Our violin is composed of spruce from Val di Fiemme with medium, regular grain, and a one-piece back of Bosnian maple with deep and bright flames. The oil-rosin varnish is of brown-red color on a golden-brown ground, and emphasises the tool marks, old patina, and craquelé that give this instrument its typical “gothic” appearance.

Copying an instrument of the late period of “del Gesù” is always a thrilling exercise of freehand work and spontaneity. Each instrument of this period is a unique individual, reflecting the progressive master’s disregard from the constraints of precision and conformity.

The model is characterized by its compact form and open curves of the central bouts. The relatively flat long arch of the front is combined with fullness across the central area, while the back is overall of a more full and square nature; the general shape is asymmetrical and irregular, the purfling wiry, the long f-holes roughly and quickly cut, and the scroll is wild and skeletal, all typical features of the last, extreme period of “del Gesù” production.

Copy of Joseph Guarneri “del Gesù” Cariplo, Hennel, Rosé 1744