Scan 129
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1875
2 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1GUARNERIUS, Joseph, son of Andrea, 1680—1730. This maker possessed a greater amount of originality than Andrea. His earliest works evidence that power of thinking for himself which, later, led him to construct instruments entirely distinct from those of his father. The outline is particularly striking. The waist of the instrument is narrowed, rapidly widening, however, from the centre. The result is a curve of much elegance, one of the points which Joseph Guarnerius del Jesù appears to have admired, as he adopted and perfected it. It is here, more particularly, that a resemblance between this maker and his famous kinsmen is to be traced. There are also further strong parallelisms, which will furnish matter for comment in their proper place. To return to the form given to the instruments of Guarnerius, the son of Andrea. The sound-hole has a singular combination of the Amati and the Guarnerius in its conception. We have here a reappearance of the pointed form which originated with the grand old Brescian master, Gaspard di Salo, and was left by him to be revived and perfected by his followers. Andrea's son, in adopting this long-neglected form, showed much judgment. It must be admitted that he improved upon it, and left his cousin, Guarnerius del Jesù, an easy task in completing and perfecting it.
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