Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri 'del Gesù', Cremona, 1734, the 'Violon du Diable'
Violin: 40405
Labeled, "Joseph Guarnerius fecit Cremone anno 1734."
Read Jason Price's Carteggio feature on this violin.
Back: in two pieces of quarter cut maple with medium-width flame descending slightly from the center seam.
Top: of two pieces of spruce with narrow-width grain broadening toward the edges.
Ribs: and head of similar wood.
Varnish: of a reddish orange-brown color.
Length of back: 35.1 cm
Upper bouts: 16.4 cm
Middle bouts: 11.3 cm
Lower bouts: 20.4 cm
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Notes:
In 1849, Saint-Léon devised and performed, both as dancer and violinist, a piece composed by Pugni entitled "Le Violon du Diable," and this name has stayed with the instrument ever since.Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesú, Carlos Chiesa, John Dilworth, Roger Graham Hargrave, Stewart Pollens, Duane Rosengard & Eric Wen, Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesú (2 volumes), London
Instrument #93 at the South Kensington Special Exhibition of 1872.
Catalogue of the Special Exhibition at South Kensington, England, Carl Engel, Catalogue of the Special Exhibition at South Kensington, England, London
andrewrosthorn@me.com Charles-Eugène Fau, 1819-1879, may have bought this instrument through his dealer J.B. Vuillaume, after the London exhibition, but Eugène Fau died childless soon afterwards in 1879. His brother, Auguste Fau, 1812-1886, was his légataire universel. The instrument was then inherited in 1886 by Auguste Fau’s son, Émile Fau of Mazamet. W.E. Hill & Son bought the Violon du Diable for 35,000 francs after Émile Fau had died in 1910. They had learned by letter from Mazamet that Fau was seriously ill and that he had already given his Fau 1716 Stradivarius violin to his daughter and the Stradivarius cello, Fau, Castelbarco 1707, to his son Pierre Fau. Source: a surviving label, hand-written by Fau and tied by string to the Fau 1716.
Provenance
| Luigi Tarisio | |
| from 1820 | Rossel de Minet |
| in 1849 and until 1870 | Arthur Saint-Léon |
| ... | ... |
| in 1870 | Sold by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume |
| in 1872 | Madame Fleury |
| c. 1872-1879 | Eugène Fau |
| c. 1879-1886 | Auguste Fau |
| 1886-1910 | Émile Fau |
| 1910-1913 | W. E. Hill & Sons |
| ... | ... |
| from 1913 and in 1931 | Richard Bennett |
| until 1972 | W. E. Hill & Sons |
| from 1972 | Dr. Rene-Pierre Lacombe |
| in c. 1990 | Sold by Jacques Français |
| c. 1990-2022 | Anonymous |
| in 2022 | Sold by Tarisio Private Sales |
| from 2022 | Turki Alalshikh |
Known players
Arthur Saint-Léon
Certificates & Documents
- Dendrochronology report: Peter Klein, Hamburg (1998) Dating the youngest tree ring to 1720. Rings match the wood used for the table of the 1734 "Haddock" (ID=411) and the 1734 "Baltic" (ID=410).
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References
Catalogue of the Special Exhibition at South Kensington, England, Carl Engel, South Kensington Museum, London (illustrated)- The Strad, October, 1994, Stewart Pollens, Orpheus, London (illustrated)
- Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesú (2 volumes), Carlos Chiesa, John Dilworth, Roger Graham Hargrave, Stewart Pollens, Duane Rosengard & Eric Wen, Peter Biddulph, London (illustrated)
- The Miracle Makers, Bein & Fushi, Chicago (illustrated)
- The Violin Makers of the Guarneri Family, W. Henry, Arthur F. & Alfred E. Hill, William E. Hill & Sons, London, 1931
- The Violin Masterpieces of Guarneri del Gesù - Exhibition, Peter Biddulph, Peter Biddulph, London (illustrated)