Our October auctions in London and New York offer the chance to compare two violins by Jean Baptiste Vuillaume.
Vuillaume (1798–1875) established his Paris violin shop in 1827 and built up an enormously successful business dealing in fine violins as well as producing new instruments and bows of the highest quality. Responding to the widespread demand for classical Italian instruments, he began to copy the work of the Cremonese makers, using four principal models: Stradivari, Guarneri ‘del Gesù’, Maggini and Amati. Of these, his Stradivari model, generally based on the golden period form, is by far the most common, while the Guarneri model, typically based on instruments from the late 1730s up to the ‘Cannon’ of 1743, is the most sought after today.
Vuillaume’s success as a maker and copyist was greatly assisted by his growing expertise in old Italian instruments, many of which he handled through his relationship with the Italian dealer Luigi Tarisio. When Tarisio died in 1855, Vuillaume made what was perhaps his most astute business move in a famous dash to Italy to buy up Tarisio’s entire stock of 144 instruments. The collection included many fine Cremonese examples, not least the ‘Messiah’ Stradivari, which he went on to copy frequently.
Of the two violins to be auctioned in October, the London example (Lot 255) dates from around 1855 and is based on the Stradivari model, while the New York one (Lot 656) is a fine Guarneri model made about five years later. Both have the rich, reliable, unrestricted tone quality that players look for in a Vuillaume.
The violins will be available at our public viewings in Cremona, London, New York and Boston, as well as by appointment in our New York offices during October. To make an appointment, email eladd@tarisio.com or call +1 212 307 7224.