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In January 1949, Andrea Bisiach (1890-1967), Milan, purchased this tenor viola from the descendants of the Counts Canal of Venice, the presumptive original owners of the instrument. It was when the Bisiach firm subsequently repaired extensive woodworm damage to the viola that the photographs above were taken of the interior of the back.
Andrea Guarneri (b. Cremona, ca. 1626-d. Cremona, December 7, 1698) was the patriarch of the great Guarneri family of violin makers and the grandfather of the famous violin maker, Giuseppe Guarneri (del Gesù). It is remarkable that Andrea, as a toddler, survived the horrible plague that ravaged northern Italy between 1629-1630, killing more than 17,000 of Cremona's 37,000 inhabitants and almost half of nearby Brescia's population, including it's premier luthier, Giovanni Paolo Maggini (1580-ca. 1630).
Guarneri received his early training as a violin maker under the tutelage of Nicolo Amati (1596-1684), in whose Cremonese shop he apprenticed between 1639-1654. He then set up his own shop in Cremona and built the NMM's tenor viola when he was about 38 years old.
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Bass Side |
Bass Side/Front |
Treble Side/Front |
Treble Side |
Underneath Fingerboard |
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Back |
Guarneri's tenor viola suffered extensive woodworm damage over the centuries, primarily to the upper back, top block, neck, and pegbox. In an effort to consolidate these weak areas, the Bisiachs filled in damage on the back, as well as doubling the interior of the button for strength, according to William Monical, noted violin restorer and dealer from Staten Island, New York, who examined the viola prior to its inclusion in the exhibition, "Shapes of the Baroque," held in the Amsterdam Gallery of the Library & Museum of the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center, March 22-June 10, 1989.
In his exhibition catalog, Monical states that "worm holes in the neck and neck-foot were filled with dowels and inlays of new maple to retain as much of the original character as possible. In the course of this work, the neck was removed probably to accomplish repairs on the ribs adjacent to the neck-foot and to consolidate the top-block itself. When the neck was returned to the body, a wedge was placed between the neck-foot and rib at the top-block to increase the neck angle. This wedge, approximately 3mm thick at the table edge of the block, diminishes and becomes flush with the ribs just above the button. A second wedge was placed between the fingerboard and neck, also to increase the neck angle. Of four original nails, the upper three were returned in place. The lower nail is missing and the hole was filled on the surface of the block. A saw cut into the neck-foot was probably an error on Guarneri's part when cutting an incision for the table edge extension [see x-rays below]." (William L. Monical, Shapes of the Baroque: The Historical Development of Bowed String Instruments (The American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers, 1989), pp. 72-73. )
1. Front View
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Front, upper end |
X-ray of front, upper end, revealing interior top block and nails |
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Neck heel, treble side |
X-ray of neck heel, revealing interior top block and nails |
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