Invented in the sixteenth century, the violin was originally a secondary instrument to be used for the dance. The luthiers in Brescia gradually discovered the huge potential of improvement of the violin, by acting on the shape of body and holes and on the quality and robustness of wood. Venice, the city of the great feasts, actively supported this development.
Giovanni Paolo Maggini moved to Brescia in 1580 where he learned his craft from Gasparo da Salo. He is one of the luthiers who ensured the success of the violin as a concert instrument, superseding the viola and the viola da gamba.
On May 11 in London, Bonhams sells at lot 210 a violin that had long been attributed to Maggini.
The analysis by dendrochronology shows that its woods were cut in 1669 and 1671. The label inscribed to Maggini, who died in 1630 or 1631, is apocryphal or refers to an unlikely extension of activity of his workshop.
This later dating is actually an advantage because this instrument was made in the period when the quality of the wood enabled to execute in Cremona the best violins of all time. Its sound and power are the result of Maggini's design improved by the know how of the luthiers of Cremona in the last years of the seventeenth century. Experts are tempted to compare it with the work of Andrea Guarneri.
I invite you to play the video shared and commented by Bonhams, in which the violin is played by the late prodigy Edith Volckaert.
Giovanni Paolo Maggini moved to Brescia in 1580 where he learned his craft from Gasparo da Salo. He is one of the luthiers who ensured the success of the violin as a concert instrument, superseding the viola and the viola da gamba.
On May 11 in London, Bonhams sells at lot 210 a violin that had long been attributed to Maggini.
The analysis by dendrochronology shows that its woods were cut in 1669 and 1671. The label inscribed to Maggini, who died in 1630 or 1631, is apocryphal or refers to an unlikely extension of activity of his workshop.
This later dating is actually an advantage because this instrument was made in the period when the quality of the wood enabled to execute in Cremona the best violins of all time. Its sound and power are the result of Maggini's design improved by the know how of the luthiers of Cremona in the last years of the seventeenth century. Experts are tempted to compare it with the work of Andrea Guarneri.
I invite you to play the video shared and commented by Bonhams, in which the violin is played by the late prodigy Edith Volckaert.
RSS Feed
