on the instruments belonging to the

11"period under consideration (1686—1694) is very

12"varied. Sometimes it is of a rich golden colour,

13"deliciously soft and transparent; in other instances

14"he has used varnish of a deeper hue, which might

15"be described as light red, the quality of which is

16"also very beautiful." . . . "The splendour of

17"the wood is unsurpassed in any violin, ancient or

18"modern, and it was named the 'Dolphin' from the

19"richness and variety of the tints it gives to the

20"varnish."

22In spite of his theory of coloured varnishes, it is

23manifest that the colour effects which he describes are

24those of dichroïsm. In other respects; the truth and

25significance of Mr. Hart's excellent descriptions will

26be hereafter apparent.

28M. Fétis, writing of Antoine Stradivari, represents

29him, up to 1670, as working under the influence of

30Nicholas Amati; from 1670 to 1690 as more occupied

31in experiments and meditations on the perfecting of

32his art than in making instruments for sale. In

331690 came an epoch of transition—"His varnish is

34more coloured." From 1700 to 1725, the instruments

35which leave his hands are so many perfect works—

36"Le bois, choisi avec le discernement le plus fin,

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