Scan 112
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
2 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 60. See the scan on archive.org.
1The 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 Guarneri 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! Gasparo da Salò, the Amatis, and Stradivari were makers who seem to have worked with a singular uniformity and evenness of purpose which has left its mark on their works—so much so indeed as to make it exceedingly difficult to discover an instance where this is not manifested. They certainly made instruments upon which exceptional efforts as to finish are to be traced; but, at the same time, if their labours be regarded as a whole, workmanlike care can never be said to be absent.
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