Scan 183
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1875
4 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Enough has been said to enable the reader to recognise the connection which must have existed between Amati and Stradiuarius to admit of such marked resemblances. It should be observed that in these earlier specimens there is a singular absence of handsome wood; the acoustical properties of the material are very good, but it has little figure in it, and is often cut on the cross, as shown in figure 2.
3The next period is that dating from 1686 to 1694. The engraving on Plate 32 is a very beautiful specimen of the former date. We here observe a marked advance in every particular. The form is flatter, the arching differently treated. The sound-hole, which is a masterpiece of gracefulness, reclines more. The curves of the middle bouts are more extended than in this maker's later instruments. The corners are brought out, although not prominently so. Here, too, we notice the change in the formation of the scroll. He suddenly leaves the form that he had hitherto imitated, and follows the dictates of his own fancy. The result is bold and striking, and often leaves the impression on the mind that it partakes much of the character belonging to the bodies of instruments of his later period. Though it may seem daring and presumptuous criticism, I have often been impressed with the idea that these scrolls would have been more in harmony with his later works than those to which they belong. The reader will be enabled to form a pretty correct notion of the different characters pervading the scrolls of Stra-
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