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RCM 53 Viola Attributed to Giovanni and Francesco Grancino, Milan, c.1685 Inscriptions Spurious printed Amati label: Antonius et Hieronymus Fr Amati / Cremonen Andrea fil F 1590 Brief description Late 17th-century Milanese viola (?violetta) with festoon outline; pegbox probably from a viol Dimensions : 642, without tailbutton 632 : 379 : upper bouts 190, middle bouts 125, lower bouts 358 : c.33 : 358
Commentary Attributed by Charles Beare to Giovanni and Francesco Grancino. Instruments of similar outline signed by Giovanni Grancino survive in the Castello Sforzesco, Milan, dated 1662, and the National Music Museum, Vermillion, dated 1693; these are currently four-stringed (with body length 378mm) and five-stringed (body length c.365mm) respectively. The latter instrument is believed to have been five-stringed originally, as is another example in private ownership. So it seems likely that RCM 53 was also built for five strings. Its present pegbox is of the same date as the body but probably from a viol. There is not sufficient room in it for sympathetic strings.
Description Perhaps five-stringed originally. Front of fine to medium grain; f-shaped soundholes; front and back highly arched with long flat area and moderate depression. Single purfling, front and back. Back one-piece, slab-cut, the transverse arching asymmetrical. Varnish golden-brown. Later neck jointed into a step cut in the heel of older neck; dart-shaped scarf-joint approximately half-way along later neck into older neck and pegbox. The finial is a grotesque head enclosed between volutes and the back of the pegbox has foliate carving. The pegbox, originally for six pegs, has had two pegholes plugged and has been narrowed for four strings.
Viola, attr. to Giovanni and Francesco Grancino, RCM 53: detail of pegbox 166
Viola, attr. to Giovanni and Francesco Grancino, RCM 53