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Dance of the swans: the bows of Charles Nicolas Bazin

2025-02-07T09:33:00

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The Tourte-model bows by Charles Nicolas Bazin represent the pinnacle of elegance and refinement in the history of French bow making. To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the swan-head model, Richard Morency examines some of the finest examples

The mid-19th century saw major changes in the field of instrument making in France. Many workshops shifted from small-scale to industrial production, and French workshops had already begun copying stringed instruments by Stradivari, Amati and Guarneri ‘del Gesù’. In the first half of the 1800s François Xavier Tourte’s bow making was an influential source of inspiration…

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