JULES FETIQUE; THE OTHER SARTORY

-" Good Morning , I have found this heel on a broken Sartory stick, but while the stick seems to be original I have more than one doubt about the frog."-. -"You have watched it properly, my dear lad, this frog is by Jules Fetique"-. -"Are you sure ?"-. One of the silliest questions I haver ever asked ; I was speaking with Bernard Millant!

Volin bow in tortoise shell and gold Jules Fetique

After my question, M° Millant he looked askance at me and he invited me to turn my head, saying:- "Do you see those three men depicted in the photo ? The first on the left is Jules Fetique, in the middle you can see my father and do you recognize the man on the right side ?" -"Well, of course Maestro, he is Eugéne Sartory"-, "Then, if I tell you that this frog was made by Jules Fetique, you should believe me. Nobody told it to me, you know, I was there as well ! " -.

In this way, I learned that Jules Fetique built frogs for Sartory from 1902 until 1929. Even if being this a secret, I should not have revealed it to you. Anyway, let's deal with Vice-Sartory's life.

Victor Francois' younger brother, he, too, was born at Mirecourt on January 6, 1875.

After a short apprenticeship with Emile Miquel, he enters Charles Nicolas Bazin's staff, where he will improve and will stay until 1902. As a witness of this cooperation there is the famous photo published on the blog devoted to Francois Xavier Bazin.

In 1902 he moves precisely to Paris and starts his cooperation with Sartory. In this period his stylistics of heads and above all frogs, get closer to those one of his more famous colleague.

Even if their relationships is not thatt ight, in these early Parisian years, Jules occasionally cooperates with his brother Victor.

In 1917 he starts his cooperation with the workshop "Caressa & Francais" that only three years later will become "Albert Caressa", by whom he will work for most of his life.

Being his presence not necessary in the workshop, he will go on cooperating with Sartory until 1934, as far as the book "L'Archet" by Millant/Raffin quotes. Until '29, considering what M° Millant himself told me.

On November 3, 1921 he marries twice with Eugenie Bertin in Paris. The first marriage took place on August 16, 1987 with Marie Terrier in Mirecourt.

In 1927 the French government awards him with the prize "Best worker in France" for the quality and steadiness in his work.

In 1934 due to recession, Albert Caressa is compelled to fire him. At this point, when he is 59, Jules open his own workshop at Rue Moscou for the first time, in partnership with the luthier André Dugad.

After the mid-'40 he retires and nmoves to Gagny-les-Abbesses, where he dies on October 22, 1951.

The style

Jules Fetique's production may be stylistically divided into three periods. The first one when he was working for C.N. Bazin, who was his first teacher.

In the second period, and almost all of his career, he will try to emulate his second teacher, Eugene Sartory. The proximity of these two artisans can be seen especially in the frogs, where he , too, emphasizes a lot the opening of the throat.

The third and last period, unfortunately for the modern bow making that had to wait another thirty years, is devoted by him as well, like Bernard Ouchard later on, to the rediscovery of the forgotten Peccatte school.

The wedges of the heads go up and the profiles become more massive and rectangular, and even in the frogs he attempts a timid approach to Dominique Peccatte. What is not understood is that based on the stylistic also the mnechanics should change, and he remains connected to its first school, that one of Sartory.

The production of this craftsman is wide and of an excellent quality, but he, like Bernard Ouchard, having worked more for others than for himself, is less known.

Jules Fetique worked for :

Paul Blanchard, Albert Caressa, Caressa & Francais, Victor Fetique, Emile Francais, Maucotel et Dechamp, Eugene Sartory.

So long.

Paolo