The wood leaves little to be desired. The back, in two pieces, has a broad, handsomely marked curl, while the pine of the belly has a fine silky grain, neither too coarse nor too fine. The sides and head, as well as the neck, which is original, are perhaps a little plain in comparison with the back; but the great Italians never troubled about matching the sides and head to the back, as is the custom among modern makers. It is not uncommon to meet with instruments with the back cut in slab form, and the sides and head cut on the quarter.
Mr. Charles Reade in some notes in “Readiana,” from which we have already quoted, refers to what he calls a crack in the violin. The mark which has given rise to his statement is in reality one of three insignificant and almost imperceptible shakes in the wood, such as frequently appear during the seasoning of the pine blocks used for bellies. These shakes are easily glued and then become invisible; but are opened again by exposure to the sun during the drying of the varnish. They are, however, in no sense defects.
The varnish is a study in itself, for it is untouched and unrubbed, as if it had been laid on yesterday. It has not perhaps the luscious richness of some of Stradivari’s instruments, and it appears drier and less thickly laid on than usual in violins of the same period. This is especially noticeable on the sides, where the grain of the wood rose as the varnish was applied to it, and still stands up as on the day when the brush left it. On the head again one can clearly see where the varnish accumulated slightly as it flowed round the volute. Such details as these could not be traced but for the wonderful preservation of the varnish.
The necessity of opening the instrument, in order to insert a stronger bass bar, gave us an opportunity of examining the inside, which is as remarkable as the outside. This is only the second occasion on which the violin has been opened in the course of its existence. Vuillaume opened it, and took the opportunity to write inside on the belly the following inscription, which affords valuable corroborative evidence of the authenticity of the record already given.
“achette par Tarisio au Cte Cossio de Salabue
an 1827 achette par Vuillaume le 12. Janr 1855
Le Messie”
The bass bar which Vuillaume then fitted was not strong enough, and allowed after a time a slight depression of the belly, necessitating the renewal above referred to. Excepting for the change of bar, everything inside is as Stradivari left it. The blocks and linings, considered in relation to the thicknesses, are a model of consistency, neither heavy nor flimsy, made of the lightest and toughest wood we know, and all finished with the gouge and knife alone. Stradivari evidently disdained the superficial finish given by modern copyists to their interior work by the free use of glass paper.
The thicknesses of belly and back, a point on which Stradivari appears to have made numerous experiments, are of his stoutest.
The whiteness of the label, and the variance of the instrument in some features from the characteristic style of that period of Stradivari’s work, have given rise on different occasions to the supposition that the label was not genuine, and that the violin was of a later date; but the careful examination which we made of the interior when the belly was removed, has enabled us to finally dispose of this idea. The label has never been moved since Stradivari fixed it in its place, nor have the figures upon it been tampered with in any way.[[4]]
Details of construction, such as we have examined in the preceding paragraphs, offered, to a man of Stradivari’s great originality, scope for almost endless variety of treatment, which has furnished us with a key to the pronounced distinctions between his instruments and others of the Italian school.