Bass viola da gamba
Alternate name(s)
- Bass viol
Maker
Giovanni Guidanti
Date1728
Place MadeBologna, Italy, Europe
SignedPrinted on paper label, the last two digits of year written in black ink: Joannes Florenus Guidantus / Fecit Bononiæ Anno 1728.MarkingsBranded on end of fingerboard: K459
Branded on bridge toward fingerboard: W.L.MONICAL.NEW YORK
DescriptionItalian violas da gamba frequently shared more cosmetic features with violin-family instruments than did their northern counterparts. This viol has f-shaped soundholes, recurved corners, and top and back plates that overhang the ribs, unlike its northern European counterparts. This is a late example, and bears evidence of having had sympathetic metal strings running under the fingerboard at some point.
Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: medium grain broadening to very wide at the edges; slightly wavy grain
Back: two-piece, quarter-cut maple: very broad curl ascending from center joint
Ribs: quarter-cut maple: broad curl angled to left; holes for pins for 7 sympathetic string below saddle
Head: maple: broad curl; terminates in scroll; 12 pins, on back of pegbox above top peg, for sympathetic strings and slot for strings to pass through into neck filled with maple; inside of pegbox stained black
Neck: maple: broad curl; grafted; later
Varnish: light yellow orange
Fingerboard: ebony; tapered; channeled under neck positon; later
Nut: ebony; later
Tailpiece: ebony; single larger hole drilled bellow string holes; later
Tailgut: plain gut
Pegs: six rosewood; later
Saddle: ebony; later; incised lines and lack of varnish on original saddle extension into lower rib; with trapezoidal outline with curved sides
Endpin: brown-stained maple; designed to fit metal endpin
F-holes: f-holes; channeled lower wings
Linings: willow or poplar
Corner blocks: willow or poplar; prominent gouge marks
Top block: willow or poplar; four nail holes
Bottom block: wilow or poplar; prominent gouge marks
Bassbar: wide; tal
Back braces: spruce braces in upper and lower bouts with tapered ends that become taller at joint with ribs; maple graft along center joint; linen lining at break; wide centeral brace with rounded edges at center upon which label is affixed
DimensionsTotal bass viola da gamba length: 1197 mm
Back length: 697 mm
Upper bout width: 288 mm
Center bout width: 202 mm
Lower bout width: 376 mm
Upper rib height: 86-123 mm
Center rib height: 123-124 mm
Lower rib height: 120-124 mm
Stop length: 358 mm
Vibrating string length: 700 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 329 mm
ProvenanceBedetti of Bologna (an Italian musician), Silvestre family, Lyons, France, William E. Hill, London, E. J. Payne, England, William E. Hill and Sons, London (before 1931), Alexander Mackay Smith, New York City, 1931, Emil Herrmann Rare Violins, Inc., Stepney, Connecticut (between 1932-1962), Laurence Witten, June 4, 1962, purchased from Herrmann.
Purchased by the National Music Museum from Laurence Witten family, New Haven, Connecticut, 1984.
Published ReferencesMargaret Downie Banks, "North Italian Viols at the Shrine to Music Museum," Journal of the Viola da Gamba Society of America XXI (1984): pp. 24-27. (photos p. 25- 27.)
"Witten Collection Acquired," Shrine to Music Museum, Inc., Newsletter 11, No. 3 (April 1984), pp. 1-4.
André P. Larson, The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir (Vermillion: National Music Museum, 1988), p. 49 and inside cover.
Credit LineWitten-Rawlins Collection, 1984
Object number03352
On View
Not on view
1700-1800 ca.