Scan 287
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
4 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 217. See the scan on archive.org.
1of ideas, which, had they been well directed, might have led to fame. Others contented themselves with copying, without giving any play to their fancy. It will be found that many of the instruments by Boquay, Pierray, and a few others have varnish upon them closely resembling that of the Venetian school; it is full-bodied, very transparent, and rich in colour. Many of their works are covered with a very inferior quality of varnish, which has caused some confusion respecting the merit due to them as varnishers, they being frequently judged by their inferior instruments, without reference to their good ones. It is evident that they made two qualities of varnish, in accordance with the price they were to obtain, as was commonly done in England by the Forsters, Banks, and Wamsley, where similar confusion exists. The Italians happily avoided this objectionable practice. Their works are of one uniform quality in point of varnish. This divergence may possibly be accounted for by the difference of climate. In Italy, oil varnish judiciously used would dry rapidly, whereas in France or England the reverse is the case; hence its more sparing use.
3We will now glance at the second French School of makers, commencing with De Comble. Learning his art in Italy, and, it is said under Stradivari, he brought to bear a superior knowledge to that possessed by the makers mentioned above. The form he introduced was seen to be in advance of that hitherto met with among the French and Belgian
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