Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri 'del Gesù', Cremona, c. 1741, the 'Vieuxtemps, Wilmotte'
Violin: 50024
Labeled, "Joseph Guarnerius fecit Cremone anno 1743."
Back: Two-piece
Length of back: 35.2 cm
Upper bouts: 16.68 cm
Middle bouts: 11 cm
Lower bouts: 20.4 cm
Notes:
"Vieuxtemps played on the violin for over 15 years, and in his letter of 1878 he refers to it as his old friend and inseparable companion of 20 years. He also mentions that it helped him to compose his D minor concerto (no.4, op.31), which was published around 1850, so we can assume that he acquired the violin in the late 1840s. It is highly likely therefore that he would have given the première of his 4th and 5th concertos, which date from c.1850 and 1861 respectively, on this violin. In the letter he describes how the violin ‘performed’ his 4th concerto ‘avec un éclat et une puissance remarquable.’ "Correspondence with Sotheby's
Provenance
| - | Mr King-Saltar |
| c. 1844 - c. 1870 | Henri Vieuxtemps |
| c. 1870 - 1893 | André Wilmotte |
| ... | ... |
| in 1918 | Eduard Ferdinand Küchler |
| until 2008 | Eduard Küchler's family |
| in c. 2008 | Sold by Sotheby's |
| from 2008 | Current owner |
Known players
Henri Vieuxtemps
Certificates & Documents
Letter: Henri Vieuxtemps (1878) Refers to the instrument as "un des beaux spécimens du maitre, et d’une sonorité puissante et sympathique, tout à la fois."
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
- Correspondence with Sotheby's, February, 2008
The Strad, April, 2008, John Dilworth & Tim Ingles, Newsquest Specialist Media, London (illustrated)- Ole Bull 2010: Guarneri del Gesu Collection, John Dilworth, Bergen (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
Vieuxtemp’s Violins, Cozio Carteggio feature, Tully Potter, Feb 2020