Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri 'del Gesù', Cremona, 1735, the 'd'Egville'
Violin: 40417
Bearing its original label.
Back: Two-piece with broad flames ascending from the joint
Top: Wide-grained; from the same log as the belly of the "Plowden"
Scroll: by Giuseppe filius Andreae
Varnish: Red-gold
Length of back: 35 cm
Upper bouts: 16.4 cm
Middle bouts: 10.9 cm
Lower bouts: 20.4 cm
There are 10 additional images in the archive which are not available publicly. Please contact us for more information.
Notes:
Instrument #94 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
"Beares recently sold it to a trust that lends it to a promising young solist."
J. & A. Beare - Notable Sales
"To approach the same conclusion by a different road No. 94 is a violin whose picturesque beauty I have described already; twenty-five years ago Mr. Plowden gave £450 for it. It is now, I suppose, worth £500. Well, knock that violin down and crack it in two places, it will sink that moment to the value of the "violon du diable," and be worth £350. But collect twenty amateurs all ready to buy it, and, instead of cracking it, dip it into a jar of spirits and wash the varnish off. Not one of those customers will give you above £40 for it ; nor would it in reality be worth quite so much in the market."
Biographical Notice of Nicolo Paganini
Provenance
| until 1855 | John Hart |
| 1855-1867 | Charles Hood Chichele Plowden |
| 1867-1886 | Louis D'Egville |
| 1886-1889 | Duc de Camposelice |
| in 1894 | Sold by W. E. Hill & Sons |
| from 1894 | Robert E. Brandt |
| from 1897 | Ernesto Nicolini |
| from 1898 | W. E. Hill & Sons |
| from 1892 and in 1931 | Prince Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia |
| ... | ... |
| 1960-1974 | Professor Otto Lutz |
| in c. 1974 | Sold by Jacques Français |
| c. 1974-1998 | Dr Mark Ptashne |
| 1998-c. 2010 | David L. Fulton |
| from c. 2010 | Current owner |
Known players
Charlie Siem, Yehudi Menuhin
Certificates & Documents
- Dendrochronology report: Peter Klein, Hamburg (1998) Dating the youngest tree ring to 1731; rings match the wood used for the 1735 "Plowden" (ID=418).
Cozio holds copies of many certificates and other documents, some of which are available to view on request. Please contact us if you wish to view a particular document. (Note that we do not always have permission to share documents.)
References
Alte Geigen (Hamma, 1898), Hamma & Co., Stuttgart (illustrated)- Biographical Notice of Nicolo Paganini
- Bright Young Things
- Catalogue of the Special Exhibition at South Kensington, England, Carl Engel, South Kensington Museum, London (illustrated)
- Die d'Egville - del Gesù: eine Monographie, Fridolin Hamma, Hamma & Co., Stuttgart (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)
- Ars Musica, Aloys Greither, Bayer AG, Heft 10 (illustrated)
- J. & A. Beare - Notable Sales
- Meister Italienischer Geigenbaukunst (8th Edition), Hamma & Co., Florian Noetzel Verlag, Wilhelmshaven (illustrated)
- Loan Exhibition of Stringed Instruments and Bows Commemorating the 70th Birthday of Simone Fernando Sacconi, Schuler Verlagsgesellschaft, Stuttgart (illustrated)
- Stradivarius-Guarnerius del Gesù: Catalogue descriptif de leurs instruments (Facsimile of Gand's notes from 1870-91), Charles-Eugène Gand, Les Amis de la Musique, Spa (illustrated)
- Taxe der Streichinstrumente (9th edition), Albert Fuchs, Musikverlag Friedrich Hofmeister, Hofheim am Taunus (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)
- The Violin: Its Famous Makers and their Imitators, George Hart, Dulau & Co., London (illustrated)
- W. E. Hill & Sons Photographic Archive (illustrated)