IN FOCUS

A close look at the work of great and unusual makers

G.B. GUADAGNINI

Giovanni Battista Guadagnini is considered the greatest violin maker of the late 18th century. Although long held to have been a pupil of his father, Lorenzo Guadagnini, or even Stradivari – as he himself claimed on his late labels – it now seems most likely that he was to a great extent self-taught, and from the very beginning his instruments have a very distinctive character and exhibit a range of unique quirks of materials and technique that can be attributed to no other master. Born in Piacenza in 1711, Guadagnini travelled across northern Italy throughout his career. From Piacenza he moved to Milan in 1749, then possibly to Cremona briefly in 1758, then to Milan and finally to Turin in 1771.

This exceptional violin was made in the last year of his life, in Turin in 1786, according to the label. It appears to be the unaided work of the elderly Guadagnini.

MATERIALS The back is of a single piece of wellfigured quarter-sawn maple, with a wing added in the lower bass bout. The front is of two pieces of straight-grained spruce with grain of medium to broad width.

MODEL Guadagnini’s model is surprisingly consistent from the beginning to the end of his career, despite the very different outward appearances, mainly the result of different treatments of the corners and edges. All this seems consistent with the use of an internal mould. The outline bears a passing resemblance to a midperiod Stradivari, most notably in the C-bouts, but differs elsewhere, with a straighter approach to the corners.

CONSTRUCTION The interior work is also consistent throughout Guadagnini’s work. The blocks and linings are of willow, and the linings are mortised deep into the corner-blocks. He utilised pins in the back and front to locate the plates accurately on the ribs, and these are placed well inside the purfling line. The corners are worked thinner than the bouts, and the purfling has been identified as of the white sapwood of walnut.

SCROLL Guadagnini’s scrolls are very distinctive. This example bears the Stradivari-like blackened chamfers, probably at Cozio’s suggestion, but they are unevenly laid. The profile of the volute is an upright oval, caused to some extent by the hastily knife-cut fluting of the front face, which has overrun into the edges. Most characteristic are the pinpricks marking out the eyes; Guadagnini must have been aware of this, but never seems to have tried to correct it.

F-HOLES The f-holes are very large, and seem also to be in the style of late Stradivari. Guadagnini is known for his practice of cutting the eyes of the ‘F’ to an elongated oval, but here, again possibly at Cozio’s suggestion, they are roughly circular but greatly enlarged. Another Stradivarian touch evident in the late violins is the fluting of the lower wings, generally absent from Guadagnini’s work.

VARNISH The varnish is of a beautiful clear orange– brown, laid closely on the wood. The wood surface typically seems to have been wetted and abraded, leaving a burnished rather than scraped surface.

MAKER GIOVANNI BATTISTA GUADAGNINI

NATIONALITY ITALIAN

BORN 1711

DIED 1786

INSTRUMENT VIOLIN

DATE 1786