Viola
Alternate name(s)
- Tenor viola
Maker
Andrea Amati
Date1559 ca.
Place MadeCremona, Italy, Europe
Serial No.none
MarkingsPainted in gold over black on sides and at center of back: QVO VNICO PROPVGNACVLO STAT STABITQVE RELIGIOWritten on bass side of bassbar, visible through bass f-hole: CG8212C
Pencil mark on inside of top, bass side of bassbar, marking f-hole notch position
Branded on bridge toward fingerboard: J&A.BEARE
DescriptionThis viola bears a motto on the ribs, QVO VNICO PROPVGNACVLO STAT
STABITQVE RELIGIO, "by this one bulwark religion stands and will stand." For many years scholars have searched for this motto as that of an individual, but in light of the surviving viola in Paris with the same motto and combined armorials of Phillip II and the Valois family, it was more likely made for the marriage of the Spanish king and the daughter of the French king, unifying the great French catholic royal courts against the incursions of Protestantism. The remains of the original armorial of King Phillip partially remain toward the edges of the current central painting on the back, which may be the monogram of his sister-in-law Marguerite of Valois. The viola was cut down in size in the 19th century, while preserving the original corners in the new outline.
Instrument reduced in size
Top: four-piece, quarter-cut spruce: fine grain broadening toward the edges; wings on lower bass bout; the top may have been three piece with a single center section before the instrument was reduced in size
Back: four-piece maple cut off-the-quarter: prominent, narrow curl descending from center joint; wings at lower bout edges; original corners repositioned when instrument was reduced in size; other areas of edging replaced; later button and ebony button cap
Ribs: maple cut off-the-quarter: prominent, narrow curl; lower rib divided by later 5-ply dark and light hardwood purfling strip
Head: maple: faint, narrow curl; scroll spine does not continue under volute
Neck: maple: faint, narrow curl; later, grafted
Decoration: painted on scroll, sides, and back with gold paint over a black base; slight remains of the original center armorial (flames) - see Andrea Amati viola in the Paris Cite de la Musique for the original full armorial; later blue and gold armorial proposed to be that of Marguerite de Valois by Renato Meucci
Varnish: medium red-brown; some of this varnish is later, dating to reduction of instrument
Fingerboard: ebony; later
Nut: ebony; later
Tailpiece: ebony; later
Tailgut: black gut
Pegs: four rosewood with pink gold four-lobed lozenge pins on ends of heads
Saddle: ebony; extends into lower rib with convex outline; later; same as type on Andrea Amati violin 5260
Endpin: decoratively turned ebony with ivory inlaid section; later
F-holes: narrow wings; large eyes; rounded notches; wings and area around upper part of f-hole slightly channeled; inside edges stained black
Linings: poplar or willow; later
Corner blocks: spruce; possibly original
Top block: poplar or willow; later
Bottom block: poplar or willow; later
Bassbar: spruce; later
DimensionsTotal length: 662 mm
Back length: 407 mm (16")
Back Upper bout width: 186 mm
Back Center bout width: 126 mm
Back Lower bout width: 240 mm
Top length: 407 mm
Top Upper bout width: 184 mm
Top Center bout width: 126 mm
Top Lower bout width: 240 mm
Back Upper rib height: 37 mm
Back Center rib height: 38 mm
Back Lower rib height: 40 mm
Top Upper rib height: 37 mm
Top Center rib height: 37 mm
Top Lower rib height: 38.5 mm
Stop length: 218 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 146 mm
Vibrating string length: 364 mm
ProvenanceC. B. Lutyens and Mrs. Hope Hambourg, England. Acquired by Laurence Witten from J. & A. Beare Ltd., London, 1982.
Purchased by the National Music Museum from Laurence Witten family, New Haven, Connecticut, 1984.
Published ReferencesArthur Beare, "Viola by Andrea Amati," The Strad 35, No. 419 (March 1925), pp. 705-706.
"Andrea Amati," The Strad 70, No. 832 (August 1959), pp. 118-119.
Laurence C. Witten, "The Surviving Instruments of Andrea Amati," Early Music 10, No. 4 (October 1982), p. 489.
Andrea Mosconi and Laurence C. Witten, Capolavori di Andrea Amati (Cremona: Ente Triennale Internazionale degli Strumenti ad Arco, 1984), pp. 47-52 and 68.
Margaret Downie Banks, "The Witten-Rawlins Collection and Other Early Italian Stringed Instruments at The Shrine to Music Museum," Journal of the Violin Society of America 8, No. 3 (1987), pp. 30-31 and 37-39.
André P. Larson, The National Music Museum: A Pictorial Souvenir (Vermillion: National Music Museum, 1988), p. 49.
Maurice W. Riley, The History of the Viola, Volume II (Ypsilanti, Michigan: Maurice W. Riley, 1991), pp. 8-9.
André P. Larson, "Welcome to the Amati Society," America's Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 25, No. 5 (November 1998), pp. 4-5.
André P. Larson, “Andrea Amati's 500th Birthday . . . Secrets, Lives & Violins of the
Great Cremona Makers 1505-1744,” National Music Museum Newsletter 32, No. 2 (May 2005), pp. 1-2.
André P. Larson, Cremona 2007: A Guide to the city of Andrea Amati (London: Newsquest Specialist Media Ltd., June 2007), pp. 1-17.
“Instrumental Innovations,” Wall Street Journal (December 7, 2007), p. W4.
Renato Meucci, Strumentaio: Il costruttore di strumenti musicali nella tradizione occidentale,(Venzia: Fondazione Cologni: Marsilio), 2008, pp. 80-81, photo.
Zeller, Matthew. "The Violin-Familyh Designs of Andrea Amati: Reconstructing the Original Outlines of the 'King' Cello and 'Propugnaclo' Viola." MM Thesis (Vermillion: University of South Dakota), 2014.
Dilworth, John. "Andrea Amati, Part 2." Tarisio, 27 Feb. 2019, tarisio.com/cozio-archive/cozio-carteggio/andrea-amati-part-2/.
Simone Zopf, "For Good Measure," The Strad 134, No 1595 (March 2023), pp. 56.
Technical Drawings
Credit LineWitten-Rawlins Collection, 1984
Object number03370
On View
Not on view
