Dr Marco Malagodi from the Università degli Studi di Pavia in Italy and his colleagues have used innovative methods to identify the techniques used by Antonio Stradivari, the celebrated Italian violin maker whose craftsmanship to this day baffles scientists.
Antonio Stradivari by Edgar Bundy, 1893
The importance of Stradivari’s work lies in his craftsmanship, the quality of the materials used and the finishes on the instruments’ surfaces.
The sound of a violin is a result of the combination of the materials used e.g. wood species and varnishes, the construction technique and the skill of the maker.
Dr Malagodi’s team used different diagnostic techniques to identify the characteristics and composition of the materials in an original violin top plate, made by Antonio Stradivari. They also studied surface coatings and decorations. The findings appear in the journal Applied Physics A – Materials Science & Processing.
Their analyses revealed the absence of varnish layers on the surface of the top plate as a result of extended and excessive restoring.
The scientists also identified the dye used for the black layers of the purflings – three strips of wood, glued together and set in as a decorative detail, encircling the outline of the violin, just inside the edge, and the characteristics of the black and white elements of the decorations, which confirmed that Stradivari used ancient techniques of wood coloring.
They then copied the top plate based on their discoveries, using materials similar to those identified on the original Stradivari, and carried out the same detailed analyses for comparison.
“Our investigations have provided several important insights about the manufacturing techniques of Antonio Stradivari and allowed us to hypothesize about the recipes used by this violin master, or by his suppliers, to decorate his instruments,” Dr Malagodi and colleagues said.
“These findings represent an important step in the study of the materials used by violin makers during the second half of the 17th century in Northern Italy.”
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Bibliographic information: Malagodi M et al. A Multi-Technique Chemical Characterization of a Stradivari Decorated Violin Top Plate. Applied Physics A- Materials Science & Processing, published online June, 2013; doi: 10.1007/s00339-013-7792-2
