Antonio Stradivari, his life and work (1644-1737) . y of the slenderand wavy curls being shown up by the delicate goldenvarnish of perfect transparency and lightness of freshness of this instruments appearance and its stateof preservation are extraordinary; the sound-holes andhead convey the impression of their having been wroughtbut yesterday ; even the black lines with which Stradivarioutlined the curves of the head are unworn, and theoriginal neck still remains. The Archinto viola is equally beautiful, presentinga number of interesting variations on the previous example,though t
Antonio Stradivari, his life and work (1644-1737) . y of the slenderand wavy curls being shown up by the delicate goldenvarnish of perfect transparency and lightness of freshness of this instruments appearance and its stateof preservation are extraordinary; the sound-holes andhead convey the impression of their having been wroughtbut yesterday ; even the black lines with which Stradivarioutlined the curves of the head are unworn, and theoriginal neck still remains. The Archinto viola is equally beautiful, presentinga number of interesting variations on the previous example,though the maple used is very similar ; the arching of themodel is fuller, the corners longer. These, added to theneat edge and graceful purfling, again reflect Amatisteaching. The head and sound-holes remain distinctlyStradivarian, and the varnish is of a lustrous red, perhapsthe most brilliant in appearance of any used on theviolas. We now come to probably the best-known exampleof the violas—that named the Macdonald, dated 1701. io6 STRADIVARIS VIOLAS. Fig. 36.—Design for a Tail-piece, PROBABLY INTENDED FOR THE IN-LAID Violas. It was brought to Englandat the end of the eighteenthcentury by the Marquis dallaRosa, and was subsequentlysuccessively owned by Lord 1Macdonald, Mr. Coding, theVicomte de Janze, and theDue de Camposelice. Arecord in our possessionmade a century ago givesthe date as of the year 1701,but at some later time thelast two figures were clumsilyaltered to read 1720. Sothings remained until re-cently, when a slight repairnecessitated the instrumentbeing taken to pieces, andenabled us to criticallyexamine the label. Pleasur-able indeed was our surprise,on removing it, to find thatthe original ink had passedthrough the paperand clearlyshowed the traces of itscorrect date. The style of this viola incertain details — the flatmodel, the squarer outlineand corners, broad edge, andvery sturdy aspect as a whole—plainly heralds that ofmany of Stradivaris laterproduction
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondonmacmillanand
