Scan 69
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1875
2 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 33. See the scan on archive.org.
1call for its exercise. We need not go far afield for instances to prove the beneficial effects upon art generally of prosperous circumstances as compared with time of hardship. Well-known cases may be cited in relation to this subject, and notably that of Joseph Guarnerius del Jesù. How marked the disturbance of mind pourtrayed in the Violins of Joseph Guarnerius which were made during the time that he forfeited his liberty for a political offence! The hand of the great master is stamped upon them, adversity had no solvent which could efface it, yet the connoisseur readily detects absence of finish and other shortcomings in these instruments, all of which are satisfactorily accounted for when the circumstances under which the Violins were made are considered. It is observable that all the specimens made at this period have the same characteristics of the pressure of hard times. On the other hand, how finely wrought are the instruments of a different date, how uniform as regards finish! The curves are executed with a delicacy truly beautiful; the corners are studied as one, not as four. It seems, therefore, impossible to reconcile such marked variations unless we consider the homelier and rougher specimens of Guarnerius as the results of a disturbed mind. Unfortunately, we have no means of procuring biographical knowledge of him, or of the other makers. Were it possible to obtain this, how many curious differences of execution noticeable in many of the productions might be accounted for! Gaspard di Salo, the
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