LESSER KNOWN PATTERNS OF STRADIVARI--THE TREATMENT OF THE SCROLL BY
HIM, THE INDIVIDUALITY AND MATURING OF THE STYLE--THE PURFLING.
During the period of 1690-1700 the modification of parts of the pattern
and details was slight but nevertheless important. Occasionally the
upper corners drooped a little more, and when they are now seen in fine
preservation seem rather long in comparison with later ones, but they
are not really so, it being in the expression no doubt arising from the
greater robustness in the treatment of the corners which now were
becoming in aspect more square, but with the usual peculiarities
retained. There was also about this time another modification sent
forth, a pattern that has the waist curve narrowed in a trifle at about
two-thirds of the way upward, causing a slight suspicion of a wish to
return to his old Nicolo Amati period, but it seems to have been only
momentary, and beautiful as these violins are, they do not appear to
have been repeated. They are in consequence very rare.
Accompanying these little variations there was a slight change in the
treatment of the scroll; it became less massive, while all the principal
features of detail were retained, the grooves at the back were deepened
a little as they ran down to the shell, which last was made a degree
less shallow. In the earlier part of this period the general contour has
a little more flow in the disposition of line, but later on this was
checked, as if not meeting with the full approval of the master, whose
goal of ambition was kept steadily in view from the first--that of
introducing a design that should worthily rank as classical, and in its
details and execution be such, that no weak spot or point of failure
should be discernable under the closest scrutiny. The sound holes now
received further attention and, it might be almost said, for the last
time, as they were continued to the end of Stradivari's career with no
particular or intentional modification. In length there was no
alteration, but the design seems more condensed, more compact, yet
slightly wider in the opening. This is all accomplished without losing
the smallest touch of grace, and although firm in the extreme it has the
opposite of any tendency to hard geometrical form. Stradivari seems to
have had some feeling of contentment with it, for although little
differences of measurement in minute particulars occur afterwards, no
modification in character is attempted. He was most exact in imparting
his own individuality in every instance. It is in this department of the
liutaro's art that the imitators or forgers of Stradivari's work have
found such an insurmountable block in the way of success. The
impossibility hitherto of imparting the requisite identical expression,
notwithstanding the most careful examination and tracing, constantly
adds force to an old saying among dealers that "to make a perfectly
successful imitation of Stradivari he must be a Stradivari himself." In
this view it is obvious that a maker having the sure consciousness of
possessing the power of the master would no longer make tracings of him,
but bring out his own originals. Among the scores and scores of
imitators, some of them having achieved considerable renown as such, the
best of them have not succeeded further than giving their own impress to
their tracing of the master's work. This is quite apart from their
failure to reproduce the master touch in other branches of the liutaro's
art.
In the composition of his purfling he had been, before the periods under
consideration, somewhat unsettled, but he now seemed to have come to a
conclusion that the middle or light coloured portion, should be a
trifle wider than the dark or outer portion. This was also for a
permanency with but little variation. The three parts are probably of
the same kind of wood, with the outer portion darkened by artificial
means and not wood with its natural colour, as in so many early works.
But there was no change in the manner of insertion. There was the same
firm, upright handling of the purfling tool, which, as in his early
period, was sent along with unerring precision and cut its way through
hard and soft wood cleanly and equally well. In this respect of
mechanical dexterity, the great master has had few rivals; he was
apparently equally at home in subduing to his requirements a log of
tough, curled maple, as in gently reducing the exquisitely refined
growth of pine that was to act as a soundboard in throwing out the
luscious quality of tone associated with his name. It was not always so
among the most eminent of Italian liutarios. Many of them have left
unmistakeable evidence of impatience when trying to overcome the
resistance of the tortuously grained maple in turn with the much softer
and straight threaded pine. There was a peculiarity connected with the
purfling that must not be overlooked, and that is, its passing through
the little pegs at the upper and lower part of the instrument, and which
is most carefully attended to by modern close imitators, so that people
should be convinced, if possible, that their's is the real thing.
Stradivari, however, may not have conceived the idea of there ever being
in the future the swarms of his imitators, who, for the last century,
have been but too evident in consequence of the daily increasing
admiration or even reverence for his work. It is not surprising,
therefore, that for some reason known only to himself, he, on rare
occasions, did not run the purfling through the peg, or to be more
strictly correct, the peg was inserted clear of the purfling line. That
this peg peculiarity is no point of recognition may be inferred from the
fact that Stradivari's teacher, Nicolas Amati, treated it in like
manner, besides several of his contemporaries.