Bow & Bridge Violin and bow makers, as the old books printed them

Books › The violin: its famous makers and their imitators. With numerous wood engravings from photographs of the works of Stradiuarius, Guarnerius, Amati, and others, 1875 › scan 76

Scan 76

The violin: its famous makers and their imitators. With numerous wood engravings from photographs of the works of Stradiuarius, Guarnerius, Amati, and others, 1875

6 lines. Read by computer on 29 August 2026. Printed page 34. See the scan on archive.org.

1Amatis, and Stradiuarius were makers who seem to have worked with a singular uniformity and evenness of purpose which has left its mark on their works, so much so, indeed, as to make it exceedingly difficult to discover an instance where this is not manifested. They certainly made instruments upon which exceptional efforts for finish are to be traced, but, at the same time, if their labours be regarded as a whole, workmanlike care can never be said to be absent.
3Judging from the large number of bow-instrument makers in Italy, more particularly during the seventeenth century, we should conclude that the Italians must have been considered as far in advance of the makers of other nations, and that they monopolised, in consequence, the chief part of the manufacture. The city of Cremona became the seat of the trade, and the centre whence, as the manufacture developed itself, other less famous places maintained their industry. In this way there arose ultimately several distinct schools of a character marked and thoroughly Italian, but not attaining the high standard reached by the parent city. Notwithstanding the inferiority of the makers of Naples, Florence, and other homes of the art as compared with the Cremonese, they seem to have received a fair amount of patronage, the number of instruments manufactured in these places of lesser fame being considerable.
5To enable the reader to understand more readily the various types of Italian Violins, they may be classed as the outcome of five distinct schools.

The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.