DAWN OF PARISIAN SPLENDOUR

1825

1805

1821

1830

1838

1840

1844

ALL PHOTOS IN THIS ARTICLE MAISON BOYER

At the end of the 18th century, and continuing into the 19th, the political situation in France was highly unstable. Several regimes followed one another, and coups d’état were frequent. In the artistic domain, the neo-Classicism that had been dominant gradually gave way to Romanticism and its liberated sense of art and personal feeling. Ludwig van Beethoven took music out of its classical framework in order to promote the expression of emotion, while in the violin world, works such as Nicolo Paganini’s 24 Caprices greatly helped to extend violin technique. The craft of violin making was no exception, as was exemplified by the career of Charles François Gand (1787– 1845). His success led to the emergence of one of the most famous dynasties of the 19th-century French school of making. Gand came from a family of craftsmen based in the Lorraine region, who over five generations had gradually turned to violin making. In 1780 the brothers Charles Michel and Pierre Charles Gand moved from Mirecourt to Versailles hoping to make their fortune. There they opened a shop, with Pierre Charles specialising in keyboards and Charles Michel in stringed instruments.

Charles François was born to Charles Michel seven years later. His father gave him his first lessons in violin making, but soon decided to send him to Nicolas Lupot, one of the most famous luthiers of his generation. Charles François entered Lupot’s workshop as an apprentice in 1802 and stayed for four years before returning to Versailles, where he spent another four years. In 1811 he married Cornélie Squimbre, Lupot’s adopted daughter, in a union that would bind the two men irrevocably together. Gand probably returned to Paris at this time, to settle at 5 rue Croix des Petits-Champs. The following years are shrouded in mystery: Gand certainly continued working, but there are no instruments we know of with labels dating from this period. We do know that he was sub-contracted to fulfil orders for Lupot, whose workshop was only a few metres away, but we have no evidence of Gand’s personal output. Even though he only made a small number of instruments during his lifetime, it is clear that Gand was a talented luthier. Although he knew how to copy Cremonese models, his main inspiration came from those of Stradivari, as well as from Maggini violas with double purfling.

The first violin shown here, dated 1805, is faithful to Lupot’s models. It is a product of Gand’s apprenticeship, and nothing as yet seems assured: the violin is imposing and squarish without much elegance to it. The execution is crude: the bee-stings (with stained wood for the ‘black’) are careless; locating pins can be seen on the bottom; and there are toolmarks and compass points visible under the bridge, neck root and scroll. The head is imposing, with full chamfers. It is interesting to note that we can see evidence of Gand’s hand in Lupot’s work of this period, especially in the instruments’ heads. The finishing of their chins is less pronounced than on Lupot’s later work, while the rear parts of the heads are finer than those of the older maker (figure 1). Perhaps this was a job that Lupot was less interested by, and preferred to pass on to his assistants.

FIGURE 1 Details of the 1805 violin shown on page 32 showing elements of Lupot’s early style

In 1819 Gand moved to 24 rue Croix des Petits-Champs, taking over the workshop of Jean Gabriel Koliker, who had been luthier to Louis XVIII and the Paris Conservatoire. By this time he was well established among the violin making community, and no longer in the shadow of his master. He was respected and appreciated by his customers. After Lupot’s death in 1824, Gand’s shop became the first port of call for the Parisian clientele.

It is from this point on that Gand’s personal style asserts itself. His preferred model is based on Stradivari but is very refined and personalised. The body length is consistently between 357 and 360mm and the stop length is fixed at 195mm. The archings are flat, taut, and brought elegantly to the edges. The edgework is slightly rounder and thinner than that of its predecessors. The choice of wood is an important way of characterising the work of luthiers in this period, but unfortunately we have no information on its origin. In fact, given the political instabilities in France of that time, finding consistent supplies of wood was difficult at best, and as a result, reliable dendrochronological analysis is almost impossible. The luthiers had to source their wood using local, dependable resources. Gand tended to choose spruce with medium and very regular grain for his tops. He usually favoured one-piece backs of sharp horizontal or inclined flame (figure 2). Ribs would generally be made from the same wood as the back, sometimes in one piece for the lower ones.

FIGURE 3

ONE OF GAND’S CHARACTERISTICS, THE COMPASS POINT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE TABLE UNDER THE BRIDGE IS CONSISTENTLY PRESENT

The f-holes (figure 3) are long and thin, cut very cleanly and positioned straight with the wings slightly hollowed. This model changed very little during Gand’s career; later instruments merely had a slightly larger body, and the f-hole notches became more imposing.

One of Gand’s characteristics, the compass point in the middle of the table under the bridge, is consistently present (figure 4). Compass points on the scroll are no longer visible. On the bottom, the heel is round and generous, with filemarks on either side. Very often, one can see a locating pin at the top and bottom, which is cut in half by the purfling (figure 5). Ebony was the wood of choice for the purfling ‘black’, and maple for the ‘white’. The workmanship is of high quality and uniformity. The corners of these instruments end in very clean bee-stings, whereas those on instruments from the start of Gand’s making career usually curve towards the C-bouts. Here, they are straighter and end up almost perfectly centred in the corners. The junction of the purfling on the bottom is not always positioned in the same place: in some examples it is in the centre of the instrument at the level of the pin, whereas in others it can be slightly off -centre on the right (only on the back). The cut can be straight or bevelled (figure 6). Regarding the work of the heads (figure 7), there are two different styles: on the 1821 model the design is somewhat ‘pot-bellied’ with a big diff erence in width between the low and high parts, while the lower part of the 1825 model is much less bulky. We find these two different styles intermixed throughout Gand’s career. The volute changes less, but he gives it more and more vibrancy as it evolves, which makes the heads very elegant. The comma always ends vertically, the compass point on the eye mostly remains visible, and we no longer find the toolmarks typical of Lupot heads. The chamfers are blackened for the most part, with a very sharp central line down the middle of the back, and a well-rounded chin.

Overall, Gand remained very consistent throughout his career, which makes his style easily identifiable. The varnish is a little hard and dry, and not applied on a golden ground as is usual, but rather on almost bare wood. This means it does not always penetrate from the first coat, making it fragile. Brownish-red or pinkish-red in colour, it tends to crackle slightly in thick areas such as the C-bouts. Most of Gand’s instruments were given full coats of varnish, although sometimes he antiqued them. When viewed under ultraviolet light, we can see a beautiful orange oil varnish (figure 8). It is very likely that he used a protein-based primer of a whitish colour with a layer of coloured varnish over it, which appears light orange. There are four varnish recipes known to have been used by the members of the Gand family, which can be found in Sylvette Milliot’s 2015 book Nicolas Lupot, His Contemporaries and His Successors.

OVERALL, GAND REMAINED VERY CONSISTENT THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER

Every year, Gand built violins, violas and cellos for the laureates of the Paris Conservatoire. Each instrument had an inscription in characteristic gold lettering, after the tradition originated by his master Lupot (figure 9). If the word ‘Royal’ can be seen on the ribs, it is one of Gand’s instruments. The inscriptions ‘National’ and ‘Imperial’ were only used on instruments made after his death. The instruments Gand made for the Conservatoire are good, but do not comprise his best work; the models made on commission for artists or patrons are much more refined. Gand was able to add coats of arms or military decorations on the backs on request, as can be seen on the 1829 instrument shown to the right. The workmanship of the instruments’ interiors is on a par with their exteriors: crisp and precise but maybe a little heavy. Gand uses white willow for the entire assembly, oval cornerblocks and large, squared linings recessed in the corners, finely cut and sanded (figure 10). Unlike his master, Gand did not attach any importance to making the interior work as light as possible, especially the corners, but all the work is cleaner.

Finally, let us look at the brands and labels that allow us to track the development of Gand’s professional life. After filing his patent for a three-piece top, Gand began numbering the instruments and affixing a mark – ‘Gand breveté Paris’ – inside each one (figure 11). His labels changed regularly, allowing us to follow his apprenticeship with Lupot, which ended in 1806; his time working in Versailles with his father; his return to Lupot in Paris; his arrival at 5 rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs and the birth of his first child, Charles Adolphe, in 1812; his taking over the Koliker workshop in 1819; then as his master’s successor until the accession of Louis-Philippe in 1830 (figure 12, page 40). By this time, the revolution in Parisian violin making was under way. From the arrival of the great Italian instruments in the capital to the development of scientific and acoustical research, the luthiers of this generation were developing a very high level of technical proficiency and took the greatest care over even the smallest detail.

Gand competed closely with his fellow maker Jacques- Pierre Thibout for the title of Luthier du Roi, who would look after the instruments of the royal orchestra. Both were smart businessmen as well as clever and innovative luthiers, and this title would enhance the reputation of any Parisian maker. It was Gand who succeeded to the post on Nicolas Lupot’s death in 1824, and there was a keen rivalry between the Gand and Thibout workshops for years afterwards. The change in regime following the 1830 revolution put Jacques-Pierre Thibout back in the race. In 1833 an agreement was concluded between the two luthiers, who would subsequently work together: Thibout as ‘ordinary luthier’ and Gand as ‘extraordinary luthier’, although the work they undertook was largely the same.

Like Thibout, Gand had an urge to innovate. In 1840 he modified the construction of the soundboards of his violins, cellos and double basses, and took out a patent for five years under the description ‘Instruments nouveau systeme’. He took as his starting point two principles that had been established by Georges Chanot and later corroborated by the acoustician Félix Savart.

Firstly, research carried out by scientists at the beginning of the 19th century showed that a more powerful and pleasant sound can be obtained if the soundbox vibrations are allowed to emerge freely throughout the length of the wood fibres. Consequently, it was thought that the soundboards should remain flat, while their design and that of the f-holes should be made as simple as possible. Secondly, the curves of stringed instruments are created using two different techniques: the archings of the top and back are made using a plane to hollow out the spruce and maple, a process that cuts the fibre from the wood. Whereas making the curves of the ribs requires heat to manipulate the thin strips of wood, and give them a rounded shape.

Gand tried to combine the two techniques to obtain a better sound result. He made a violin top in three parts: between the two usual pieces, shaped with a plane in the traditional way, he inserted a middle piece, 40–50mm wide and 5–6mm thick. He used heat to add the curvature, applying the method normally used for ribs. To maintain this curvature, he then fixed it on to a piece of very fine wood 15–16mm thick. This piece would then be glued into the middle of the top, between the two usual parts. In Gand’s view it played a crucial role, keeping the entire length of the wood fibres in a strategic place where the vibrations of the string, communicated to the top plate by the bridge, could be transmitted through the whole of the plate thanks to the soundpost and bass-bar. In his opinion, this would likely improve his instruments’ tone considerably.

However, the reaction of Gand’s customers was not good and his invention unfortunately did not catch on. The addition of a third piece of wood made the construction of the tops more complicated, as well as more fragile: the joint between the pieces of wood was easily broken. Gand consulted many soloists, clients and friends. Their first impressions were favourable, but none of them chose to adopt the new violin as a performing instrument, so its durability was never proven.

Gand had other talents: he was a great restorer, and an expert in identifying the instruments of the old Italians. From his apprenticeship with Lupot and the commercial relationships he developed with the Italian dealer Luigi Tarisio, probably from the 1830s onwards, he acquired a great knowledge of each luthier’s characteristics. Considered one of the most reliable experts of his day, he was regularly called upon in litigation for his views on the origin and general condition of an instrument, in order to determine its market value. This was a relatively new position for a lutherie professional, probably the consequence of an increasingly sensitive market given the rising value of instruments and burgeoning practices of counterfeiters. Gand was a competent luthier in all areas: manufacturing, restoration, expertise and sales. It was these ‘secondary’ areas that marked him out from his predecessors and made the reputation he eventually transferred to his successors. He was the founder of a new kind of violin business, of which later Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume would become the main representative in 19th-century Paris.

Charles François Gand ended up with four children, including two luthiers: Charles Adolphe and Charles Eugene. Both trained and worked alongside him to follow the family tradition and take over the firm. Together they created the entity ‘Gand-Freres’ (1855–66) and later, on the death of Charles Adolphe, the youngest would join forces with the Bernardel family under the name ‘Gand et Bernardel Freres’ (1866–86) and finally ‘Gand et Bernardel’ (1886–92). Hence, for more than a century the Gand family made their mark on French and international violin making.

TRANSLATION BY CHRISTIAN LLOYD

High-resolution photos from this article can be viewed at www.violindocs.com