Antonio Stradivari 1710 VL Leslie, Tate
In their 1902 publication, The Hill Brothers noted both the obvious changes in Stradivari’s style circa 1710 and the more subtle shifts undertaken by the master: ‘In 1710 Stradivari had attained his sixty-sixth year, and, notwithstanding advancing age, we still see him completing instruments of that concise, neat type of form and work which we have tried to portray; but as we proceed we perceive that the whole character of the work assumes a broader and more substantial appearance. […] his age is here and there betrayed by a certain breadth and solidity of style traceable throughout every detail. Edge and purfling have a broader aspect than hitherto, due principally to the former being less rounded and the latter generally of full thickness, and set a degree farther in. The edge, as a rule, is also stouter in substance, and at times of slightly irregular thickness; the corners are decidedly broader, which causes them to appear shorter than is really the case, and their curves—especially those extending from the C’s—are at times a trifle squarer-looking. The arching of the model continues on the lines of the 1704–10 instruments; here, a shade flatter or higher; there, a little more or less full at the flanks and around the edges.
Further Details
Antonio Stradivari Set 1, Volume 3, Page 28
