theory, may perhaps tend to
weaken one's case. There can be but one method to be pursued if, in
the absence of any historical data, we set about the investigation of
the question, viz., that of analogy. Starting upon this ground, the
first step to be taken is to endeavour to discover the maker whose
work and style bear some degree of similarity to those of Giuseppe del
Gesu. If we carefully review the works of the Cremonese makers, it
will be found that Giuseppe Guarneri, son of Andrea, and a relative of
Guarneri del Gesu, is the only maker in whose productions we can find
the strong similarity needed. Analogy, therefore, would point to him
as the instructor of his kinsman. Giuseppe Guarneri, son of Andrea,
was del Gesu's senior by many years, and it is far more reasonable to
conclude that it was in his workshop that del Gesu was first
instructed, than that he was the pupil of a maker whose work he never
copied, and whose style has nothing in common with his own. Enough has
been said on this question to enable the reader to judge for himself,
and this may the more readily be conceded when it is also admitted
that, after all, it is of little importance to determine where the
early training of this kingly maker was passed, as he so soon
displayed that rare originality which separated him from his brethren
for ever.

[Footnote 10: The _evidence_--if indeed it is to be characterised as
such--upon which it has been recently asserted that del Gesu was a
pupil of Andreas Gisalberti is so trivial and altogether unconvincing
that it seems unsuitable for discussion or analysis in a serious work
of reference.--EDITORS.]

[Illustration: _Plate VIII_. GIUSEPPE GUARNERI. Date 1742. (LATE H. B.
HEATH, ESQ.) ANTONIO STRADIVARI. Date 1711. (LATE R. D. HAWLEY, ESQ.)
ANTONIO STRADIVARI. Date 1703. (J. S. COOKE, ESQ.)]

We will now inquire into the character of Guarneri del Gesu's model.
In forming this, he seems to have turned to Gasparo da Salo as the
maker whose lead he wished to follow; and if each point be critically
considered, an impression is left that, after well weighing the merits
and demerits of Gasparo's model, he resolved to commence where Gasparo
ceased, and carry out the plan left incomplete by the great Brescian
maker. To commence with that all-important element the sound-hole, it
will be seen that Guarneri del Gesu retained its pointed form. Next
comes the outline of the body, where, again, there is much affinity to
t