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Object of purity

With its small and stocky form and violin style head,Guadagnini's 1785 Turin period viola

is typical of the master's work.Roger Hargrave examines this rare and finely

preserved example of classical making

In Tainan City at the heart of Taiwan's industrial centre, the ChiMei Culture Foundation has created a museum which in its way is ascurious as the Shrine to Music Museum in rural South Dakota. Bothare the brainchild of individuals of extraordinary drive and visionand both have created homes for fine collections of fine instru-

ments in somewhat unusual surroundings. Since 1990, the Chi MeiFoundation has compiled a remarkable group of rare and important in-

struments of the violin family. To date, this in-cludes a violin by Nicolo Amati, a viola by theBrothers Amati, three violins and two cel-los by Stradivari and two violins byGuarneri `del Gesu'.

My visit to the Chi Mei col-lection was principallyarranged to examine themagnificent `Ole Bull' `del Gesu'for the book about his work. Duringthis visit I was able to examine afine 1785 viola by Giovanni Bat-tista Guadagnini from hisTurin period, an instrumentwhich was to be one of hisfinal works before his

death in September 1786.

Violas by Guadagnini vary considerably in shape and size, and at402mm, in common with most of Guadagnini's violas which are more orless around 400mm, this instrument is somewhat shorter than the stan-dard Stradivari pattern of over 410mm. But for those looking for asmaller instrument, Guadagnini's models are certainly not short onquality and power.

Most of Guadagnini's surviving violas come from his later periodand for much of this time he was influenced by Count Cozio di Sal-abue. However, in spite of the young count's infatuation with Stradi-vari, Guadagnini never appears to have constructed a viola on thesurviving Stradivari patterns which were in the count's possession.

like all known viola headsby Guadagnini, this one ismade in the violin style,without shoulders

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Generally the different periods of Guadagnini'swork are associated with the different towns inwhich he resided. However, like most violin makingfamilies, the Guadagnini family's individual stylesalso overlap each other. With some families, like theStradivaris, stylistic differences are almost impossi-ble to define. In Antonio Stradivari's lifetime his twosons contributed around a hundred years of workingtime and only towards the end of Antonio's life do

differences really become apparent. The work of 'delGesu' was supported by contributions from his fatherGiuseppe `filius Andrea' and possibly from his wifeKatherine. Giovanni Battista Guadagnini's work is ev-ident in the final instruments of his father Lorenzo,and the natural assumption is that Giovanni Battista'sson Gaetano gave a helping hand in the completion ofthis viola.

Remarkably, after more than two centuries, thisviola is still in a fine state of preservation, and its con-dition is reflected in the state of its varnish. Freshvarnishes are often a shock to anyone used to heav-ily polished classical varnishes. The vast majority ofinstruments have worn varnishes which often de-velop a specific patina, by which a maker's work canbe recognised. Without these familiar patinas andwear patterns, instruments can appear strange or un-usual to the inexperienced eye. The varnish on thisviola has so little depreciation that in places its sur-face is unbroken even on prominent edges and cham-fers. Consequently, denied the usual patina and overpolishing, first appearances seem somewhat lacklus-tre. By comparison with classical Cremonese var-nishes, and even the master's earlier efforts, it mustalso be acknowledged that this varnish, thoughhighly transparent, is rather glassy and thin, proba-bly the result of his way of finishing the surface ofthe instrument before any varnish was applied. Nev-ertheless, it still has that quality which distinguishesthe great Italian varnishes from almost everythingwhich followed.

In places on the belly, the soft lighter area of thereed lines are slightly dirty; as if the transparent, tof-fee coloured varnish has penetrated into the moreporous cells of the summer growth. This stained ap-pearance is reminiscent of some Neapolitan var-nishes which have a negative (in the photographicsense) reflection, whereby the summer growth canappear darker than the winter growth when viewedat a certain angle; on classical Cremonese instru-ments the narrower, darker winter growth is alwayspredominant. The surface on this viola is flat andlargely featureless, as if the wood was dampened andscraped or abraded several times. This would haveprevented the softer summer growth of the reed linesfrom expanding to create the fine rilled effect foundon pure and unpolished Cremonese bellies.

On the head the blackened chamfers also testify tothe instrument's purity. Few classical heads retain somuch black lining, and it was clearly applied beforethe normal varnish coat, which in places still protects

Viewed from the side, the rib corner joints tilt and pitch consi-derably; taken together with the short corner overhangs thishas resulted in eight different corner shapes

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it. Like all the known viola heads by Guadagnini, thisone is made in the violin style, without shoulders. Inthis Guadagnini may have been influenced by thelighter Brescian viola heads. Whatever his reason,even under the influence of Count Cozio's obsessionwith Stradivari, he rejected the cello style head pre-ferred by Cremonese makers. Not that Guadagnini'sviola heads appear weak or too light; on the contrary,they are chunky and harmonise well with his smallbut stocky viola form.

In common with most of Guadagnini's heads, thisone is quarter sawn maple of fine growth. It is almostwithout flame, a feature which must have made thecarving process easier. Unfortunately, the replace-ment neck is of bird's eye maple, which not only failsto match Guadagnini's choice of head wood but alsoclashes with the ribs and the back. The head retainsall the usual features of Guadagnini's work. The cut ofthe scroll is full, to the extent that the turns are flow-erpot shaped, being wider at the base. Viewed fromthe end of the head, with the belly held uppermost,the turns or bosses fly upwards, particularly the finalturn of the eye; from the front the turns also appearto fly upwards, though slightly less so. These fea-tures, together with Guadagnini's habit of finishing

the volutes a quarter turn short at the eye, give theturns an exaggerated oval form when seen from theside.

The volutes are cut relatively deep and are slightlyconcave, almost up to the D peg. Although the verti-cal walls of the turns were clearly finished with largeflat gouge stokes, these have mostly been removedby some form of abrasive; Guadagnini's earlier headsnormally show far more tool markings in such areas.The eye itself has fewer of the pin¬pricks which areusually a feature of his work. Such pin pricks are rem-nants of the marking out process, and in this casethey may have been removed by the heavy blackenedchamfer which embellishes the scroll.

On the top of the pegbox the chamfer runs full tothe end of the throat, a feature which suggests Stradi-vari's influence. The throats of most Guadagniniscrolls are not as cleanly finished as this one and theyusually have a V- shaped format. The pegbox interiorappears to have been fully varnished, something notapparent on Cremonese instruments. In spite of theviolin form the box is big and roomy, and on the in-side of the walls there are no chamfers. From the side,the pegbox is longer and straighter than a Cremonesepegbox, and as it runs into the head the turns nar-row quickly.

These features make Guadagnini's scrolls seem as

The varnish has so little depreciation that in places its surfaceis unbroken even on prominent edges and chamfers.

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if they are beginning to unfurl.

Another typical feature of Guadagnini's heads isthe treatment of the flutings. There are faint remainsof a scribe line between the flutings at the chin of thescroll and under the front of the head at the throat.The flutings, which are cleanly worked, run out flatunder the front of the head. There are no scrapermarks on the back of the pegbox, even where theflutings are deeply worked at the chin. This againsuggests the use of some form of abrasive. In themanner of 'del Gesu', Guadagnini cut the head cham-fers after shaping the fluting to the extreme outeredge. Applying the chamfer at this late stage meantthat the outer edges were lowered and the centralspine remained prominent. A further result of thiswas that the curve of the chin also developed a pointwhere it converged with the central spine. InGuadagnini’s case, and especially in the case of thisviola, his use of wide chamfers accentuated these de-tails.

Matching the boldness of the chamfers and theoverall chunky strength of the head is Guadagnini'streatment of the body. The outline and corners are

bold and except at the corners, where they are no-ticeably short, the overhangs are substantial.(Guadagnini's apparent variations in viola patternsmay have as much to do with his different sizes ofoverhangs as with differing concepts.)

The ribs, from which the outline was derived, arevery similar to the back wood, suggesting that theycame from the same tree. They are marked with aclear but shallow sloping figure. Both top and bottombouts were probably one piece ribs. Viewed from theside or along the instrument, the rib corner joints tiltand pitch considerably; taken together with the shortcorner overhangs this has resulted in eight differentcorner shapes. The edges are very thick and there isa pronounced swell in the C bouts. Because of thisthickness the edges remain some¬what square intheir rounding off.

A large amount of varnish remains on these un-worn edges, especially in the C bouts. On the trebleside of the back plate a thick rim of varnish has gath-ered on the edgework, apparently where the backand rib varnishing has overlapped. This suggests thatthe varnish was viscus when applied and probably re-quired few coats. Thick clots of varnish have also col-lected on both lower rib corners. None of the cornerends were blackened.

The edgework fluting on both the back and thebelly is shallow and runs out to a low ridge which isclose to the outer edge. This wide, shallow fluting hasresulted in Guadagnini's normally thinner corners,and thicker edgework in the button areas, becomingless pronounced. The corners are wide but not stubbyor informed. On the back, especially, they are wellproportioned, and in spite of the sometimes unrulypurfling which adorns them, they have a majesticstrength. The purfling is variable in quality and thepurfling channel is the only place on this viola wheretool marks are apparent, with the purfling knife hav-ing run out of the channel on occasion. This is par-ticularly obvious in two places on the upper bouts ofthe back.

The execution of the purfling is the most obviousdetail suggesting the work of an older man. Althoughthe purfling width varies considerably, this variationis mainly found in the black strips; the whites arefairly consistent. Varnish and dirt, or some kind offiller, is evident where the channel was cut too wideand, in spite of the shallow fluting, in several placesthe purfling was not set deeply enough and has beenworked through. This is best observed on the bassside of the belly.

The pegbox interior appears to have been fully varnished, some-thing not apparent on Cremonese Instruments

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The materials used for the purfling appear thesame for both the black and the white strips. Thecharacteristic long splits in the white wood, easilyseen with the naked eye, are clearly apparent in theblack (stained) strips when viewed with a magnify-ing glass. Previous analysis has ascertained thatGuadagnini used the white outer layer of the walnuttree, which complies with the observed longitudinalsplits.

With the exception of the purfling, the wood usedfor this viola is in the best Cremonese tradition. Theback wood, like that of the head and ribs, is moun-tain grown maple and the flame matches the ribs per-fectly. The back is of two pieces, but there are smalladditional wings on the lower bouts which includethe tips of both lower corners.

The belly wood is also of the best quality, althoughin the top bass bout there is an original repair to whatmust have been a small resin pocket. Such repairs arenot uncommon, even on the works of Stradivari. Theyear rings are neither exceptionally wide nor ex-tremely narrow; the wood is perhaps slightly unusualonly in the even quality of the growth across thewidth of the belly. Along the joint the year rings con-verge slightly towards the top of the instrument.

Both the back and the belly archings are similar.They are flat and full and begin at the shallow flutingwhich extends either side of the purfling. The longarches swell slowly from the ends, the belly possiblymore so, and there is no flatness along the centre andno steep climb under the fingerboard or tailpiece.With the exception of some fine scratching across thelower bass corner of the back, there are no visibletool marks on the archings. The whole has clearlybeen scraped or abraded several times.

Although the soundhole nicks are somewhat un-conventionally placed, the design and setting of thef holes are influenced by Stradivari's work. Gone arethe oval lower circles which were the trademark ofGuadagnini. The soundhole bodies are cut more ver-tically to the horizontal plane of the plate than wouldbe the case on most Cremonese instruments. How-ever, they are not as undercut as some ofGuadagnini's own previous works had been. Thelower wings are boldly fluted, again in the manner ofStradivari but, unlike Stradivari's work, the edgeshave been softened by some kind of abrasive. Thestrength of these soundholes suitably matches thebold outline, edgework and archings, creating a har-monious and well balanced instrument.

As can be seen through the soundholes, the blocksand linings are also reminiscent of Stradivari. Theyare made of a similar white wood, presumably willowor poplar, and are finished in a consistent, if slightlycruder, style. The C bout linings are set deeply intothe corner blocks and the whole of the interior workindicates the use of an inside mould. The label, whichis presumably original, has a more sophisticatedprint form than Guadagnini's many and varied ear-lier labels and contains the legend `alumnus ANTO-NIO STRADIVARI'.

There are no obvious signs of any cracks or seri-ous damage to this viola, making it one of the greatrarities of classical violin making. It has certificatesfrom Etienne Vatelot of Paris (1986), J. & A. Beare ofLondon (1988) and Peter Biddulph of London (1991).It is also pictured in the Chi Mei Collection of Fine Vi-olins, published by the Chi Mei Foundation.

Thanks to the Chi Mei Foundation, its presidentWen Lang Shi, Andrew Finnigan and Peter Biddulph.

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