Florentine Demoliens Chanot

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Pupil and eventually wife of Georges Chanot I. The couple had four children: the first was born in 1822 and died in infancy; the second was born a year later. The future violin makers Auguste Adolphe and Georges were born in 1826 and 1831 respectively. Georges and Florentine married in June of 1826 when Florentine was six months pregnant with Auguste Adolphe.

We only know of one violin with ...Read More her original label, but there are historical records of several more instruments that she made: the literary critic and musical historian Cyprien Desmarais referenced three violins by Florentine in 1836. The first was exhibited in the 1827 Exposition des Produits de l’Industrie Française (Exhibition of French Industrial Products). Demarais recounts that although Florentine’s violin was widely admired, the jury of the exhibition failed to give it a favorable recognition. By way of explanation, Desmarais lamely proposed, “to give the jury the benefit of the doubt, we should assume that they were paralyzed by the surprising fact that this masterpiece was made by a woman, and not that the jury was unwilling to give it the prize.” This violin is pictured on Cozio as ID#106823.

A second instrument made by Florentine was commissioned by an amateur English cellist named Carleton.The third was a violin made in 1829 for Jean-Baptiste Cartier. A student of Giovanni Battista Viotti, Cartier had been the violoniste accompagnateur of Marie Antoinette and then, after the Revolution, served as second violin at l’Opéra de Paris. He was an important musician, a member of la Musique de Napoléon for Napoleon’s coronation in 1804 and he played in the Cour des Rois under both Louis XVIII and Charles X.

Between 1839 and 1846, Georges traveled extensively to Spain, Portugal, England, Germany, Switzerland and to Russia where, in 1845, he met Comte de Wielogorski and Prince Youssoupoff. We can imagine that Florentine was integral to the continuation of the business in Paris, as she would have been left to manage the affairs during his trips abroad. Read Less

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Chanot family tree