Scan 143
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1875
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 93. See the scan on archive.org.
1wood. I have met with three Violins by Carlo Bergonzi, having bellies evidently cut from the same piece of pine, and these instruments passed as the work of Guarnerius for a long period. The sycamore that he used was varied both in appearance and quality: it is chiefly of a broad description of grain, the whole backs being impressively marked like a tiger's skin. There are a few instances where, in his jointed backs, the markings of the wood are turned upwards.
3Upon examining the works of Guarnerius with respect to their thicknesses, it is found that he varied very much as to the quantity of wood left in the several instruments. Notwithstanding these differences, however, it will be found upon closer comparison of the thicknesses, that there is every reason to be sure that he had a guiding principle in their management. They will be found to vary with the quality of the wood; and hard material was treated as needing a slighter solidity than the wood of soft nature.
5His workmanship, in numerous instances, is without doubt careless; but even in the instruments where this negligence is most observed, there is an appearance which at once excites the admiration of the beholder, and forces from the most exacting the admission that, after every deduction on account of want of finish, there remains a style defying all imitation. Who can fail to recognize the quaint head, into which he seems to have thrown such
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