Scan 302
The violin, its famous makers and their imitators, 1887
6 lines. Read by computer on 28 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1upon them. On all of these instruments will be found his name, surrounded with a design in purfling, under the finger-board, or his monogram executed in purfling. The same trade token will be found in his Violoncellos. All endeavours to discover any existing English Violoncello, or record of one, anterior to Barak Norman, have failed, and, consequently, it may be assumed that he was the first maker of that instrument in England. Here, again, is evidence of his partiality for the form of Maggini, both father and son, as he copied these makers in nearly all his Violoncellos. All the Violoncellos of Barak Norman have bellies of good quality; the modelling is executed skilfully, due care having been observed in leaving sufficient wood. His Tenors are fine instruments. Many of these were made years before he began the Violoncellos, a fact which satisfactorily accounts for the marked difference in form peculiar to them. The build is higher, and the sound-hole German in character; the varnish is very dark. About the year 1715 Barak Norman entered into partnership with Nathaniel Cross, carrying on the joint business at the sign of the Bass Viol, St. Paul's Churchyard. In a Viol da Gamba owned by Walter Brooksbank, Esq., of Windermere, is a label in the handwriting of Nathaniel Cross, by which he adds the power of speech to the qualities of the quaint Gamba; the words are, "Nathaniel Cross wrought my back and belly." The sides and scroll being the work of his partner.
3Norris, John, London, born 1739; died 1818. Articled to Thomas Smith, the successor of Peter Wamsley. Similar work to that of Thomas Smith. He became a partner of Robert Barnes.
5Made by Norris and Barnes, Violin, Violoncello, and Bow Makers, To their Majesties, Coventry Street, London.
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