Scan 139
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
4 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 85. See the scan on archive.org.
1mistaken for the original by those who are not deeply versed in the matter. The points of failure in these imitations may be cited as the scroll and sound-hole. The former lacks ease, and seems to defy its author to hide his nationality. The scroll has ever proved the most troublesome portion of the Violin to the imitator. It is here, if anywhere, that he must drop the mask and show his individuality, and this is remarkably the case in the instance above mentioned. A further difference between Amati and Jacobs lies in the circumstance that the latter invariably used a purfling of whalebone. Another copyist of Amati was Grancino. As the varnish which he used was of a different nature from that of his original, his power of imitation must be considered to be inferior to that of some others. Numerous German makers, whose names will be found under the "German School," were also liege subjects of Amati, and copied him with much exactness; so also, last, but not least, our own countrymen, Forster, Banks, and Samuel Gilkes.
3Lancetti, writing of Niccolò Amati in 1823, says: "Some masterpieces by him still remain in Italy, among which is the Violin dated 1668, in the collection of Count Cozio. It is in perfect preservation, and for workmanship, quality, and power of tone, far surpasses the instruments of his predecessors." The same writer remarks that "Niccolò Amati put his own name to his instruments about 1640." It was upon a Violoncello of this make that Signor
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