Antonio STRADIVARI (1644-1737)
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
for reference : List of Stradivarius instruments in Wikipedia.
See also : Musical instrument
Chronology : 1680-1699 1700-1709 1710-1719 1720-1729
for reference : List of Stradivarius instruments in Wikipedia.
See also : Musical instrument
Chronology : 1680-1699 1700-1709 1710-1719 1720-1729
1666-1716 Salabue Matsuda Violin
2024 SOLD for $ 3.5M by Tarisio
During his very long career Nicola Amati had been the most important luthier in Cremona, Lombardy. He died in 1684 aged 88 without having ceased his activity. His young colleague Antonio Stradivari had then to deal with an increase of orders.
Formal business relations between the two workshops are not known but a 1666 label suggests that Stradivari began his career as an apprentice ('alumnus') to Amati.
Amati had been a great innovator and experimenter, identifying how a tiny variation in the shape or size of a violin generates considerable differences in the sound. He had also tried to optimize the varnish. Stradivari analyzes the solutions found by the old master. He will be acknowledged from 1690 as the most important designer and manufacturer of violins of all time.
Stradivari started experimenting with modified sizes of the violin in the lifetime of his master.
His breakthrough occurred around 1679 when he was in his mid thirties, five years before Nicola's death.
The career of Stradivari was one of continuous improvement. A violin from the very beginning, ca 1666, was returned to the workshop by its owner in the 1710s which were the decade of the top masterpieces. The front was remade by the master ca 1716 for matching the original ribs, making it one of the best sounding examples. The back, ribs and head remained as is. An earlier assumption that it was repaired after an accident is not currently retained.
This stradivarius is known as the Salabue, Matsuda. It was owned by count Cozio di Salabue around 1800 and by Tarisio around 1820.
The violinist Yoko Matsuda owned it since 1970. Consigned by her, it was sold for $ 3.5M by Tarisio on November 14, 2024, lot 201. It keeps an abundant period varnish. Please watch the videos shared by the auction house, narrating and playing that violin.
Formal business relations between the two workshops are not known but a 1666 label suggests that Stradivari began his career as an apprentice ('alumnus') to Amati.
Amati had been a great innovator and experimenter, identifying how a tiny variation in the shape or size of a violin generates considerable differences in the sound. He had also tried to optimize the varnish. Stradivari analyzes the solutions found by the old master. He will be acknowledged from 1690 as the most important designer and manufacturer of violins of all time.
Stradivari started experimenting with modified sizes of the violin in the lifetime of his master.
His breakthrough occurred around 1679 when he was in his mid thirties, five years before Nicola's death.
The career of Stradivari was one of continuous improvement. A violin from the very beginning, ca 1666, was returned to the workshop by its owner in the 1710s which were the decade of the top masterpieces. The front was remade by the master ca 1716 for matching the original ribs, making it one of the best sounding examples. The back, ribs and head remained as is. An earlier assumption that it was repaired after an accident is not currently retained.
This stradivarius is known as the Salabue, Matsuda. It was owned by count Cozio di Salabue around 1800 and by Tarisio around 1820.
The violinist Yoko Matsuda owned it since 1970. Consigned by her, it was sold for $ 3.5M by Tarisio on November 14, 2024, lot 201. It keeps an abundant period varnish. Please watch the videos shared by the auction house, narrating and playing that violin.
1697 Molitor Violin
2010 SOLD for $ 3.6M by Tarisio
Stradivari's breakthrough occurred around 1679 when he was in his mid thirties, five years before Nicola's death. Amidst shorter violins, he made an early masterpiece now designated as the Hellier, with an increased volume : 35.7 cm length of back in one piece of maple, 17 cm upper bouts, 11.5 cm middle bouts, 29 cm lower bouts. The position and form of the holes is also departing from the standards while the symmetry of the proportions is still under the influence of Amati. The Hellier passed at Christie's on July 7, 2022, lot 40.
On March 28, 2017, Ingles and Hayday sold for £ 1.92M a stradivarius violin identified as the Ex Croall McEwen, lot 28. It bears an original label inscribed 'Antonius Stradiuarius Cremonensis Faciebat Anno 1684' and presents all the characteristics of this very important period which launched the career of the 40 years old master.
In the 1690s, musicians were demanding violins with more powerful sound, and Antonio Stradivari endeavored to meet their request. He then maintained two product lines. The subtlety of the art of violin making is extreme : the difference in length between Long Strads and classical violins does not exceed 5 mm.
The Parisian salon host Juliette Récamier owned a violin by Stradivari. The stradivarius label is dated 1697. A legend attributes a previous ownership of the instrument to Napoléon Bonaparte. After Mme Récamier, the next owner was Molitor, a general in Napoléon's army.
The Molitor was sold for $ 3.6M by Tarisio on October 14, 2010. The image is shared by Wikimedia. The Molitor is an example in normal length.
On March 28, 2017, Ingles and Hayday sold for £ 1.92M a stradivarius violin identified as the Ex Croall McEwen, lot 28. It bears an original label inscribed 'Antonius Stradiuarius Cremonensis Faciebat Anno 1684' and presents all the characteristics of this very important period which launched the career of the 40 years old master.
In the 1690s, musicians were demanding violins with more powerful sound, and Antonio Stradivari endeavored to meet their request. He then maintained two product lines. The subtlety of the art of violin making is extreme : the difference in length between Long Strads and classical violins does not exceed 5 mm.
The Parisian salon host Juliette Récamier owned a violin by Stradivari. The stradivarius label is dated 1697. A legend attributes a previous ownership of the instrument to Napoléon Bonaparte. After Mme Récamier, the next owner was Molitor, a general in Napoléon's army.
The Molitor was sold for $ 3.6M by Tarisio on October 14, 2010. The image is shared by Wikimedia. The Molitor is an example in normal length.
1705 Baron von der Leyen Violin
2012 SOLD for $ 2.6M by Tarisio
After 1698, Stradivari switched from the Long Strad violin to a slightly shorter model.
The Lady Tennant violin, whose stradivarius label is dated 1699, is an early example of the new style which opens the Golden Age of the master. The length of its back is 354 mm, to be compared for example with the 355 mm of the Hammer made in 1707. It was sold for $ 2.03M by Christie's on April 22, 2005, lot 245.
On April 26, 2012, Tarisio sold for $ 2.6M a Stradivarius violin, little known and well preserved, manufactured around 1705, the Baron von der Leyen. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The Lady Tennant violin, whose stradivarius label is dated 1699, is an early example of the new style which opens the Golden Age of the master. The length of its back is 354 mm, to be compared for example with the 355 mm of the Hammer made in 1707. It was sold for $ 2.03M by Christie's on April 22, 2005, lot 245.
On April 26, 2012, Tarisio sold for $ 2.6M a Stradivarius violin, little known and well preserved, manufactured around 1705, the Baron von der Leyen. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1707 Hammer Violin
2006 SOLD for $ 3.5M by Christie's
The Hammer is a violin from the first decade of the Golden Age of Stradivari. Its stradivarius label is dated 1707.
It was sold for $ 3.5M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Christie's on May 16, 2006, lot 199.
It was sold for $ 3.5M from a lower estimate of $ 1.5M by Christie's on May 16, 2006, lot 199.
1708 Empress Caterina Violin
2023 SOLD for $ 5.9M by Tarisio
Visiting Russia in 1898, Alfred Hill from the London based firm of violin experts and dealers W. E. Hill and Sons catalogued the collection of Prince Yusupov, a late Marshal of the Imperial Court. So surfaced 16 previously unknown instruments by Stradivari.
One of them was a violin bearing its original label, "Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis, Faciebat Anno 1708". Alfred established that it had been procured in the mid 18th century by the Russian ambassador to Venice for the use of the reigning empress Elizabeth Petrovna.
The instrument passed in 1763 to the new reigning empress Catherine (the Great) who had overthrown Elizabeth's successor Peter III, her husband. From Catherine it went to colonel Gribovsky, a secretary of state who was a keen amateur violinist and operated an orchestra of serfs.
Hill brought that imperial stradivarius to his firm which sold it to Mrs Stothert, a brilliant violinist who parted of it for acquiring a later stradivarius, the 1714 Dolphin of later Heifetz fame.
Known as the Empress Caterina, the 1708 stradivarius was sold for $ 5.9M by Tarisio on June 8, 2023, lot 105. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
One of them was a violin bearing its original label, "Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis, Faciebat Anno 1708". Alfred established that it had been procured in the mid 18th century by the Russian ambassador to Venice for the use of the reigning empress Elizabeth Petrovna.
The instrument passed in 1763 to the new reigning empress Catherine (the Great) who had overthrown Elizabeth's successor Peter III, her husband. From Catherine it went to colonel Gribovsky, a secretary of state who was a keen amateur violinist and operated an orchestra of serfs.
Hill brought that imperial stradivarius to his firm which sold it to Mrs Stothert, a brilliant violinist who parted of it for acquiring a later stradivarius, the 1714 Dolphin of later Heifetz fame.
Known as the Empress Caterina, the 1708 stradivarius was sold for $ 5.9M by Tarisio on June 8, 2023, lot 105. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1714 Da Vinci Violin
2022 SOLD for $ 15.3M by Tarisio
In the 1690s and 1700s the so called Long Strad violins mark the experiments by Antonio Stradivari to increase the power of the sound. They are 5 mm longer than the classic size.
The know how acquired in that period led the master to design in 1709 other changes that still increased the sound while coming back to the classic size. Flatness and arching reached an unprecedented perfection. In that so called Golden Age that lasted until the mid 1720s, the stradivarius went to be the all time finest violins.
An example was the Soil of 1714, so named from an owner from around 1900. Its "cathedral" sound was so powerful that it did not match the requests of Menuhin, who owned it from 1950 and transferred it to Perlman in 1986.
The Da Vinci is also dated 1714 in its Stradivari label. Its back is made of a single maple piece, rarer than a two piece back for a stradivarius violin of the Golden Age. The varnish is of a bright and golden amber color polychromatic when varying the light.
It first surfaced in 1881 in a deceased estate sale. Its French name Le Léonard de Vinci is a tribute to genius granted in the 1920s by the French dealer Albert Caressa who also nicknamed Michelangelo and Titian two stradivarius from the same period.
It was purchased in 1923 by the recently emigrated Russian born virtuoso Toscha Seidel after a meticulous quest of the perfect violin. That new ownership made a front page of the New York Times in 1924.
Seidel used it extensively in concert and then in radio hosting and studio recording including for the soundtrack of The Wizard of Oz, Intermezzo and Melody for Three.
The da Vinci ex Seidel was sold for $ 15.3M by Tarisio on June 9, 2022, lot 136. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
The know how acquired in that period led the master to design in 1709 other changes that still increased the sound while coming back to the classic size. Flatness and arching reached an unprecedented perfection. In that so called Golden Age that lasted until the mid 1720s, the stradivarius went to be the all time finest violins.
An example was the Soil of 1714, so named from an owner from around 1900. Its "cathedral" sound was so powerful that it did not match the requests of Menuhin, who owned it from 1950 and transferred it to Perlman in 1986.
The Da Vinci is also dated 1714 in its Stradivari label. Its back is made of a single maple piece, rarer than a two piece back for a stradivarius violin of the Golden Age. The varnish is of a bright and golden amber color polychromatic when varying the light.
It first surfaced in 1881 in a deceased estate sale. Its French name Le Léonard de Vinci is a tribute to genius granted in the 1920s by the French dealer Albert Caressa who also nicknamed Michelangelo and Titian two stradivarius from the same period.
It was purchased in 1923 by the recently emigrated Russian born virtuoso Toscha Seidel after a meticulous quest of the perfect violin. That new ownership made a front page of the New York Times in 1924.
Seidel used it extensively in concert and then in radio hosting and studio recording including for the soundtrack of The Wizard of Oz, Intermezzo and Melody for Three.
The da Vinci ex Seidel was sold for $ 15.3M by Tarisio on June 9, 2022, lot 136. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
1714 Joachim-Ma Violin
2025 SOLD for $ 11.3M by Sotheby's
A violin made by Stradivari during his Golden period had almost certainly been played in 1879 by its owner Joseph Joachim of Joachim string quartet fame at the premiere of Brahms' violin concerto with the composer himself as conductor.
Si-Hon Ma later played it for four decades until his death. It was gifted by his estate to the New England Conservatory in Boston with the provision that it could one day be sold to benefit the student scholarship.
It is made of a two piece maple back. The label is stating "Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis Faciebat 1714". The dendrochronology is pointing to 1699 in consistency with other instruments made around that date.
The Joachim-Ma violin was sold for $ 11.3M by Sotheby's on February 7, 2025, lot 1. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Despite an intense use, it is in a very fine preservation including its red brown on amber gold varnish. Its versatile tone is exceptionally rich and warm with subtle expressive nuances.
Si-Hon Ma later played it for four decades until his death. It was gifted by his estate to the New England Conservatory in Boston with the provision that it could one day be sold to benefit the student scholarship.
It is made of a two piece maple back. The label is stating "Antonius Stradivarius Cremonensis Faciebat 1714". The dendrochronology is pointing to 1699 in consistency with other instruments made around that date.
The Joachim-Ma violin was sold for $ 11.3M by Sotheby's on February 7, 2025, lot 1. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Despite an intense use, it is in a very fine preservation including its red brown on amber gold varnish. Its versatile tone is exceptionally rich and warm with subtle expressive nuances.
masterpiece
1716 Messiah Violin
Ashmolean Museum in Oxford
The Messiah is considered as the only instrument by Stradivari that remains in as new condition. The image is shared by Wikimedia with © Pruneau / Wikimedia Commons.
masterpiece
1719 MacDonald Viola
private ownership
The viola is a four stringed instrument of intermediate size between violin and cello offering a large range of sound from low to high, making it one of the elements of the quartet.
The production of violas by Antonio Stradivari extends throughout his long career, but they are much rarer than his violins and cellos. Only twelve survived. Ten of them are kept in institutions of foundations.
The MacDonald is in private ownership. It is dated ca 1719 by experts, which is the beginning of Stradivari's most important period when he takes the full benefit of his know-how accumulated over five decades. For comparison, his beautiful Lady Blunt violin was made in 1721.
The back made in a single piece of maple is in itself a technical feat explaining its exceptional sound. In perfect condition, having retained almost all of its original golden red varnish, it had been offered, and probably passed, at a sealed bid auction by Ingles and Hayday in conjunction with Sotheby's on June 26, 2014. It had been expected beyond $ 45M.
Please watch the video shared by the auction houses. The Macdonald is introduced by the auctioneer Tim Ingles and the violist David Aaron Carpenter.
The production of violas by Antonio Stradivari extends throughout his long career, but they are much rarer than his violins and cellos. Only twelve survived. Ten of them are kept in institutions of foundations.
The MacDonald is in private ownership. It is dated ca 1719 by experts, which is the beginning of Stradivari's most important period when he takes the full benefit of his know-how accumulated over five decades. For comparison, his beautiful Lady Blunt violin was made in 1721.
The back made in a single piece of maple is in itself a technical feat explaining its exceptional sound. In perfect condition, having retained almost all of its original golden red varnish, it had been offered, and probably passed, at a sealed bid auction by Ingles and Hayday in conjunction with Sotheby's on June 26, 2014. It had been expected beyond $ 45M.
Please watch the video shared by the auction houses. The Macdonald is introduced by the auctioneer Tim Ingles and the violist David Aaron Carpenter.
1720 Kux Viola
2022 SOLD for £ 2.5M by Tarisio
The viola d'amore is not a quartet instrument but a usually cornerless six stringed viol with a secondary set of six and a flat back, played under the chin.
The next instrument after the MacDonald in the chronology of stradivarius violas is another special, made ca 1720, referred as the Kux-Castelbarco.
It had been originally prepared by the master as a viola d'amore but with viola corners that facilitated its transformation to the perfect shape of a real stradivarius viola by Vuillaume ca 1850. Stradivari's son and grandson had refused to sell that exceedingly rare pristine viola d'amore to Cozio respectively in 1775 and 1801.
Vuillaume replaced the Stradivarius head with a piece made ca 1620 by Nicolo Amati and the original flat back by an arched back. The presumed original head without neck was donated by Vuillaume to the Conservatoire de Paris. The label is a facsimile with a wrong date, possibly by Vuillaume.
Perfectly preserved with undisturbed varnish, the Kux-Castelbarco was sold for £ 2.5M by Tarisio on October 31, 2022, lot 12. Please watch the videos shared by the auction house, illustrating the catalogue and demonstrating the viola.
The next instrument after the MacDonald in the chronology of stradivarius violas is another special, made ca 1720, referred as the Kux-Castelbarco.
It had been originally prepared by the master as a viola d'amore but with viola corners that facilitated its transformation to the perfect shape of a real stradivarius viola by Vuillaume ca 1850. Stradivari's son and grandson had refused to sell that exceedingly rare pristine viola d'amore to Cozio respectively in 1775 and 1801.
Vuillaume replaced the Stradivarius head with a piece made ca 1620 by Nicolo Amati and the original flat back by an arched back. The presumed original head without neck was donated by Vuillaume to the Conservatoire de Paris. The label is a facsimile with a wrong date, possibly by Vuillaume.
Perfectly preserved with undisturbed varnish, the Kux-Castelbarco was sold for £ 2.5M by Tarisio on October 31, 2022, lot 12. Please watch the videos shared by the auction house, illustrating the catalogue and demonstrating the viola.
1721 Lady Blunt Violin
2011 SOLD for £ 9.8M by Tarisio
The art of Antonio Stradivari has never been equaled. The wood of his instruments was carefully selected, the master was a very clever manufacturer and an excellent mathematician. The secret of the high quality of his violins has however never been discovered.
An interesting hypothesis, not proven, is based on the fact that instruments made at the same time by Andrea Guarneri are approaching the quality of the Stradivarius: the very cold climate of the late seventeenth century would have created less dense wood by slowing the growth of trees.
The Lady Blunt has all the qualities required to excite violinists and experts. Luckily, this specimen is very close to its original state. It was manufactured in 1721, in the best time of Stradivari. It belonged to Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, the French violin maker of the nineteenth century who made commendable efforts to understand and achieve the quality of the Stradivarius.
In 2008, this wonderful violin was purchased by Nippon Music in a private transaction whose amount exceeded $ 10M. This Tokyo foundation has decided to sell it to benefit the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. The auction was operated on June 20, 2011 by Tarisio. It was sold for £ 9.8M. Please watch the post sale video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
An interesting hypothesis, not proven, is based on the fact that instruments made at the same time by Andrea Guarneri are approaching the quality of the Stradivarius: the very cold climate of the late seventeenth century would have created less dense wood by slowing the growth of trees.
The Lady Blunt has all the qualities required to excite violinists and experts. Luckily, this specimen is very close to its original state. It was manufactured in 1721, in the best time of Stradivari. It belonged to Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume, the French violin maker of the nineteenth century who made commendable efforts to understand and achieve the quality of the Stradivarius.
In 2008, this wonderful violin was purchased by Nippon Music in a private transaction whose amount exceeded $ 10M. This Tokyo foundation has decided to sell it to benefit the victims of the earthquake and tsunami. The auction was operated on June 20, 2011 by Tarisio. It was sold for £ 9.8M. Please watch the post sale video shared by the auction house. The image is shared by Wikimedia.
By Tarisio Auctions. Violachick68 at English Wikipedia - Was sent to me personally, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=28827720
1729 Solomon
2007 SOLD for $ 2.73M by Christie's
The activity of Antonio Stradivari spans seven full decades up to his death in 1737. He was assisted by his sons in his later career but there is no doubt that he alone remained the guarantor of his acquired experience.
The use of dense woods subsequent to a series of cold years is one of the causes of the superiority of the stradivarius. The best instruments of his last years have thickened edges, corners and chamfers which provide a similar effect. The exact role of the varnish in the sound of his instruments is more controversial.
The Solomon ex Lambert violin has a stradivarius label dated 1729 when the master was 85 years old. It had been owned by the violinist Miss Murray Lambert. It was sold for $ 2.73M from a lower estimate of $ 1M by Christie's on April 2, 2007, lot 255, from the estate of Seymour Solomon, a music lover who was a co-founder of Vanguard Records.
The use of dense woods subsequent to a series of cold years is one of the causes of the superiority of the stradivarius. The best instruments of his last years have thickened edges, corners and chamfers which provide a similar effect. The exact role of the varnish in the sound of his instruments is more controversial.
The Solomon ex Lambert violin has a stradivarius label dated 1729 when the master was 85 years old. It had been owned by the violinist Miss Murray Lambert. It was sold for $ 2.73M from a lower estimate of $ 1M by Christie's on April 2, 2007, lot 255, from the estate of Seymour Solomon, a music lover who was a co-founder of Vanguard Records.
