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Scan 140
The violin, how to make it, 1880
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 134. See the scan on archive.org.
1the translucency and transparency in the beautiful colors adopted by the Brescian and Cremonse artists. The chemistry of permanent colors—lost to us—was well known to the ancient artists. Where amongst our painters are we to search for the artists who can decorate our walls with imperishable colors? Ages after our pigmy buildings will have crumbled into dust, and the cities enclosing them will themselves have become shapeless heaps of bricks and mortar, with forgotten names—long after that will the walls of Karnack and Luxor be still standing; and the gorgeous mural paintings of the latter will doubtless be as bright and vivid 4000 years hence as they were 4000 years ago and are to-day.
3The Cremona makers no doubt had been led to adopt oil as one of the chief constituents in their varnish, from the fact that such would tend to give the dissolved gums a certain amount of elasticity, which never could be obtained by the employment of alcohol alone as a solvent. The spirit-varnishes dry quickly, but unless mixed, their chief disadvantages are their want of elasticity and aptitude to crack and peel off, whereas in a mixed, or good oil-varnish, the former defect is greatly ameliorated, and the latter is almost entirely obviated. Oil-varnishes are also the most durable and lustrous, and yield better to the operation of polishing than spirit-varnish.
5The following receipts for varnishes have been more or less used by Violin-makers. No. 2 was kindly given the Author by one of our most eminent Scottish makers, who obtained it from the well-known Hardies of Edinburgh many years ago. The following short description of the chief substances used in the composition of the varnishes may not be out of place here:—
7Amber is a fossilized vegetable gum or resin of the extinct coniferæ tribe, forests of which were abundant at an early epoch over Northern Europe. Anciently a fabulous origin was attributed to it, as from its having been found on the sea-shore after a tempest, it was believed to have been the solidified tears of the sea-nymphs, or of the sisters of Phaeton. It is generally found in irregular-shaped masses of no great size, the color varying from a light yellow to a deep orange, having various degrees of transparency, some pieces being entirely opaque. The milky or cloudy-colored
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