Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume

VUILLAUME, Jean-Baptiste Born 1798 Mirecourt, died 1875 Paris France. Second son of Claude François (IV), above. Undoubtedly the most successful French luthier, entrepreneur, inventor, and connoisseur. Prolific maker of all bowed stringed instruments and their bows, by his own hand or through his carefully managed workshop which employed some of the most skilful craftsmen in France. Apprenticed with his father in Mirecourt until 1818. Commissioned by François Chanot to construct his radical cornerless violin designs in Paris 1818. Vuillaume established a professional relationship with N. A. Lété in Paris, working for him exclusively from 1821. His own label first appeared in 1823, and in 1825 he established a workshop at 30 rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs, in partnership with Lété, as Lété & Vuillaume. In 1828 he parted from Lété and founded new premises at 46 rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs. Perfected new approach of making exact copies of classical instruments with varnish wear and patina cleverly imitated. Assisted by brother Nicolas-François and then by H. Silvestre. Silvestre remained until 1831, but was followed by H. Derazey, C. Buthod, C. Simonin, C. A. Maucotel, G. Gemunder, J. L. Germain, M. Mermillot, and many others. Vuillaume made the acquaintance of Paganini in 1836, and from that point was able to make copies of his Guarneri del Gesù ‘Cannone’ violin of 1743. Vuillaume’s copy remains beside the original del Gesù violin in the Genoa Civic Museum. In 1855 Vuillaume made the coup which sealed his place in the history of lutherie. He bought the entire collection of the eccentric Italian collector Luigi Tarisio which included the 1716 Stradivari ‘Messie’ violin and many other remarkable Cremonese instruments. This inventory made him the most important dealer in Europe and gave his workshop much to work from. In 1858 the workshops were moved to rue Pierre Demours Les Ternes. Here he employed T. Barbé, L. Neuner, P. Bailly, and A. Delanoy. Vuillaume is also celebrated for ambitious but ultimately unsuccessful ventures such as the gigantic Octo-Bass, now preserved in the Musée de la Musique, Paris. He also developed string-making facilities and various ingenious fixtures and fittings. Awarded numerous medals at Paris in 1829, 1833, 1839, and 1844. Awarded the Council Medal at the London exposition in 1851 and eventually elected to the Legion d’Honneur by the French Government. Over 3000 instruments recorded and numbered. The earliest known works are fully varnished in dark red varnish with ebony purfling. The mature period dates from c.1827 when he began his characteristic reproductions of classical Cremonese and Brescian works, most notably Stradivari and Guarneri del Gesù, with artificially worn varnish. These display faultless craftsmanship and accurate observation, and achieve remarkable varnish effects. Nevertheless, several important instruments were made with a fully applied varnish and perfect ‘new’ appearance, most notably the ‘Evangelist quartet’, each marked on the table with one of the names of the four biblical evangelists. Other special commissions had painted armorials. All instruments were signed and numbered internally. Notable are a handful of remarkable copies he made of the Nicolò Amati inlaid ‘King Louis XIV’/‘Prince Youssoupoff’ 1656 violin. He also marketed cheaper student grade instruments under the St Cecile trademark, made in Mirecourt by his brother Nicolas-François. Co-operated with the acoustician Savart on theoretical approaches and varnish research, and with the writer François Fètis, whose seminal work Antoine Stradivari, luthier célèbre Vuillaume both contributed to and published. Instruments signed and branded internally. The small Vuillaume brand found inside, was used on the outside of the ribs in very early instruments. Equally important were Vuillaume’s contributions to bow making. From 1823 onward he employed C. Eulry, Persois, D. Peccatte, J. Fonclause, G. Maline, P. Simon, J. Voirin, F. Peccatte, F. N. Voirin, A. Lenoble, J. J. Martin, C. Peccatte, P. Colas, J. Poirson, H. R. Pfretzschner, L. Bausch, E. Leibech, C. C. Husson, J. C. Nürnberger, and T. Jacobsen. Of these, D. Peccatte, P. Simon, and F. N. Voirin went on to become highly important and influential archetiers in the French tradition, and the German craftsmen established a tradition of high quality bow making in the various German centres. Vuillaume made many innovations in bow making himself, including the hollow steel bows made c.1834-1850, and the self-hairing bow which he patented in 1835. Despite his enthusiasm both innovations failed to establish themselves. The frog with rounded edges and the ‘portrait-eye’ (a miniature photograph of Vuillaume beneath a lens inlaid in the eye of the frog) his own personal initiative, was created c.1845 and largely made by Voirin. Bows branded: VUILLAUME A PARIS. Manuscript label: J. B. Vuillaume No. 4 / Chez N. A. Lété / rue Pavée Saint Sauveur No. 20 / à Paris 1823 J. B. Vuillaume No. 21 / Rue Croix des petits Champs No. 30 / Paris 1825 Printed labels: J. B. Vuillaume, no.76 / Rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs, à Paris an 1827 JBV Jean Baptiste Vuillaume à Paris / Rue Croix des Petits Champs JBV Jean Baptiste Vuillaume à Paris / 3 rue Demours-Ternes JBV [Millant]

Eldest son of Claude Vuillaume, b. Oct. 7, 1798, at Mirecourt; d. Feb. 19, 1875, at Paris. In 1817 was employed by Fr. Chanot to make violins on his newly-invented pattern. Went to Paris, 1818, and was a pupil of Georges Chanot for two years. In 1821 he entered the organ factory of Lete and soon became a partner ; ” Lete et Vuillaume ” settled in rue Croix-des-petit-Champs in 1825. They separated in 1828, and Vuillaume started his business at No. 46 in the same street, where he remained for nearly thirty-five years, moving to 3, rue Demours, in 1860. He tried at first to sell his own new instruments; but finding that the demand was all for Stradivari, Guarneri, and Amati instruments, he changed his methods, and one day produced a splendid Stradivari violin, signed by the great master and having a fine tone, for the sum of £12 ! Orders at once flowed in and Vuillaume’s fortune was made. His clever copies of Stradivari violoncellos originally sold for £20, but all his fine instruments have now increased in value four-fold. In 1828, having seen and studied a bass-viol of Duiffoprugcar, he began to make instruments in the same style, with beautiful inlaid work and heads quaintly carved. The wood used was of the finest quality, obtained from Switzerland and the Tyrol, and the varnish, especially on the instruments made after 1859, was extremely beautiful, no doubt a result of the care and time he expended on the study of the Stradivari varnish. He was awarded: silver medals at Paris Exhibitions, 1827 and 1834 ; gold medals at Paris Exhibitions, 1839 and 1844 ; the only large ” Council ” medal at the London Exhibition in 1851; and the only large medal of honour at the Paris Exhibition, 1855. Vuillaume was also decorated with the Legion of Honour. At the very first exhibition of his instruments, in 1834, the jury’s verdict on his copies of Stradivari and Amati was that not only in external workmanship were they exact imitations, but that also the quality of tone was so perfect, even the most practised ear might be deceived. Vuillaume also made very fine bows; he had studied and accurately determined the proportions of those made by Tourte. He invented the fixed nut, which, firmly fixed to the stick, has inside another of brass to which the hair of the bow is attached, the hair, as usual, being tightened or loosened by the screw of the button. In 1834 he began to make bows in metal, and for ten years turned out 500 of them annually; they were originally sold, as were the wooden ones, for £1, and were very successful. He employed a large number of workmen, and at the time of his death nearly 3,000 instruments had been made in his workshop. He also invented, in 1851, the octo bass, a three-stringed instrument, tuned four notes lower than the double-bass, to C, G, C; the Contralto, in 1855 (both an octo-bass and a contralto are to be seen in the Paris Conservatoire Collection); and the pedal-sourdine, or chin-mute (1867), a contrivance by which the player has only to press his chin on the tail-piece, instead of placing a mute on the bridge. Labels : ” Jean Baptiste Vuillaume a Paris, rue Croix-des-petits-Champs”; “J. B. Vuillaume, no. 21, rue Croix-des-petits-Champs. No. 30, Paris, 1829”; and “Jean Baptiste Vuillaume a Paris, 3 rue Demours-Ternes, 1844.” He married Mile. Adele Guesnet, of Clermont (Oise). Vuillaume supplied Fetis with all the material for his work on Antonio Stradivari.

There are upwards of 2,500 Violins which bear his name. Many of these he made throughout. The early ones are much appreciated, and having been wisely varnished over at first, now begin to show the good results of such handling. The career of Vuillaume was singularly eventful. Commencing life from the first stage of the ladder, he gradually mounted to the highest by the help of the usual nurses of fortune, skill and perseverance. He was a great lover of Cremonese instruments, and was intimately associated with Tarisio. At the death of the celebrated Italian connoisseur, he purchased the whole of his collection.

Sohn und Schüler von Claude V. Ihm verdankt die Familie Vuillaume ihren Ruhm. Er war kaum 19jährig, als er in die Lété’sche Werkstatt nach Paris berufen wurde, um dort für F. Chanot Geigen nach dessen neuconstruirtem Modell anzufertigen. Im Jahre 1819 traf er in Paris ein und arbeitete zunächst zwei Jahre lang für Chanot. Der Verkehr mit diesem hochgebildeten und geistreichen Manne hat jedenfalls nach mehr als einer Richtung hin befruchtend auf den angehenden Künstler eingewirkt. Lété war eigentlich Orgelbauer, aber als Schwiegersohn Pique’s betrieb er auch einen Geigenhandel; Vuillaume wurde 1825 sein Geschäftstheilhaber, und die Firma lautete dann Lété et Vuillaume, 1828 aber trennte er sich von ihm, heirathete und eröffnete in der Rue des Petits Champs No. 46 seine Werkstatt, die er erst 1860 nach der Rue Demours No. 3 verlegte. Er war verheirathet mit Adele Guesnet aus Clermont, einer feingebildeten Frau, die seinen Arbeiten das vollste Verständniss entgegenbrachte. Auch er hatte Anfangs unter dem weitverbreiteten Vorurtheil gegen neue Geigen schwer zu kämpfen, und so kam er frühzeitig darauf, alte Meisterwerke, vornehmlich von Stradivari, nachzuahmen. Er brachte es nach rastlosen Versuchen darin zu einer unübertroffenen Meisterschaft, so dass heutzutage gewiss viele »Stradivari « von beschworener Echtheit Arbeiten Vuillaume’s sein dürften. So sind auch fast alle Duiffopruggar’schen Violinen, die heute gezeigt werden, von ihm hergestellt worden. Die Sorgfalt seiner Ausführung erstreckte sich bis in die kleinsten Einzelheiten; sein Holz suchte er auf weiten Reisen zusammen; er durchstöberte alte Kirchen, Trödlerbuden und, fand er einen alten Balken, ein altes Möbelstück, das brauchbares Holz enthielt, so war ihm kein Preis zu hoch. Er war ein feinsinniger Kenner, der sich jedoch nicht auf das Gefühl allein verliess. Er hatte die Vorzüge und Eigenthümlichkeiten aller Meister auf das Eingehendste studirt und war stets bereit, Forschern die Mittel zu weiteren Studien an die Hand zu geben; so hatte auch Savart seine scharfsinnigen Untersuchungen ohne Vuillaume’s Beihilfe gar nicht anstellen können. Er war freilich auch ein ebenso geriebener Kaufmann, als genialer Künstler und brachte es zu grossem Reichthum. Auch dem Lackiren wendete er sein Leben lang die peinlichste Sorgfalt zu, und er ist zweifellos der einzige Geigenmacher des 19. Jahrhunderts, der darin den alten Italienern wenigstens im Aussehen der Lackirung gleichkam, aber er hielt sein Verfahren geheim und nahm sein Wissen mit in’s Grab. Er war fabelhaft fleissig und hat an 3000 Instrumente gemacht, abgesehen von anderen Versuchen und Erfindungen (z. B. dem »Octobass«, dem »Contralto« etc.). Auch als Bogenmacher war er ein Meister ersten Ranges. Er besass daher auch zahlreiche Medaillen und andere Auszeichnungen, und in der einschlägigen Literatur wird er überall ausführlich behandelt. Er gebrauchte verschiedene Zettel, manchmal auch Brandmarken. Die Geigen, die er von seinen Leuten ausführen liess, trugen den Zettel.

Born at Mirecourt. Son and pupil of Claude Vuillaume. This master, one of those the French School is proud of, is on a par with Lupot, Gand pere, Pique and Aldric, especially as regards the class of instruments he made when established in the rue Croix-des- Petits-Champs. At that particular period of his long career he made most of his best specimens without artifice, that is without subjecting the woods to any treatment in order to give them the aspect of old or untimely maturity, coating them all over with a full varnish uniformly applied. His imitations of Stradivarius and Guarnerius belong to the category of instruments called heated or tinted. To an extent there is an excuse for his procedure, since his aim was to reproduce as faithfully as possible the shade and patine of the ancient woods and varnishes. Such means are of course disastrous, as heated wood loses all its sound properties. This may have been exaggerated and the number of his instruments thus treated may be only a small proportion of his large production. If a choice is to be made, first class instruments can still be found amongst those manufactured in the rue Demours. These belong to his later period. For the afore mentioned reasons, the vogue of his instruments has been subjected to fluctuations. They now seem to be in greater demand and if the tone is not always satisfactory and lacks homogeneousness, the model and workmanship nevertheless recall those of fine Italians. At first he worked for Chanot and entered into partnership with Lete in 1825. In 1828 he opened his own firm in the rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs. He has left about 3.000 instruments. About 1850 he invented the Octobass, a gigantic double-bass, which on account of its size was never popular. It had three strings and reached a fourth lower than the ordinary double-bass. However, Berlioz in his Traill d’Instrumentation (Treatise on Instrumentation) speaks favourably of it. To quote his own words : « This fine and strong individuality, gifted with remarkably powerful and beautiful sounds, would produce an admirable effect in an orchestra ». Notwithstanding, he never made use of the resources with which he thought this instrument endowed. The same can be admired at the Museum of the Paris Conservatoire. Numerous bows with the Vuillaume mark were actually made by the best bow workmen of his time, some of whom have even made a name for themselves. Among them may be mentioned F.-N. Voirin, Simon, Persois, Dominique, Francois and Charles Peccatte, Lenoble, Eulry, etc. Telesphore Barbe is the one among his workmen who deserves special mention.