Scan 288
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 218. See the scan on archive.org.
1makers, and led to its being chiefly followed. The next maker was Pique, who made Violins and Violas that were excellent in point of workmanship, and, had he been equally successful in varnishing he would probably have been held in the same estimation as Nicolas Lupot. From these makers sprung quite a little school of its own, comprising François Gand, in Paris, who succeeded to the business of Lupot, and Bernadel, with several others less known. Mention must not be omitted of another excellent copyist, Silvestre, of Lyons. He has left some charming specimens of his art. They are lighter in character than the works of Nicolas Lupot, and resemble the work of Stradivari from 1680 to 1710. Every portion of the work evidences the skill and judgment of the maker. The wood, with scarcely an exception, has not been prepared in order to darken it, rendering them instruments of increasing merit as age acts upon them.
3The practice of preparing the wood for Violin making, either by baking it or by the application of acids, may be traced in the first instance to a desire to obtain artificially those results which are brought about by the hand of time. In obtaining lightness and dryness in new wood, it was imagined that the object in view would be reached without the aid of Dame Nature. Experience, however, has shown that Fiddles, like all things intended to pass into green old age, mature gradually, and are not to be benefited by any kind of forcing process. The
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.