245.—THE "PRISON JOSEPHS."
Contemporaneous with Stradivarius was a family named Guarnerius, one of whom, Joseph (1683–1745), achieved great fame from the excellence of his instruments. This man, in order to distinguish his works from those of a cousin bearing the same name, generally added to his name on the tickets inserted in his instruments the cross and the letters, "I.H.S." These are supposed to be the initials of some religious society of which he was a member. From this addition to his name he is known as Guarnerius "del Jesu." His grandfather, Andrew, was a pupil of Nicholas Amati, but the instruments of the elder Guarnerius, and those of three of his descendants are not particularly noticeable; the fourth, Joseph, "del Jesu," whom I have mentioned above, turned out some violins which were quite the equals of those of Stradivarius when at his best.
His model is not quite so large nor the bouts quite so long as with Stradivarius, but the shape is most elegant, and no fault could be found with the wood or varnish. It is even said that some of his best specimens are more pleasing to the eye than those of Stradivarius. But during his later years there was a remarkable change. The wood became defective, the work careless, and the varnish poor. The exact cause for this decadence is not known, although a very pretty story is frequently told, which, fortunately for the reputation of Joseph, seems to be founded more on fancy than on fact.
The story runs that he was an impecunious and idle rascal, and that he was imprisoned for some unknown cause; also, that the jailor's daughter supplied him with rude tools and material and bought the varnish from various makers who were in the enjoyment of their liberty. This would have made a pretty good story as it was, but the romancers have added additional details. This fair damsel, so we are told, taking pity on Joseph's condition, took out the completed fiddles and hawked them about, selling them for whatever offered, and buying with the proceeds necessities and comforts for the prisoner, who, it should be added, was a married man. (It is best to omit this latter fact in telling the story. It sounds better.)
Unfortunately for the story, the archives of Cremona make no record of a prisoner named Guarnerius, and for an idle man he turned out a remarkable number of valuable violins. This tale has obtained so much credence that the rougher of the "del Jesu" fiddles are called "Prison Josephs."
It must have been a peculiar combination of circumstances that led him to send out inferior violins at this time of life, but the above story is admirably concocted to fill the niche. Another peculiar thing is, that after this poor work he made at least one violin the excellence of which has hardly been equaled. This is the one played so long and loved so dearly by Paganini, and at his death bequeathed to his native city, Genoa, where it still lies in its glass case. This noble instrument was made in 1743, and its maker died two years afterward.