Scan 167
The violin, its famous makers and their imitators, 1887
11 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1PASTA, Domenico, Brescia, about 1700.
2PAZZINI, Gaetano, Florence, about 1630, pupil of Maggini.
3PICINO, Padua, 1712. High model; dark varnish.
4PLATNER, Michel, Rome, about 1750. The instruments of this maker resemble those of Tecchler, both in workmanship and varnish.
5 Michael Platner fecit Romæ anno 17—
6POLLUSCA, Antonio, Rome, about 1751.
7POSTIGLIONE, Vincenzo, Naples, now living.
8PRESSENDA, Giovanni, Francesco, Turin. Born in the year 1777. The Violins bearing the label of Pressenda are excellently made, and in many instances the varnish is superior to that met with on any Violins dated from Italy in the present century. Pressenda appears to have interested himself to some extent in the matter of varnish. In a little book published in Italy 1 there is the following passage: "A pale reflection of the old art (Violin-making) is found in Piedmont, with Guadagnini." The writer continues with the following reference to Pressenda of Turin, who, he remarks, was in his youth at Cremona, "where he collected the traditions of the school as regards modelling and the preparation of the varnish, which is the chief merit of his Violins." It is almost needless to remark that traditional information is frequently unsatisfactory, but particularly so in connection with Cremonese Violin-making and varnishing near the middle of the last century. In short, the great makers left no other record of the steps they took both in manufacture and in the preparation of their varnish than can be discovered in their works. The instruments of Pressenda present a singular contrast with
101 "L’Italie économique," 1847.
Makers on this page
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