Scan 133
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1875
6 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 85. See the scan on archive.org.
1"Guarneri (Giuseppe Antonio) figlio de' legittimi coniugi Giovanni Battista Guarneri ed Angela Locadella nacque nella parrocchia di San Donato aggregata alla Cattedrale il Giorno 8 Giugno 1683 e battezato il Giorno II del detto mese.' Libro di nati dall 1669 al 1692 G. Dalla Cathedrale di Cremona, li 19 Settembri 1855. Signe, Fusetti Giuli Vitc."—Fétis' notice of Anthony Stradiuarius.
3The Father of Guarnerius del Jesù does not appear to have had any knowledge of the manufacture of stringed instruments, and was thus an exception to the majority of a family which numbered many prominent makers within it. It has been asserted on all sides that Joseph Guarnerius del Jesù was a pupil of Antonius Stradiuarius, but in every case this statement has been made without a shadow of proof either from recorded fact or analogy. That this bare assertion should have so long remained unchallenged is a matter of some surprise to the writer of these pages, who fails to see anything in common between the two makers with the exception of the varnish, and perhaps the high finish, as apparent in the works of the second epoch of Guarnerius. The following remarks on this point are the results of the most careful consideration of the subject, and may serve to assist the reader in forming an opinion:—
5Had Joseph Guarnerius received his early instructions from Stradiuarius, should we not expect his instruments to bear the character of the master
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