Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri 'del Gesù', Cremona, c. 1742, the 'Donaldson, McAllister, Sorobin'

Violin: 40429

FIT TO SCREEN FULL SIZE

Dated 1739.

Back: One-piece

Length of back: 35.2 cm

Upper bouts: 16.9 cm

Middle bouts: 11.3 cm

Lower bouts: 20.6 cm

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BARTOLOMEO GIUSEPPE GUARNERI 'DEL GESù': BIOGRAPHY AND PRICE HISTORY
FEATURED ARTICLES ABOUT
Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri 'del Gesù'

Provenance

	Sir George Donaldson
	MacAllister
	Mr. Tobin
until 1957	Agnes Albert
in 1958	Sold by Rembert Wurlitzer Inc.
in 1958	Sold by Emil Herrmann, New York
from 1958	Tibor Varga
in 1959	Sold by Rembert Wurlitzer Inc.
from 1959	E. Herrmann Rare Violins, Inc
from c. 2010	Current owner

Certificates & Documents

Certificate: Emil Herrmann, New York, New York, NY (2022)
Certificate: W. E. Hill & Sons, London (1958)
Certificate: Rembert Wurlitzer Inc., New York, NY (1958)
Certificate: Chardon & Fils, Paris (1902)

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

Meister Italienischer Geigenbaukunst (8th Edition), Hamma & Co., Florian Noetzel Verlag, Wilhelmshaven (illustrated)
Ole Bull 2010: Guarneri del Gesu Collection, John Dilworth, Bergen (illustrated)
Private Archives - 10746
Private Archives - 10842
The Jacques Français Rare Violins, Inc. Photographic Archive and Business Records, 1844-1998, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC, Box 57 (illustrated)
The Jacques Français Rare Violins, Inc. Photographic Archive and Business Records, 1844-1998, Smithsonian Institution, Washington, DC (illustrated)
The Violin Makers of the Guarneri Family, W. Henry, Arthur F. & Alfred E. Hill, William E. Hill & Sons, London, 1931
W. E. Hill & Sons Photographic Archive (illustrated)

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Early history of
the 'Heifetz, Piel'

In around 1876, Count de Chaponay sold the violin back to the Silvestres’ nephew, Hippolyte Chrétien who then sold it to the Englishman Henry Benjamin Merton together with an Amati violin for a total price of 5,000 Francs.

We learn from Arthur Hill that Luigi Tarisio sold this violin in 1836 to Pierre and Hippolyte Silvestre, dealers in Lyon, for 1,500 Francs. The Silvestre brothers subsequently sold it to the Lyonese violinist, instrument collector and bibliophile, Count Alexandre-Henri de Chaponay.

Merton brought this violin to London and consigned it for sale at Foster’s auction house together with the 1740 ‘Ysaye’ Guarneri and the 1690 ‘Payne’ Stradivari.

William Ebsworth Hill bought the three violins at auction and sold the ‘Heifetz, Piel’ to John Clarke Crosthwaite McCaul (1831–1903), his friend and long-time customer. McCaul owned a number of other important instruments including an Amati violin, two Guadagnini violas and a Bergonzi. The ‘Heifetz, Piel’ was his most important acquisition and one of his last.

In 1879 the violin came back to Hills and was subsequently sold to Edmund Janson, a city banker, who lived at Speldhurst, Kent. Upon his death in 1906, his son sold the violin to the J & A Beare firm in London who in turn sold it to Emil Hamma of Stuttgart. Two years later, Michael Piel purchased it from Hamma, possibly upon the advice of Louis Otto, a violinmaker and dealer from his native Düsseldorf.

The Piel family are reported to have owned a number of other important instruments including an Amati and a Guarneri. Rudolf Piel and his older brother, Otto Andrew, are recorded as violinists. Rudolf studied at Philips Andover and then Harvard and Columbia Universities.

Otto Andrew appears to have had a different career path that warrants further investigation. The 1910 United States census lists Michael Piel, his wife, eight children and six servants living in their home on West 72nd Street. Michael’s profession is given as “Brewer” and the only child with a profession listed was his twenty-four year-old son, Otto Andrew, who was listed as a “manufacturer of violins”.

The 1910 US census listed Michael Piel (brewer) with his eight children and six servants. Otto Andrew is listed as a “Manufacturer of Violins”.

Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri 'del Gesù', Cremona, c. 1742, the 'Donaldson, McAllister, Sorobin'

Provenance

Certificates & Documents

References

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