Scan 142
The Violin: Its Famous Makers and their Imitators, 1875
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 94. See the scan on archive.org.
1singular character by the mere turn of his chisel, and which, when imitated, always partakes of the ludicrous, and betrays the unhappy copyist who is unable to compass that necessary turn! In matters of the highest art it is always so; the possessor of genius is constantly showing some last resort, as it were, impregnable to imitation; which resolves itself into this fact, where the master-strokes begin and end, Art begins and ends too.
3The sound-hole, again, of Guarnerius, always preserves its distinctive character, and a grotesque humour which at once pleases the eye, though it is found to vary considerably with the three periods of his life. Again, the button—that portion of the back against which the heel of the neck rests, which forms a prominent mark in all Violins, and evidence of style, has a remarkably pronounced development in the Violins of Guarnerius, and in fact may be said to give a vitality to the whole work. There are many instances where excellent and original specimens of workmanship have been, speaking artistically, ruined for want of skill in handling that simple factor of the Violin, the button.
5Having endeavoured to point out the chief features in the work and style of this remarkable maker, I have only to add that his imitators would far exceed in number all the Violin makers that the city of Cremona ever sheltered. There has ever been a diversity of purpose with these Guarnerius imitators distinct from those of Stradiuarius and
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