Scan 289
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
4 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. Printed page 219. See the scan on archive.org.
1earliest account I have met with of Fiddle-baking occurred in England about 150 years since. One Jeacocke, a baker by trade, and a lover of music by nature, used to bake his Fiddles in sawdust for a week whenever their tones showed symptoms of not being up to his standard of quality. In France the practice may be said to have been introduced about fifty years ago, with a view of facilitating the creation of such mysteries as Duiffoprugcar and Morella Violins, baked and browned until they had something of a fifteenth-century hue. The same means were adopted in the production of instruments intended as copies of the works of Stradivari and Guarneri. The brown hue of the originals, and the worn and broken condition of the varnish which comes of age alone, were imitated with more or less ingenuity. Happily the error is recognised as far as the best workmanship is concerned in France. The imitators' art no longer includes that of depicting wear and brownness, rendering abortive so much excellent work.
3It only remains now to mention Salle, Vuillaume, Chanot, Gand, Germain, Mennégand, and Miremont, all copyists of more or less note, who may be said to complete the modern French school. With these makers ends, as far as it is possible to learn, the manufacturers of Violins in France of a better class. Those made by thousands yearly at Mirecourt are not Violins in the eyes of the connoisseur. They are made as common cabinet work is produced in
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