Instrument

  • ID: 243
  • Type: violin
  • Maker: Gasparo Bertolotti da Salò
  • Year built: 1559-1610*
  • City: Brescia
  • Name: Jewel Room violin; Salo-Benvenuto Cellini violin
 

ndicates that because the date is unknown the entire span of the luthier's working years is givenIndicates that because the date is unknown the entire span of the luthier's working years is given

Back: One-piece
Body Length: 36.0 cm.
Lower Bout: 21.6 cm.
Scroll: possibly by Cellini
Upper Bout: 17.1 cm.

Photos

Click on a thumbnail to view the full-size image.

  • front
  • back
  • scroll
  • scroll
  • scroll

Iconography Index

Black-and-white photos (front & back): "Ole Bull's Violin", B. Henderson, The Strad, 1911, November 1911.

Black-and-white photos (front & back): Berühmte Geigen und ihre Schicksale, P. J. Tonger, Köln, 1919.

Black-and-white photos (front & back): Gasparo da Salò, A. M. Mucchi, Editore Ulrico Hoepli, Milan, 1998.

Order Black-and-white photos (front & scroll): The Violin Gallery, George A. Dissmore, Des Moines, Iowa, 1890.

Black-and-white photos (front, scroll & label): "Ole Bull: A Renaissance Man", Ammon Weinstein, VSA Proceedings, Vol. XVII, No. 1, November 1-7, 1998, 1998.

Color photos (front, back & scroll): "Ole Bull's violins", The Strad, January, 1996, 1996.

Color photos (front, back, scroll & f-hole): Gasparo da Salò e la liuteria bresciana tra Rinascimento e Barocco, Flavio Dassenno and Ugo Ravasio, editors, Fondazione Civilita Vresciana, Brescia, 1990.


Notes

Possibly by Maggini.
The Amadeus Book of the Violin, Walter Kolneder, Amadeus Press, Portland, 1998.
"Believed to be built by da Salo and sculpted by Cellini. On the scroll is carved a cherub's face surrounded by flowing curls and colored. Behind this figure, leaning against the shoulders, is an exquisitely beautiful little mermaid, the human form of which terminates in scales of green and gold. The neck of the violin is ornamented with arabesques in blue, red, and gold. On the tail-piece is a carved mermaid in bronze color. It was left Ole Bull to the Vestlandske Kunstindustri Museum in Bergen with very strict instructions about its care, making it virtually impossible to photograph the instrument."
"The Gaspar da Salo-Benvenuto Cellini Violin", Violins & Violinists, November-December, 1960, 1960.
"The celebrated 'Treasury Violin' of Inspruch, by Gaspar di Salo with Caryatides, by Benvenuto Cellini, sculptured by special command of Cardinal Aldorandi, and by him presented to the Museum of Inspruch. After the assault upon the said city by the French in 1809, the Museum was plundered and the violin carried to Vienna, where the Councillor Rehazek placed this unique gem in his celebrated collection of ancient musical instruments, refusing to sell it at any price. He left it by will to Ole Bull in 1842. Up to that period it had never been played upon; had no bar, only a bridge of boxwood, sculptured and painted, and a very short and inlaid finger-board."
The Violin Gallery, George A. Dissmore, Des Moines, Iowa, 1890.

Provenance

Owner Owned From Owned In Owned Till Price paid
Vestlandske Kunstindustri Museum (Bergen, Norway)   1902       
Mrs. Ole Bull  1880    1901   
Ole Bull   1841    1880   
...         
Rhaczek  1809    1841  For members only 
...         
Tyroler Landesmuseum Ferdinandeum, Innsbruck      1809   
Cardinal Adebrandi        For members only 
...         

Current owner Current owner
Indicates that the owner is or was also a musician Indicates that the owner is or was also a musician

Players

Name Played From Played In Played To
...       
Ole Bull       1842 
...       

Current player Current player
Indicates that the musician is or was also an owner of one or more instruments. Indicates that the musician is or was also an owner of one or more instruments

References

Berühmte Geigen und ihre Schicksale, P. J. Tonger, Köln, 1919.

Gasparo da Salò e la liuteria bresciana tra Rinascimento e Barocco, Flavio Dassenno and Ugo Ravasio, editors, Fondazione Civilita Vresciana, Brescia, 1990.

Gasparo da Salò, A. M. Mucchi, Editore Ulrico Hoepli, Milan, 1998.

The Amadeus Book of the Violin, Walter Kolneder, Amadeus Press, Portland, 1998.

Order The Violin Gallery, George A. Dissmore, Des Moines, Iowa, 1890.

"Ole Bull: A Renaissance Man", Ammon Weinstein, VSA Proceedings, Vol. XVII, No. 1, November 1-7, 1998, 1998.

"Ole Bull's sogenannte Schatzkammer-Geige", Paul de Wit, Zeitschrift für Instrumentenbau, April 1, 1881.

"Ole Bull's Violin", B. Henderson, The Strad, 1911, November 1911.

"Ole Bull's violins", The Strad, January, 1996, 1996.

Order "The Gaspar da Salo-Benvenuto Cellini Violin", Violins & Violinists, November-December, 1960, 1960.