Viola
Date1793
Place MadeMilan, Italy, Europe
SignedPrinted label on paper, last two digits handwritten in ink: Petrus Joannes Mantegatia fecit Me- / diolani in Via S. Margaritæ 1793DescriptionThis well-preserved classical viola has its original fittings and appears much as it would have when made. It is a deep, somewhat narrow, Cremonese-influenced model.
Top: two-piece, quarter-cut spruce: wide grain; filled knot in the lower treble bout, and another knot near the lower treble corner; no notch at neck position; hardwood pin through top into to block on treble side of center join; hardwood pin through top into bottom block at center joint
Back: two-piece, quarter-cut maple: plain; maple pin through back into top block on bass side of center joint; maple pin through back into bottom block on treble side of center joint
Ribs: quarter-cut maple: plain; tall height; lower rib divided by purfling strip; four hardwood pins through ribs into bottom block, two on each side of lower rib joint
Head and neck: maple: plain; probably slightly thinned and reshaped; slightly concave neck heel sides; inside of pegbox not varnished; repair at joint between base of neck and fingerboard
Purfling: does not extend under fingerboard
Varnish: light yellow brown
Fingerboard: ebony-veneered; black-stained hardwood; wedge-shaped with nick at neck position; relatively flat profile
Nut: bone
Tailpiece: ebony-veneered, black-stained hardwood with keyhole shaped string holes and no saddle
Tailgut: iron wire
Pegs: medium brown hardwood with bone pins and slightly undercut, concave heads; short shafts; dented marks on A-peg from a peg turner
Saddle: Ebony; very narrow, and does not extend to edge of purfling
Endpin: medium brown hardwood with decoratively turned head
Linings: willow or poplar
Corner blocks: willowillow or poplar
Top block: willow or poplar; two iron nails through top block into neck heel, one above other
Bottom block: willow or poplar
Bassbar: later; original bassbar preserved separately
Technical drawing available for purchase.
DimensionsTotal viola length: 658 mm
Back length: 408 mm (16-1/16")
Upper bout width: 193 mm
Center bout width: 123 mm
Lower bout width: 241 mm
Upper rib height: 41-43 mm
Center rib height: 40-43 mm
Lower rib height: 40-44 mm
Stop length: 224 mm
Vibrating string length: 365 mm
Neck length (bottom of nut to ribs): 143 mm
See detailed measurements in The Luthier’s Library.
ProvenanceBelonged to an “old noble family” at time of Stradivari bicentennial exhibition in Cremona, Italy, 1937. Acquired by Andrea Bisiach, Milan, after 1937 exhibit from the Contessa Olignati, Como, Italy. Remained in Bisiach’s collection “almost until his death in 1968.” Laurence Witten acquired from J. & A. Beare Ltd., London, 1965.
Purchased by the National Music Museum from Laurence Witten Family, New Haven, Connecticut, 1984.
Published ReferencesRoger Hargrave, “Presentation Order,” The Strad 96, No. 1142 (June 1985), pp. 127.
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. 41, 45-46 (photo).
Margaret Downie Banks, “Rare 1781 Bergonzi Viola Given in Memory of Laurence C. Witten (1926-1995),” America’s Shrine to Music Museum Newsletter 25, No. 1 (October 1997), pp. 4-5.
Maurice W. Riley, The History of the Viola, Vol. II (Ann Arbor: Braun-Brumfield, 1991), pp. 40, 59, plate 37.
The Strad 1998 Calendar: Milan Makers 1670-1800.
Technical Drawings
Credit LineWitten-Rawlins Collection, 1984
Object number03369
On View
Not on view
