Scan 89
The Violin: Its Famous Makers and their Imitators, 1875
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 51. See the scan on archive.org.
1ments that we discover the form of sound-hole which Nicholas Amati improved and, after him, the inimitable Stradivarius perfected. Jerome Amati ignored the pointed sound-hole and width in the middle portions observable in his predecessor's Violins, and designed a model of extremely elegant proportions. How graceful is the turn of the sound-hole at both the upper and lower sections! With what nicety and daintiness are the outer lines made to point to the shapely curve! Nicholas Amati certainly improved even upon Jerome's achievements, but he did not add more grace; and the essential difference between the instruments of the two is, that there is more vigour in the sound-hole of Nicholas than in that of his father Jerome.
3The purfling of the brothers Amati is very beautifully executed. The scrolls differ very much, and in the earlier instruments of these makers are of a type anterior to that of the bodies. Further, the varnish on the earlier specimens is deeper in colour than that found on the latter ones, which have varnish of a beautiful orange tint, sparingly laid on, and throwing up the markings of the wood with much distinctness. The material used by these makers and the mode of cutting it also varies considerably. In some specimens we find that they used backs of slab-form; in others, backs worked whole; in others, backs divided into two segments. The belly-wood is in every case of the finest description. The tone is far more powerful than that of
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