Le Brun Stradivarius
The Le Brun Sradivarius of 1712 is a violin made by Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari of Cremona (1644–1737). It is the only violin from Stradivari’s golden period[1] known to have been owned and played by the violinist Niccolò Paganini.[2][3] When sold at a Sotheby's auction in London in November 2001 it achieved one of the highest prices ever paid for a violin at auction,[4] and became the most expensive instrument in Europe.[5]
History of owners
Vicente Assensio (1730-c1798), luthier to Charles IV of Spain, is the first person known to have been in possession of the violin, and to have worked on it, during his tenure at the Spanish Royal Court in Madrid, circa 1776-1791. This is evidenced by Assensio's inscription, in his own writing, at the bottom of Stradivari's original label, "Presviter Assensio cumpos...(illegible)." It is still unknown how the violin made its way from Stradivari's workshop in Cremona in 1712 to the Spanish Royal Court.
Niccolò Paganini (1782-1840) is known to have possessed the instrument after its time in the Spanish Royal Court. It is not clear how or when the violin went from the Spanish Royal Court to the hands of Paganini, or who may have been an intermediary. Some speculation has focused on Felice Pascuale Bachiocci, a long-time violin student of Paganini who had served as an Ambassador from France to the Spanish Royal Court in Madrid beginning in 1800. Bachiocci subsequently moved to Lucca in 1805 and studied violin with Paganini from 1805 to 1814 in both Lucca and Florence, while Paganini served as leader of his wife Elisa Bonaparte's court orchestra, and while Paganini was having a longstanding romantic affair with Elisa.[6] Four months before his death in 1840, Paganini wrote a letter to his lawyer asking him to hide eleven of his high-priced violins from French authorities seeking to collect on the foreclosure of his bankrupt Paris casino venture.[7] It is not known whether the Le Brun strad was among these eleven violins.
Tree ring analysis
- Dendrochronology report: John C. Topham, Surrey (2001) "The dendrochronological analysis of the table reveals that the youngest growth rings on each side date from 1703 and 1705. This correlates well with other Stradivari instruments of the period, notably the 1711 Parke, the 1713 Gibson-Huberman and another 1715 violin. John Topham also notes that it is probable that all of the pieces from these four violins come from the same tree."[8]
See also
References
- ^ "Antonio Stradivari | Tarisio". tarisio.com. Retrieved 2019-08-20.
- ^ Caressa & Francais Notebook (c1900 - 1936), part of the Jacques Francais Collection at the Smithsonian Institution, Washington DC
- ^ "Historical Owners (A-Z)". Tarisio. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
- ^ Correspondent, Dalya Alberge, Arts (2008-02-14). "Richest sounding violin sells for a record breaking price". The Times. ISSN 0140-0460. Retrieved 2019-08-02.
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Platt, Vonn Christoff (January 28, 2007). "Eine Stradivari fürs Depot" (PDF). Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung, Geld & Mehr.
- ^ BARGELLINI, SANTE (1934). "PAGANINI AND THE PRINCESS". The Musical Quarterly. XX (4): 408–418. doi:10.1093/mq/xx.4.408. ISSN 0027-4631.
- ^ 2019-08-15T16:33:00+01:00. "House of cards: Paganini's doomed casino venture". The Strad. Retrieved 2019-11-24.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ "Antonio Stradivari, Violin, Cremona, 1712, the 'Le Brun' | Tarisio". tarisio.com. Retrieved 2019-08-02.