J.B. VUILLAUME SHOWING THE HAND OF PIERRE SIMON

Jean Baptiste Vuillaume
Jean-Delphin Alard
Roger and Max Millant
Henryk Kaston Various Owners


A distinguished and celebrated French violin maker and dealer, Jean Baptiste Vuillaume was impassioned with the French bow making techniques advanced by François Xavier Tourte. While he was never a bow maker, the bows his Paris workshop produced throughout the 19th century are considered to be as famous as his violins. He employed and mentored the best artisans of the craft, including Dominique Peccatte, Joseph Fonclause, François Nicolas Voirin, Jean Joseph Martin and Pierre Simon. Together they set the standard for the Parisian School that was to be unrivaled in bow making artistry. Simon joined the Vuillaume workshop in 1840 and is known to have created most of JB Vuillaume's presentation and specialty bows between 1840-57. The works of Simon have been established as some of the most highly desired by musicians and collectors for their supreme quality and artistic representations.


This bow is thought to have been a wedding gift from JB Vuillaume to his son-in-law, Jean-Delphin Alard. An accomplished violinist and composer, Alard studied at the Paris Conservatoire, gained fame as a chamber music player, soloist and held a court position. As a professor at the Conservatoire he brilliantly imparted the great Italian-French tradition of Viotti to a generation of violinists.


The presentation bows of the JB Vuillaume Workshop often contained the likeness of noted musicians, including the incomparable Niccolò Paganini, as seen here. Produced in tribute to Paganini it is believed only three to four of these works exist. An accomplished violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer, Paganini was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, providing substantial influence on modern violin technique. It has been said that he could bring tears to the eyes of his audience with his execute the most tender opuses, while he could perform with such power and rapidity that while in Vienna a listener claimed to have seen the Devil helping the violinist.