STRADIVARI'S WORKSHOP.
[Our illustration of Stradivari's atelier is from a painting by Rinaldi, the sketch for which was made on the premises. The church of St. Domenico, Cremona, was demolished some twenty years since and our illustration is from a photo taken just before the event. The Chapel of the Rosary, being the place where Antonio Stradivari was interred, is the one below and to the right of the tower and lighter in colour than the others.]
No. 1.No. 2.No. 3.
No. 1. Grand Nicolas Amati. No. 2. Nicolas Amati pattern of Stradivari. No. 3. First independent pattern of Stradivari.
The step he took, insignificant enough to the casual observer now, must have been equally so then, but proved one of the most important ever taken in this branch of art, considering the restraints necessarily encompassing any efforts at original design. This is perhaps the more evident when the main features of the Amati designs and others of the time are analysed. It will be seen that the upper and lower thirds of the design have much in common with each other, and that the middle or waist partakes also of the same characteristics, the whole being a series of full rounded curves, varied as required, to harmonise and flow with ease and grace to the squared corners. The slightest possible narrowing or decrease in the size of the upper of the waist curve and a corresponding enlargement of the lower part, served in the hands of Stradivari to impart a different aspect to the whole pattern. The waist, now less pinched in at the middle, looked longer without being really so. The parts above the upper corners and those below the lower ones were modified, the large curves becoming a little flatter just before blending with the smaller ones. From these alterations, each one trifling in itself, there resulted what may be called the first or earliest Stradivari pattern; in it were the germs of all the succeeding ones that contributed more and more to the fame of their designer as they appeared. The natural caution or indisposition to throw aside one pattern before a fair trial of the newest had proved acceptable to his numerous patrons, was possibly the cause of Stradivari's running the older designs alongside the newest creations of his fancy. Thus we find that mixed with the innovations are what he might have called his old Amati pattern, probably off the same moulds that he had used when first starting in business on his own account, or even before.
CHAPTER II.