This 1870 violin shows the influence of the work of Guarneri \u2018del Ges\u00f9\u2019, in particular the 1743 \u2018Cannon\u2019 violin once owned by Paganini. Since Rastelli could only have seen the instrument while it was being exhibited at the Town Hall,
\nit seems that he had just taken freehand notes of the f-holes and scroll. The violin was made using an internal mould. The linings are made of spruce and are set roughly into the corner-blocks; a local, slightly figured maple was used for the back plates, and a fine, narrow- grained spruce for the front.<\/p>\n
Carved with great care and skill, the arching of the front looks well rounded and balanced, descending quite flat to the edges. The back arching is of lower height and looks slightly flatter. The purfling is made of maple; the black is more of a brownish colour and is thinner than the white.<\/p>\n
The varnish looks attractive and well formulated, over a slightly dull ground. A certain lack of transparency is balanced by a nice colour and a soft texture, which all give a pleasing look to the violin. Thoughts on Rastelli\u2019s varnish were recently published in the book Violin Varnish by Koen Padding, edited by Helen Michetschl\u00e4ger.<\/p>\n
One of the violin\u2019s most intriguing features is the neck-set. Mortised in the top-block, the neck bears a nail that fixes it permanently to the rib structure. The belly was set at a later stage, with the edge running continuously below the neck root. This kind of hybrid neck-set seems to confirm a certain resistance of some Italian makers (such as Enrico Ceruti and Gaetano Dionelli) who were still using the obsolete Italian technique in the second half of the 19th century.<\/p>\n
Copyright \u00a9 2016 Aberto Giordano, The Strad magazine – All right reserved[\/vc_column_text][mk_gallery images=”750,751,752,753,754″ height=”250″ hover_scenarios=”slow_zoom” margin_bottom=”50″][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
[vc_row css=”.vc_custom_1574031663906{margin-bottom: 50px !important;}”][vc_column][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1577400020858{margin-bottom: 0px !important;}”]Ludovico Rastelli was born in 1801 in the small village of Castelletto Scazzoso, located in the hills of Monferrato, Piedmont. Nothing is known about the early period of his life, nor about his move to Genoa; the earliest information we have regarding his career is a restoration inscription in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":750,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-749","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-strad"],"yoast_head":"\n