DHV:
754
Tourin ID:
ROM 2
Size:
Treble
Place Made:
Maker:
F
Date:
Label Text:
Body Shape:
Viol
Current Location:
CDN
Toronto, ON
No. of Strings:
6
Collection:
Royal Ontario Museum
Sound Holes:
C
Catalog Number:
913.4.6
Head:
Female
Private Owner:
Previous Owner:
R. S. Williams, Toronto, -1913; L’hôpital général de Québec, mid-19th-C.
Measurements:
Body Length:
35.5
String Length:
37.1
Rib Depth:
6.8
Upper Width:
18.2
Middle Width:
13
Bottom Width:
21.2
Information
Source:
TGM visit 1/07; museum to TGM, 11/06; PT visit 10/78; Cselenyi 1971, p. 11
Literature:
Cselenyi 1971, p. 11
Photographs:
Cselenyi 1971, p. 11 (front 7/8, head 7/8); [unpublished, from museum: front, front 3/4, head front, front 3/4 (color)]; [by TGM: FB+S, head FB+S (color)]
Recordings:
Auctions:
Comments:
2-piece table with very even wood grain and single purfling, 1-piece slab-cut back with no purfling (now sunken along center joint). Original neck, female head, and La Fille-style pegbox; fingerboard also original (stained black), but tailpiece not (veneered black and too long). Mismatched pegs not original, likewise too-large bridge seen with viol. No corner blocks, back braces, or perimeter linings (except upper bass rib). Saw-tooth scraper marks on inner surfaces of ribs. Neck varnished, with extensive wear marks from player’s thumb; no frets when seen, but marks in varnish reveal their former presence. Drawing by Philip Davis (Toronto) in museum file. Per museum, this was among the viols discovered c. 1860 in a convent (l’hôpital général) in Quebec: cf. www.the canadianencyclopedia.com, s.v. Collections d’instruments, which says they were probably hidden there during the siege of Quebec in 1759; ibid. s.v. Québec says the find included “une dizaine de violes ... fabriquées à Paris chez Nicolas Bertrand.” [http://agora.virtualmuseum.ca/edu (©2006 ROM) shows photo, gives provenance, states “Maker: Nicolas Bertrand”, but only basis for this claim would be that statement.]