File talk:Violone PeterLely1649DutEng.png

How many strings?
How many strings does this thing have? It doesn't appear to be 6. Badagnani 05:21, 19 November 2006 (UTC)

This instrument now appears as a representative instrument in both Violone and Bass violin. That's impossible. Badagnani (talk) 07:12, 21 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Well, it's okay if in the violone article it gets clarified that it is representative of the wider historical usage of the term "violone" as referring to all sorts of bass bowed instruments (both da braccio and da gamba), rather than specifically to a bass viol in the da gamba sense. I've been searching for a higher-resolution reproduction that could tell us about number of strings and whether it has frets. But its corpus is clearly more violin-like than the other English illustration we have, from Simpson. Fut.Perf. ☼ 07:16, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

I see. The term "violone" has been used to refer to different instruments, including non-viol instruments like the proto-cello. Is that a bulletproof statement? This is now made clear at Bass violin but not at Violone and the other relevant articles. The violin-like shape of the Lely instrument is explained by some as simply Italian influence. Some gambas had this shape. Badagnani (talk) 07:18, 21 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Yes, "bulletproof" is right. There is quite a bit of literature on the topic. The papers by Bonta referenced in the Bass violin article are a good place to start. Fut.Perf. ☼ 09:07, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

Where does the painting reside? Perhaps a Wikipedian living there could take a trip to that museum and inspect it first-hand. Badagnani (talk) 07:19, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

Where is this painting today?
Where is the original of this painting today? Badagnani (talk) 07:22, 21 November 2007 (UTC)


 * Found this:


 * According to that paper, it's at the Courtauld Institute Galleries, London. Morton describes the instrument as "a large bass viol [...] violin-shaped, fretted instrument [...] clearly larger than a standard bass viol"


 * Fut.Perf. ☼ 09:25, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

I've written an email to that gallery asking about the presence/number of frets and strings visible in the original painting. Badagnani (talk) 18:20, 21 November 2007 (UTC)