Scan 63
The Violin Gallery: Comprising: Section I. South Kensington Special …, 1890
15 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1walk rapidly to any other instrument in the room he has previously determined to compare with it. This will be a revelation to him if he has eyes in his head.
3And this miracle comes in without a name, and, therefore, is passed over by all the sham judges. And why does it come without a name? I hear a French dealer advised those who framed the catalogue. But the fact is that if a man once narrows his mind to three or four makers, and imagines they monopolize excellence, he never can be a judge of old instruments, the study is so wide and his mind artificially narrowed. Example of this false method: Mr. Faulconer sends in a bass (189,) which he calls Andreas Guarnerius. An adviser does not see that, and suggests "probably by Amiti." Now there is no such thing as "probably by Amati," any more than there is probably the sun or the moon. The bass is by David Tecchler, of Rome; but it is a masterpiece; and so, because he has done better than usual, the poor devil is to be robbed of his credit, and it is to be given, first to one maker who is in the ring and then to another, who is in the ring. The basso di camera, 198, which not being in the ring, comes without a name, is by Domenico Montagnana of Venice, the greatest maker of basses in all Venice or Cremona except one. If this bass had only a decent piece of wood at the back, it would extinguish all the other basses. But we can remedy that defect. Basses by this maker exist with fine wood. Mr. Hart, senior, sold one some twenty years ago with yellow varnish, and wood striped like a tiger's back. Should these lines meet the eye of the purchaser, I shall feel grateful if he will communicate with me thereupon.
5I come now to the last of the Goths, thus catalogued No. 100, "ascribed to Guarnerius. Probably by Storioni."
7Lorenzo Storioni is a maker who began work at Cremona about 1780. He has a good model but wretched spirit varnish. Violin No. 100 is something much better. It is a violin made before 1760 by Landolfo of Milan. He is a maker well known to experienced dealers who can take their minds out of the ring, but, as the writers seem a little confused, and talk of two Landulphs, a Charles and a Ferdinand, I may as well say here that the two are one. This is the true ticket:—
9Carolus Ferdinandus Landulphus.
10fecit Mediolani in via S. Margaritae, anno 1756.
12Stiff inner bought really something like Joseph Guarnerius: but all the rest quite unlike: scroll very mean, varnish good, and sometimes very fine. Mr. Moore's, in point of varnish, is a fine specimen. It has a deeper, nobler tint than usual. This maker is very interesting, on account of his being absolutely the last Italian who used the glorious varnish of Cremona. It died first at Cremona; lingered a year or two more at Venice; Landolfo retained it at Milan till 1760, and with him it ended.
14In my next and last article I will deal with the varnish of Cremona; as illustrated by No. 91 and other specimens, and will enable the curious to revive that lost art if they choose.
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