Marcin Groblicz I

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Marcin Groblicz founded a long and prolific dynasty of Polish violin makers known as the Krakow school, which seems to have disseminated pupils throughout the region, although very little of their work has survived. His instruments were characterized by long and open 'c' bouts, short corners, high arches, and long low-set soundholes with narrow wings. He widely used bird's-eye figured maple imported ...Read More through the Baltic ports. The varnish was very thin and pale. Most striking was the carved lion or dragon's head that replaced the scroll; the face was turned upward, and there was virtually no 'throat', in contrast to Tyrolean work where the lion's face was directed along the fingerboard. Marcin (I) also authored a 'clamshell' violin, distinguished by the absence of ribs: the carved plates, featuring indented upper bouts, were glued directly together. Evidence of similar instruments can be found in Northern European iconography from the 16th and early 17th centuries. The Groblicz example was destroyed in the late 19th century, but a modern reproduction is held in the Poznan museum. A viol converted to cello is in the same museum, and a viol preserved in the Krakow museum is labelled. Read Less

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