Antonio Stradivari

ite New and Sought After-The Help He Received-His Assistants and Pupils-Parts of the Work Requiring His

with his commission fulfilled. Whether he ran in danger of being decapitated for "hanging about" Cremona so long is not known, but one thing is certain, that patrons royal, illustrious, of high social standing and refined tastes, wanted the newly made violins of Stradivari that could never have been played upon, almost in the absolute sense of the term, while they could have easily obtained well seasoned, well tried instruments of makers who had lived lo

spiring to civic honours as alderman, vestryman, guardian or councilman-common or otherwise-as the outcome of the possession of full coffers. Stradivari simply went on making fiddles. In a position to secure the best materials in the re

stion may be fairly put, how much hel

rms with florid decorations seemed so intimately bound. Further, the fittings for them had to be made presumably on the premises of the maestro and not as at present in foreign parts. At the time there was not existent that extensive and special manufacture of bridges, tailpieces, tail-pins, and pegs that forms a large and significant branch of commerce at the present day. That the violin bridge especially was a production of the Stradivari establishment and not "made in Germany," is sufficiently indicated by its present form having been introduced by Stradivari. On comparing it with the different patterns of bridges that had been issued by the previous masters of Cremona, it will be seen at once that the master mind of Stradivari had effected improvements that have

permissible, the number of the grandest creations of artistic genius would be most seriously limited. Raphael and his contemporaries, Rubens and Rembrandt, besides many other masters, are well known to have had numerous pupils in their studios engaged in carrying out ideas previously determined upon and drawn out for their guidance. These assistants were gradually drawn into the way and habit of thinking of their masters, and on leaving them, their own individuality or natural tendency uniting with what they had absorbed of their master's manner, the blending of the two became a fresh production of style. If we take this as our guide in summing up the probable amount of help that was drawn upon by Stradivari during his career, especially that part at which, in our consideration of him and his works, we had arrived, it cannot possibly lead us far from the actual facts. Taking into account the known pupils or assistants who received the benefits of personal instruction from Antonio Stradivari, they are more numerous than we can affix to the name of any other master, as it must be borne in mind that Stradivari had initiated a fresh style, the influence of which was destined to be of a far more reaching character than any hitherto coming to the front. The Stradivarian school became the foremost, most numerous and soon was to be the most imitated, of all. Among the earliest of his pupils (the precise number or even the names of all will never be known), may be placed Alexander Gagliano of Naples, working with him about the period of 1680 and some years later, one or two others of the Gagliano family may have been workmen in the Stradivari atelier. Lorenzo Guadagnini, Joannes Battista, his son and Josef of Pavia all claim to have lent a helping hand and received instruction, and there is nothing in their work that is in contradiction. The first became a great master of the Milanes

all. There may have been many working "on and off" under the eye of the master at different periods who were without ambition or the talent to rise above the position of humble helpers among their more talented brethren, born to be assistants only, and, in consequence, never heard of outside the studio. These, and the before mentioned, must all have had something to do with the instruments their master was sending fo

Sometimes the tracing down may have been done by some advanced pupil or competent assistant. We may fairly assume the presence here of one or two, if not more, assistants, besides a pupil or improver. One would be selected for the bow-sawing of the pattern, another afterwards receiving it for roughly gouging out according to measurements at hand or marked by the master. Another had meanwhile the bending of the thin slips for the ribs to the necessary curves, or working down the corner and end blocks that had been affixed to the mould. Another, if not the same, might have been carrying out the first stages of the working of the scroll, or perhaps a very competent and trust

ven if actually executed by his assistants or his two sons, Francescus and Omobono, who, when their father died, were not very young, the first being sixty-five years of age, and the other fifty-five. They had most likely worked with their parent for about forty years and must have done much of making and repairing, that is, crediting them with some of their father's industrial tendencies. Stradivari had two other sons by his first wife, Francesca Ferraboschi, one, Giulio, died 1707, aged forty; the other, Allesandro, in 1732, aged fifty-five. Nothing seems to be known as to whether they were brought up by their fat

ters before him, knew that his handiwork would be scrutinised as well as the tone of his instruments. It was therefore obligatory that purchasers should know his work, that in fact his sign manual should be always present. Contemporaneous with him were makers, artists, who had been initiated in the mysteries of the manufacture and application of the wonderful varnishes which have since by their qualities made them famous throughout the civilised world. There was nothing, however, in the material or its application that could, under the closest examination, be discerned as different to what might be seen on the best instruments

alanced by love of gracefulness, as seen in the designs of his eminent master. To allow no weak part to be perceptible; strength of line with sufficient grace, admirable proportion and balance, and yet withal sufficient expression of mobility and freedom from heaviness were each, seemingly in turn, given the best attention by the great genius of Cremona. It is not using extravagant language when they are termed the eyes of the violin, for it is to these that experienced connoisseurs turn their attention at once when inspecting a violin of character newly placed before them. Cut by an Italian, cut by a Frenchman, by a German, by a nobody in particular or who understood nothing about it, are the thoughts arising in the mind. Each country has its peculiar and native rendering of every sound hole that was first designed in Italy. This tendency to impart their own national characteristics by each native workman, runs parallel with that in pictorial art in the transferring

e, each instrument is made to convey its own impression, or display its particular kind of beauty. There is a difference, scarcely to

um of truth in the remark, that, "to copy a Stradivari successfully"-of course, in the fullest sense of the word-"the copyist must be a Stradivari himself." There migh

gnana. There is a degree of evenness and keenness of cutting and clean insertion beyond which it is not possible to go. But there the imitators come to a full stop. Without the inventive power which will make this curious, simple, yet wonderful little fillet, aid in giving the desired expression to the whole work, the imitator is not-as people say nowadays-in the race. The finishing of the border, the corners and the delicate and often very elaborate system of curves around the sound holes, the hollowing of the wings of these latter, and the final s

. Summarily taken as a whole, the simple fact is, that in no respect is his varnish different, or better than that of his predecessors, the Amatis and masters of the Bresc

ss of the film, it being occasionally of irreproachable evenness, at other times having almost the appearance of being laid on with a large brush in great haste. On some connoisseurs this haphazard fulness of treatment, this oft times generously effusive manner, carried out with a careless consciousness of power, acts as a charm, inciting to intense admiration the like of which is roused by the rich, juicy brush of Rembrandt and the masters of the Venetian school of painters. But this is not the perfect realization of aim with regard to the envelopment of masterpieces by the old Italian liutaros; in the instances referred to, and sufficiently numerous, we wonder a

er consideration, rather exceptional. While using the lustrous coverings for his works with consummate skill, there is one qualification that must not be lost sight of. Beautiful, refined and artistic in the strictest sense of the term, Stradivari never gave way to a desire to outbid the rest of the fraternity for congratulations in respect of gorgeousness, he seems never to have fallen back upon

y plain. A variety of reasons might be assigned for this, but that which bears the greatest probability about it is-that the instruments being chiefly made to order, the maple of richest curl was not always to be had, at least in time for the construction as required. In other respects these plainer mapled instruments are fully equal to anything that came from his hands. Of the proper tone-giving pine he seems never to have been short; there it is, always of beautiful growth, having, like his own handiwork, both del

has been often tried by would-be "Strads," "Guarneris," or "Bergonzis," and full of specious promises that if you will but purchase their wares you be rewarded for your pains by being possessor of everything good that they could endow the instrument with. Keep it, persevere, and the precious qualities will come; some were daring enough to assert that they were a

nce and which makes acquisition desirable. These artificers had their day, so far as forcing their imitations upon the credulous and unwary could be accomplished, and others have replaced them, yet there a

ase. Most connoisseurs and dealers are well acquainted with the appearance of a "Strad" of fine model, work and varnish that has done its duty in former times, and is yet able and willing to answer all requirements of the present day and many to come. If the instrument has not been hidden and forgotten in the cabinet of some deceased collector, but has been

re now in general use as the best means of preservation against damage and a good resting place at all times. During the last century there were scores and scores of makers in Italy who were ready, willing to, and did turn out excellent instruments with fine, artistical and acoustical properties, but the race has died out and their remaining works are of daily increasing value, and consequently much under lock and key, out of harm's way as much as possible. This old habit of hanging up violins not wanted for the moment was, a

rments, especially the sleeves, all being larger and looser than are fashionable at the present time. The action of these would be more gentle if more continuous. It is noticeable at the lower end of the back of the violin, which is often worn away much below the penetration of the varnish, the corners being rounded down and if rather protuberant, even losing their original character. The upper table of pine being incapable of equal resistance to the destroying influence, wears away sooner, also the border at the lower end and at both sides of the tail-piece-for the old performers placed their chins on the contr

till call it, a picturesque manner or adornment, although from the highest prices being given for those specimens that ha

, Nicolas Amati, was rapidly disappearing under sometimes rough and too often ruffianly usage. It was not in his power to prevent or interfere with this by any peculiarity of construction or quality of the varnish used by him. But this he doubtless knew-that the generally substantial work and total absence of any weak point of detail in design and execution was a

uccess among copyists in any direction of art. In architecture the imitator or restorer of some early English mouldings has often made ignominious failures from the non-application of knowledge of this kind: just a trifling variation from the original while in progress being deemed of little consequence, but when finished and left for exhibition under the truth testing rays of the sun, the qualities that should have been there are, as the saying is, "conspicuous by t

d by a few, very few, dealers and others, whose general intelligence should have been a guarantee against the dissemination of utter nonsense and which has even been in print! that-just think of this-Antonio Stradivari, the acknowledged master liutaro of Cremona in his own day, and of whose growing fame no one can foretell the limits-actually imitated wear and tear of varnish on his violins. I have not th

ation; he, I soon found, had by some means become infected with the absurd notion of the varnish having been artistically pecked away by the original maker! Just fancy this-Raphael slitting a hole in his chef-d'?uvre

depravity. Those who have lent themselves to this incongruous notion, hastily generalising from insufficient particulars, have strangely overlooked the fact that the same kind of chipping is seen on the