Scan 116
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1909
4 lines. Read by computer on 1 October 2026. Printed page 74. See the scan on archive.org.
1while the earlier kinds are velvet-like. The Venetian is also of various shades, chiefly light red, and exceedingly transparent. The Neapolitan varnish (a generic term including that of Milan and a few other places) is very clear, and chiefly yellow in colour, but wanting the dainty softness of the Cremonese. It is quite impossible to give such a description of these varnishes as will enable the reader at once to recognise them; the eye must undergo considerable exercise before it can discriminate the various qualities; practice, however, makes it so sharp that often from a piece of varnishing the size of a shilling it will obtain evidence sufficient to decide upon the rank of the Violin.
3And here, before we dismiss the subject of the varnish, another interesting question occurs: What is its effect, apart from the beauty of its appearance, upon the efficiency of the instrument? The idea that the varnish of a Violin has some influence upon its tone has often been ridiculed, and we can quite understand that it must appear absurd to those who have not viewed the question in all its bearings. Much misconception has arisen from pushing this theory about the varnish either too far or not far enough. What seems sometimes to be implied by enthusiasts is, that the form of the instrument is of little importance provided the varnish is good, which amounts to saying that a common Violin may be made good by means of varnishing it. The absurdity of such a doctrine is
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