Books › The varnishes of the Italian violin-makers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their influence on tone;, 1904 › scan 34
Scan 34
The varnishes of the Italian violin-makers of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, and their influence on tone;, 1904
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1"that they (the violin-makers) could not have employed other than the varnishes then known in industry." "Then," he fixes as between the years 1550 and 1740.
3He then gives receipts published by Alexis, the Piedmontese ("Secrets des Arts") in 1550; by Fioravanti in 1564; by Auda in 1663; by Zahn in 1685; by Morley (Christopher) in 1692; by Coronelli in 1693; by Pomet in 1694; by Bonanni in 1713. As to the latter, he writes:—"We have found there precious information which will allow us to conclude with certainty." ("Nous y avons trouvé de précieux renseignements qui nous permettront de conclure avec certitude").
5To conclude what with certainty? Presumably what he has already set forth—that the great masters employed varnishes which were well known, at least to be found, in commerce. As this statement has been made by other writers besides M. Mailand, it will be necessary to ascertain if he produces any evidence to substantiate it; for assuredly if he does not, no other writer does.
7It is submitted that what he has to do is to prove that a varnish was known in commerce which resembled that of the earliest masters of Brescia, at the time that they lived (manifestly common knowledge in 1713 would not be relevant to Gasparo da Salò and Maggini); further, that the violin-makers improved or changed their methods as the knowledge or experience of the outside world progressed. A literal translation of his own words is repeated:—"They employed those which they found in commerce, and which they appropriated to their wants. It is this
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