FASHIONABLY LATE

To mark the 275th anniversary of François Xavier Tourte’s birth, Paul Childs compares and contrasts two very late violin bows by the master bow maker

BOW 1 PHOTOS MATTHEW TO LZMANN

The very late bows of François Tourte are most interesting for a variety of reasons. First of all, we can’t be sure precisely when he stopped making them. His last listing in the Parisian Almanach de Commerce is 1833, but there was sometimes a lag in the deletion of these ‘annonces’, and it’s best not to take it literally that he was still working at the bench in that year. Generally, a consensus of experts suggests that about 1832 is as accurate as we can be for now.

Tourte’s address in his retirement, and where he died soon after, was 38 rue Dauphine (a building that still exists, renumbered as number 32). This is a ten-minute walk across the Pont Neuf from 10 Quai de l’École, where he had lived and worked since 1806, though perhaps taking longer for someone in his mid-eighties.

I consider Tourte’s very late bows to date from about 1825. At this time the work is still masterful and flowing, although here and there a bow appears that challenges the artistic vision and structural magnificence of the bows we expect from Tourte. We may wonder whether his grandson Henry, publicised in the Bazar Parisien of 1826 as learning bow making from Tourte, might have presented some roughed-out sticks to François for him to finish. This presents a conundrum in terms of expertise, as the myriad details we want to see to be convinced that a given bow is an authentic François Tourte are evident, even though the model of the heads and the shape of an odd frog are atypical. Sadly we don’t know whether Henry stayed on until François moved to his final home on the Rue Dauphine. A military conscription in 1829 may well have claimed him for four years.

Both bow number one (opposite) and bow number two (this page) were made by Tourte c.1825–30

FIGURE 1 On both bows, the filemarks on the audience-side chamfers are almost identical

FIGURE 1 COURTESY ISAAC SALCHOW. ALL OTHER PHOTOS PAUL CHILDS

ONE BOW WAS PROBA BLY MADE RIGHT AFTER THE OTHER, OR PERHAPS THEY WERE MADE AT THE SAME TIME

I present here the last two violin bows seen in my book Tourte and which I date c.1825–30. They are both clearly François Tourtes in model and technique, and are both great, very late bows. We are most fortunate that their remarkably pure states of preservation allow penetrating examination.

The models of the heads are virtually the same, with bow number two very slightly less tall. Its extremely dense pernambuco lends the head a compact and powerful nature. Seeing the bows together we derive that one was probably made right after the other, or perhaps they were even made at the same time. The evident filemarks to the chamfers (figure 1) and backs of the heads are virtually identical and the creases (or ‘divots’) to the backs of the heads are very similar. These are extremely subtle in profile, but quite evident when looking at the backs of the heads. At least the bottom one, which encompasses the headplates, is seen in the profiles of these heads. Both of the heads present us with ridges that move the opposite way from typical Tourtes and the heads are taller on the audience side, again atypical to what we usually see.

FIGURE 2 A‘twist’ in the stick is apparent when viewing the bow from the head downwards

FIGURE 3 On the second bow, ‘judder’ can be observed in the central facet on the audience side

FIGURE 3 PAUL CHILDS. OTHER PHOTOS KARL CHILDS

FIGURE 4 The second bow’s stick shows evidence of being planed a second time

Apart from the heads, we see the apparent ‘twist’ to the stick, almost always visible in octagonal Tourtes. When viewing the bows from the head straight on, the ‘twist’ is seen as the top facet is tilted downward slightly from upper left to lower right. This ‘twist’ then continues with the following facets (figure 2). This feature is perhaps more easily seen looking down from straight above the stick, the bow’s head to the left. The facet above the centre (top) one appears wider than the one just lower than the centre one.

But here, and excepting the head and handle mortises and the buttons, the similarities end. The stick of bow number one is planed in a fluent and smooth, typical François Tourte manner, while although number two is mostly planed in a masterly way, judders can be seen on the audience side central facet (figure 3), the bottom one, and the one in between them, expressing the resistance of the tight, solid texture of this rather special pernambuco to Tourte’s plane. However, it renders the edges of the facets razor-sharp. There is one facet that was planed a second time for a length of 31cm (figure 4). In contrast, the more typical selection of bow number one was certainly easier to plane. But both bows are fine and successful examples of Tourte’s very late work.

THE SMALL HEELPLATE OF BOW NUMBER TWO HAS THE TYPICAL THREE PINS WHILE NUMBER ONE HAS ONLY TWO

Arriving at the frogs, we find a continuation of the smoothness versus the very rough finish. Also, the classic throat of number one is reminiscent of Tourtes of some years earlier. In comparison, bow number two’s frog, a tiny bit shorter in height, seems a little squat, this accentuated by its considerably shorter length. But this marries with the craggy head in a very good way. Its throat and grand thumbpiece are like most other frogs of Tourte’s late years.

A very curious difference in the frogs is that the small heelplate of bow number two has the typical three pins while number one has only two. This two-pin feature is seen much more often with the later bows, though is still unusual. (While researching our forthcoming book Tourte, Duane Rosengard and I uncovered no evidence of a connection of François Tourte to the Freemasons, as has been suggested by some regarding the three pins of the small heelplates.)

The buttons give me little to say regarding their differences. The proportions of the three-piece sections vary a little. The pins of bow number two are quite large.

All in all, these two beautiful bows perfectly exemplify the great artistry of history’s most important bow maker.

Tourte, by Paul Childs, Duane Rosengard, Lucy Sante and Isaac Salchow, will be published by Magic Bow Publications in late 2022