n-makers, but the
Guarnerius patronymic has now its chiefest glory from that member known
as "del Jesu." This great artist in fiddle-making was born at Cremona in
the year 1683, and died in 1745. He worked in his native place till
the day of his death, but in his latter years Joseph del Jesu became
dissipated, and his instruments fell off somewhat in excellence of
quality and workmanship. But his _chef d'oeuvres_ yield only to those
of the great Stradiuarius in the estimation of connoisseurs. Many of the
Guarnerius violins, it is said, were made in prison, where the artist
was confined for debt, with inferior tools and material surreptitiously
obtained for him by the jailer's daughter, who was in love with the
handsome captive. These fruits of his skill were less beautiful in
workmanship, though marked by wonderful sweetness and power of tone.
Mr. Charles Reade, a great violin amateur as well as a novelist, says of
these "prison" fiddles, referring to the comical grotesqueness of their
form: "Such is the force of genius, that I believe in our secret hearts
we love these impudent fiddles best, they are so full of _chic_."
Paganini's favorite was a Guarnerius del Jesu, though he had no less
than seven instruments of the greatest Cremona masters. Spohr, the
celebrated violinist and composer, offered to exchange his Strad, one
of the finest in the world, for a Guarnerius, in the possession of Mr.
Mawkes, an English musician.

Carlo Bergonzi, the pupil of Antonius Stradiuarius, was another of the
great Cremona makers, and his best violins have commanded extraordinary
prices. He followed the model of his master closely, and some of his
instruments can hardly be distinguished in workmanship and tone from
genuine Strads. Something might be said, too, of Jacob Steiner,
who, though a German (born about 1620), got the inspiration for his
instruments of the best period so directly from Cremona that he ought
perhaps to be classified with the violin-makers of this school. His
famous violins, known as the Elector Steiners, were made under peculiar
circumstances. Almost heartbroken by the death of his wife, he retired
to a Benedictine monastery with the purpose of taking holy orders.
But the art-passion of his life was too strong, and he made in his
cloister-prison twelve instruments, on which he lavished the most
jealous care and attention. These were presented to the twelve Electors
of Germany, and their extraordinary merit has cause