Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume


Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume was a French luthier, businessman, inventor and winner of many awards. His workshop made over 3,000 instruments.

Early life

Vuillaume was born in Mirecourt, where his father and grandfather were luthiers.

Career

Vuillaume moved to Paris in 1818 to work for François Chanot. In 1821, he joined the workshop of Simon Lété, François-Louis Pique's son-in-law, at Rue Pavée St. Sauveur. He became his partner and in 1825 settled in the Rue Croix-des-Petits-Champs under the name of "Lété et Vuillaume". His first labels are dated 1823.
In 1827, at the height of the Neo-Gothic period, he started to make imitations of old instruments, some copies were undetectable.
In 1827, he won a silver medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition, and in 1828, he started his own business at 46 Rue Croix des Petits-Champs.
His workshop became the most important in Paris and within twenty years, it led Europe. A major factor in his success was his 1855 purchase of 144 instruments made by the Italian masters for 80,000 francs, from the heirs of Luigi Tarisio, an Italian tradesman. These included the Messiah Stradivarius and 24 other Stradivari.
In 1858, in order to avoid Paris customs duty on wood imports, he moved to Rue Pierre Demours near the Ternes, outside Paris. He was at the height of success, having won various gold medals in the competitions of the Paris Universal Exhibitions in 1839, 1844 and 1855; the Council Medal in London in 1851 and, in that same year, the Legion of Honour.
A maker of more than 3,000 instruments—almost all of which are numbered—and a fine tradesman, Vuillaume was also a gifted inventor, as his research in collaboration with the acoustics expert Félix Savart demonstrates. As an innovator, he developed many new instruments and mechanisms, most notably a large viola which he called a "contralto", and the three-string Octobass, a huge triple bass standing 3.48 metres high.
He also created the hollow steel bow, and the 'self-rehairing' bow. For the latter, the hair purchased in prepared hanks could be inserted by the player in the time it takes to change a string, and was tightened or loosened by a simple mechanism inside the frog. The frog itself was fixed to the stick, and the balance of the bow thus remained constant when the hair stretched with use.
He also designed a round-edged frog mounted to the butt by means of a recessed track, which he encouraged his bowmakers to use; other details of craft, however, make it possible to identify the actual maker of many Vuillaume bows. The bows are stamped, often rather faintly, either "vuillaume à paris" or "j.b. vuillaume".
Other innovations include the insertion of Stanhopes in the eye of the frogs of his bows, a kind of mute and several machines, including one for manufacturing gut strings of perfectly equal thickness.
Many of the great bow makers of the 19th century collaborated with his workshop. Jean Pierre Marie Persois, Jean Adam, Dominique Peccatte, Nicolas Rémy Maire, François Peccatte, Nicolas Maline, Joseph Henry, Pierre Simon, François Nicolas Voirin, Charles Peccatte, Charles Claude Husson, Joseph Fonclause, Jean Joseph Martin, and Prosper Colas are among the most celebrated.
Vuillaume was an innovative violin maker and restorer, and a tradesman who traveled all of Europe in search of instruments. Due to this fact, most instruments by the great Italian violin makers passed through his workshop. Vuillaume then made accurate measurements of their dimensions and made copies of them.
He drew his inspiration from two violin makers and their instruments: Antonio Stradivari and his "Le Messie", and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù and his "Il Cannone" which belonged to Niccolò Paganini; others such as Maggini, Da Salò and Nicola Amati were also imitated, but to a lesser extent.
Vuillaume made numerous copies of his favorite violin "Le Messie", the more noteworthy among them being:
Instrument NumberDateComments
#1952c. 1853"The Blade", ex-Kägi
#2236c. 1860
#2374c. 1861
#2455c. 1863
#2455c. 1863
#2509c. 1863It was sold off in auction after J.B.V.'s death.
#2541c. 1864
#2556c. 1864Now to be found in the Musee d'Art in Geneve, with carved boxwood pegs and tail piece-the same which Vuillaume fitted to the original instrument.
#2594c. 1865
A fine copy without numberc. 1868, ex-Jules GarcinAfter Jules Garcin, it belonged to David Laurie and then belonged to Wurlitzer, and William Lewis and Son of Chicago.
#2936c. 1873
#2952c. 1873
#2963c. 1873

Vuillaume was able to craft such a perfect replica of "Il Cannone", that upon viewing them side by side, Paganini was unable to tell which was the original. He was able to recognize the master instrument only upon hearing subtle differences in tone during playing.
The copy violin was eventually passed on to Paganini's only student, Camillo Sivori. Sivori owned great violins by Nicolò Amati, Stradivari, and Bergonzi, but the Vuillaume was his favourite. This instrument is now played by soloist Hilary Hahn.
When making these copies, Vuillaume always remained faithful to the essential qualities of the instruments he imitated – their thickness, the choice of the woods, and the shape of the arching. The only differences, always the result of a personal decision, were the colour of the varnish, the height of the ribs or the length of the instruments.
His most beautiful violins were often named after the people who owned them
Vuillaume occasionally named his instruments: twelve were named after birds, for example the "Golden Pheasant", "The Thrush" and twelve were named after the apostles such as "St. Joseph" and "Saint Paul". A few others were also named after important biblical characters "The Evangelists" and Millant, in his book on Vuillaume, mentions a "St. Nicholas".
A rare violin by Vuillaume showcases inlaid ebony fleur-de-lys designs and is one of the last instruments to come out of Vuillaume's workshop, made a year before his death. Crafted for the famous violin dealer David Laurie, "Label reads: Jean Baptiste Vuillaume a Paris, 3 Rue Demour-Ternes, expres pour mon ami David Laurie, 1874", numbered 2976 and signed on the label. It's a copy of a Nicolò Amati violin originally belonging to Prince Youssoupoff. Only six copies were made.
He also had practice violins, known as "St. Cécile violins", made by his brother Nicolas de Mirecourt. Another lesser line, also made by Nicolas, was labelled "Stentor".
His main contribution to violin-making was his work on varnish. The purfling's joints are often cut on the straight and not on the bias as was traditional, in the middle in the pin. His brand is burnt at a length of 1 cm. There is generally a black dot on the joint of the top under the bridge. He used an external mould. The stop is generally 193 mm long. In this respect he follows to the French 18th-century tradition of a short stop, which was traditionally 195 mm long in Italy and even 200 mm long in Germany. The violin's serial number is inscribed in the middle inside the instrument. Its date in the upper paraph on the back. His violins of the first period have large edges and his brand was then burnt inside the middle bouts. The varnish varied from orange-red to red. After 1860, his varnish became lighter.
In addition to the above-mentioned bow makers, most 19th-century Parisian violin makers worked in his workshop, including Hippolyte Silvestre, Jean-Joseph Honoré Derazey, Charles Buthod, Charles-Adolphe Maucotel, Télesphore Barbé, Paul Bailly and George Gemünder.
Nestor Audinot, a pupil of Sébastien Vuillaume, himself Jean-Baptiste's nephew, succeeded him in his workshop in 1875. Vuillaume died at the height of his career, widely regarded as the pre-eminent luthier of his day.

World record price

The signature is usually followed by a doubly encircled JBV. Early on, it was doubly encircled JBV. The labels at "Rue Croix Petits Champs" began using the doubly encircled JBV, which remained the same on "3. rue Demours-Ternes" labels. In addition, most specimens have a number associated with them.

Awards and medals