Antonio Stradivari, his life and work (1644-1737) . led regards the wood, his assortment of maple does notappear to have been equal in beauty to that of the pre-ceding ten years, but it was as good acoustically. Wemeet with a fair number of backs, both in one and twopieces, marked with a faint small curl, showing a nutmegcross-grain ; and we have seen several specimens dated1722 with backs cuts from the same part of the tree, stainedby a sap-mark on either side of the joint. We again findStradivari returning to the use of this small-curl maple, ofnative growth, in violins dating from 1
Antonio Stradivari, his life and work (1644-1737) . led regards the wood, his assortment of maple does notappear to have been equal in beauty to that of the pre-ceding ten years, but it was as good acoustically. Wemeet with a fair number of backs, both in one and twopieces, marked with a faint small curl, showing a nutmegcross-grain ; and we have seen several specimens dated1722 with backs cuts from the same part of the tree, stainedby a sap-mark on either side of the joint. We again findStradivari returning to the use of this small-curl maple, ofnative growth, in violins dating from 1722 onwards. Hispine is, as a rule, of fairly open and very even grain. Thevarnish of this period is characterised in the greater numberof cases by a less rich appearance ; it is of drier texture,and somewhat sparsely laid on. There still remain to us some fine examples of 1721 andthe following years, which, if not comparable with thoseof the preceding decade as regards beauty of wood andvarnish, are in no way inferior to them in point of forni 72. Fig. 25. SFRADIVARlS VIOLINS and construction ; indeed, some of thefinest-toned instruments date from theseyears. The violin invariably played uponin public by the late Senor Sarasate is ofthe year 1724.* Though unattractive inappearance, it captivated all hearers by itstone. The violin of the late ProfessorWilhelmj dates from the following year, Of 1721 the ex-ample formerly in thepossession of Lady Bluntis particularly remarkablefor its fine state of preser-vation ; thatof M. Vorm baum is of equally high merit. Of 1723 wehave the example owned by Mr. D. The year 1722 furnishes, amongstothers, the fine specimen known as the DeChaponay,owned by Mr. G. W. Mackenzie;that formerly in the Coding, Janze, andCamposelice Collections, later owned b)-Mr. T. W. Barnes, of New York ; and thatbeautiful instrument known as the Rode,which is, we believe, the last of the orna-mented violins made by Stradivari. We may here appropri
Size: 1020px × 2450px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1900, bookpublisherlondonmacmillanand
