VUILLAUME'S CHARACTERS

Describe the character of a person like a Vuillaume, is not an easy task, as already said. Since he is not a craftsman, it is not easy to observe his physical work and get an idea, so I will try to describe him by telling his actions.

Violin Bow J.P.M. Persoit 1820 ca.

The event, or I better say the most striking and famous deal involving Vuillaume, is undoubtedly "The Affair Tarisio”
For those who had never heard of him , Tarisio is the Greatest instruments trader of all time. He was born of humble origins and had a rahbdomantic intuition for stringed instruments, through his hands most of the most beautiful instruments ever seen passed by.

You may aks : but what has Vuillaume to do with it ?
He is indeed involved because in 1854, the already fifty-six years old Vuillaume, heard about the f Tarisio's death, and being in pain for the family of the deceased, he jumps on a coach and reaches Italy. Of course, he behave like this to bring comfort to those poor people who found themselves alone, penniless and with a lot of pieces of wood not knowing what to do with them.
The compassionate Vuillaume made a bid to people that were not acquainted with violinmaking so the offer appeared as tempting, even though he could not do that much. You know taxes, workers, materials , etc. ..

With this charitable offer the Master brought back home:

- Two dozen of Stradivarius bows, including the "Messiah"
- Six Guarnieri del Gesù
- Four Amati
- A hundred Italian instruments of the time
- In addition all the projects of outlined curls, shapes and tools by Antonio Stradivari

Another example of generosity and kindness of our man is the military service of Dominique Peccatte.
In the early 30s of the nineteenth century, Peccatte, as you will recall, had arrived by Vuillaume in '26 and, with the help of Persoit, when he was starting to work well, he is called to the military service.
Dominique is about to be marred and certainly he has not the will to go and serve of the country, and Vuillaume would have remained without a bowmaker for too long. At that time, there was a law in France allowing for an exemption from military service by paying a sum to the the state, so the kind Jean Baptiste, who loved Dominique like her son , paid to avoid him this task.
Obviously Peccatte had to repay him by making him a "couple" of bows , even if knowing Vuillaume I think he had to work for free for a couple ....of years.

We speak also of the struggles of its workers, who threatens to put the laboratory upside down if the salaries had not increased.
And speaking of salaries there is Voirin's case , his nephew, who agreed with him for two weeks of study of a fast method for stick polishing. At the end of the first one , the results were still uncertain, so Voirin received his salary, but at the end of the second one , found out that the method was impracticable, not having gained anything from the job, obviously he did not pay him, even if he was his nephew! Despite this attitude towards money , Vuillaume still remains "The" French school. After his death in 1875, the bow making has had a significant decline, and after him no one else was on the limelight. The various Sartory and Lamy, although excellent craftsmen, are not in the rank of names such as Persoit, Peccatte, Fonclause, Simon, Maline, and so on and so forth.I personally believe that this phenomenon depends on how he handled and expected from the job. Looking at the bows of his workers, and fortunately this time I have some more photos, you can see that the aesthetic adopted by each craftsman are similar but not exactly equal.
I do not think he was very much interested if the lines were not equal, it was enough for him that they were good enough and that the bow could work. And he knew well, always in my opinion, that you cannot force too much a person to do what he doesn't feel , because he will never get a well done job but you can ask him to do what he likes best, so the results become amazing !

The bows

To describe in detail the character of each bow makers who worked for him would be too long and in addition some of them have been already tackled and others will be soon , so I'll just make a small comment.

Jean Pierre Marie Persoit – The Nice

In all Persoit's works I was lucky enough to see there is light, serenity and harmony, so he had to be nice.

Dominique Peccatte – The Shameless

You can notice that each one of his bows seem telling a famous sentence from an Italian movie “I am me and you are nothing” In any case he was a highly skilled craftsman

 Claude Joseph Fonclause – The Lively

Trovo sempre un energia particolare in Fonclause, come quella che hanno i bambini molto vivaci; magari non il massimo della ricerca estetica, ma pieno di energia positiva.

I always find a particular energy in Fonclause, such as that one very lively children own, maybe not the highest aesthetic level but full of positive energy.

Jean Grand Adam – The Folksy

Excellent craftsmanship, even if speaking of aesthetics, he never managed to get rid of the smell of his father's cheap provincial laboratory in Mirecourt.
Dominique Peccatte is temperamentally similar to what he always copied, not reaching equal levels ; style will out !

Pierre Simon – The Seraphic

Same as Persoit, he echoes serenity, joy and harmony, but even if this example is a bit strange, he is quieter and more easy-going than the previous one, another one of my favorites.

Nicolas Maire – The Humble

Great talent, even if less than Simon, but a humble personality, bordering on depression, but deeply good.

 Although with different characters, the six craftsmen who built these magnificent bows , are the greatest of all time in bowmaking, only three of them are missing, Maline, Tourte and Pajeot, who have never worked for Him. Now the question arises: but if He, who has never built a bow, had not existed, would the French bowmaking been able to become so big?

So long

Paolo.