This illustration of a violin by Jean Baptiste-Deshayes Salomon was published in The Strad, April 1983. The following text is extracted from the article accompanying the photographs:
The work of Jean Baptiste-Deshayes Salomon is definitely Italianate and appears to have been influenced by the peculiarities of the mid-18th-century Roman school. His work bears an uncanny similarity to the work of the great Florentine master, Giovanni Battista Gabrielli, himself a notable exponent of the Stainer model.
despite the fact that his work resembles that of Gabrielli, there remain a few telling aspects of his craft which provide means of identification. The most important of these is Salomon's varnish. This is normally spirit-based, rather thinly laid on and generally of a bright yellow-brown colour. Salomon's scrolls usually exhibit an interesting idiosyncrasy not often seen elsewhere. The curl at the end of the peg-box and above the A-string peg is often excessively hollowed out.
In general, as the photograph illustrates, this violin is gracefully proportioned and definitely leans towards a feminine concept. All details of craft support this model, with the elegance of the scroll and soundholes, the neatly inlaid purfling and the clean interior work devoid of any hints of roughness. The tone is clear and bright, with good resonance, and it belongs in the soprano range.
Very little is known of Salomon's life, but he seems to have flourished in Paris between the years of 1740 and 1772.
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