Scan 340
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
6 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 264. See the scan on archive.org.
1stated with certainty, but I am inclined to believe that he gained it in the first-named city. Who but an artist acquainted with the best work of Italy in Violin-making could have made those exquisite Violins known as "Elector Stainers?" The wood selected for its rare loveliness, the finished workmanship, and charming rose-coloured varnish, render these works of art, of which one glimpse is a never-fading memory. These works show the diligent zeal with which Stainer laboured in his studies of the Italian masters. He contrived to give these instruments an air of grace quite foreign to the best efforts of his brother German makers. In the sound-hole and scroll is observable his seeming desire to leave behind the German preferences; and although it must be admitted that he was but partially successful in his endeavours to stamp out early tendencies, the connoisseur cannot but be impressed with the fertile resources of the artist's manipulations. Had such skill been exercised on a form nearer akin to the Italian, the result would have been perfect.
3Prior to the publication of the interesting facts obtained by Herr S. Ruf, relative to the personal history of Jacob Stainer, we had no really reliable account of this famous maker.* The industry and research of Herr Ruf, has not only supplied
5* The notice of Jacob Stainer in the "Biographie Universelle des Musiciens," contains information supplied by J. B. Cartier, the well-known Violinist, which formed a portion of the history of the
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