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RCM 6 Guitar Attributed to Jakob (Giacobus) Stadler, Naples, c.1650 Inscriptions None Brief description Five-course baroque guitar with engraved decoration Dimensions : 974 : at front 488 : upper bouts 219, middle bouts 193, lower bouts 270 : at neck joint 115, at tail 93.8 : 710 to current bridge Description Front fine-grained, extensively inlaid with flowing arabesque in what appears to be a black mastic; moustaches of bridge in the same style and material. Crude later bridge fastened with steel screws. Banding of bone and ebony zigzag pattern around front and soundhole, which has a blackened bevelled edge; original rose missing. Ribs are formed of strips of ebony and bone, with hunting scenes engraved on the centre strip of bone; the outer strips have scrolling foliage with purfling lines between. Back has five similar bone strips, slightly fanned, engraved with birds, animals and foliage, with smaller pieces of same at edges of upper and lower bouts, alternating with plain ebony strips. A two-tailed mermaid (melusine) is engraved on bone at the rib joint on the tailblock. Each strip of bone is formed of two pieces butted at approximately the mid-point of the back; there are similar joints in the rib pieces. The inside of the back is lined all over with plain laid paper which goes over the bars; the ribs are lined with parchment or vellum. Back of neck and heel are striped with bone and ebony lines; back of peghead is similarly treated. Fingerboard has engraved bone plaques, possibly some, or all, not original; one shows Orpheus as lira da gamba player calming the beasts, and another a coat of arms with a lion. The pegs are not original and the top end of the peghead has been modified. Soundhole diameter: 85.7mm; centre of soundhole from tail: 323.8mm. Width of fingerboard: at nut 48.9mm, at joint 58.6mm.
Commentary Attributed to Jakob (Giacobus) Stadler, maker of lutes and guitars, apparently born in Füssen; recorded dates in Naples 1611–45, as Kirchenmeister der dell’Anima Bruderschaft, and 1660, as Mitunterzeichner der I. Dotenstiftung der Bruderschaft (Bletschacher 1978, p.206). A dendrochronological analysis gave 1640 as the date of the youngest ring on the bass side, and 1637 on the treble side (Topham 2003). A number of guitars with engraved hunting scenes survive, some by Stadler (for example dated 1624, former Hill collection), others by makers such as Longo, Naples (in the Castello Sforzesco, Milan), and Hanggele, Milan (sold at Sotheby’s, 18th November 1993). The engraving would have been done by a specialist; the animals, birds and hunting scenes on RCM 6 seem closest to, and may derive directly or indirectly from, the work of the Nuremberg artist, Virgil Solis (1514–62), who had a large workshop and produced many prints of these and other subjects designed for ornament purposes (see Hollstein 2004, v.LXIV, pp.180, 194, 226 & 229). His prints are often long and narrow in design without much background. Another likely source is the series of prints of birds by Hans Liefrinck (Antwerp, 1571, re-published by Visscher in 1631); these images are also close to those on the guitar (information from Giulia Bartrum). Provenance Gift of Sir George Donaldson, 1894 References Donaldson 1896, pl.IV Turnbull 1974, p.21 & pl.28c Evans 1977, p.31 & ill. Grove 1980, v.7, ill. p.829 Grove 1984, v.2 p.90 & ill. p.91 Wells 1984, p.13 Grove 2001, v.10, ill. p.555 Freeth and Alexander 2002, ill. p.26 Topham 2003, p.138
Guitar, attr. Jakob Stadler, RCM 6: detail of peghead
Guitar, attr. Jakob Stadler, RCM 6: detail of fingerboard, showing figure of Orpheus
Guitar, attr. Jakob Stadler, RCM 6: detail of fingerboard, showing a hunting scene 109