The first and the second issues of the long-awaited three volumes dedicated to Mantuan violin making are finally out. Over twelve years of meticulous archive research have shed new light on the main characters of this story; the documentation of several hundred instruments from the major international collections was made possible by the collaboration of the main international antique dealers and auction houses; the most up-to-date research methodologies (dendrochronology, micro CT-imaging, varnish diagnostics) have been used to reveal the construction techniques in their most minute details.
The first and second volume present the luthiers active from c. 1680 to 1860, from Pietro Guarneri to Gaetano Dionelli, through the photographs of Jan Röhrmann, the historical and archive investigation carried out by Philip J. Kass, the study of making techniques and style presented by Rudolf Hopfner and Andrea Zanrè.
