Lot Essay
Certificates: Emil Herrmann, New York, March 15, 1938 and Rembert Wurlitzer, New York, November 11, 1971, both with photographs attached
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PROPERTY OF A PROFESSIONAL MUSICIAN
GIUSEPPE GUARNERI 'DEL GESU', WHILE UNDER THE DISCIPLINE OF HIS FATHER GIUSEPPE 'FILIUS ANDREAE'
A VIOLIN, CREMONA, CIRCA 1720
Details
GIUSEPPE GUARNERI 'DEL GESU', WHILE UNDER THE DISCIPLINE OF HIS FATHER GIUSEPPE 'FILIUS ANDREAE'
A VIOLIN, CREMONA, CIRCA 1720
Labeled Joseph Guarnerius fecit/Cremonae anno 1722 IHS, bearing the catalogue number S-438, length of back 14 in (355 mm) with case (2)
A VIOLIN, CREMONA, CIRCA 1720
Labeled Joseph Guarnerius fecit/Cremonae anno 1722 IHS, bearing the catalogue number S-438, length of back 14 in (355 mm) with case (2)
Provenance
Dr. E.A. Campbell
Rembert Wurlitzer
Mrs. A.G. Hawkins
Dr. Richard Sterba
Present Owner
The first recorded owner was a Dr. E.A. Campbell of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as indicated by the certificate issued by Emil Herrmann in 1938. From Campbell the violin passed through the New York shop of Rembert Wurlitzer where the last recorded transaction was its sale to Mrs. A. G. Hawkins of Berwyn, Pennsylvania in 1971.
A member of the Mellon family, Mrs. Hawkins was a patron of the arts and a supporter of the classical music community. Upon acquiring the violin she loaned it to her friend, Dr. Richard Sterba, for an indefinite period.
Viennese by birth, Richard Sterba was a student of Sigmund Freud and a member of the first graduating class at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute in 1924. He left Austria for the United States in 1938 and settled in Detroit in 1939. An accomplished amateur violinist, as well as art collector, he had studied with Otakar Sevcík and served on the board of the Marlboro School. Dr. Sterba is best known for his psychoanalytic studies and writings on the lives of artists and musicians, publishing works on Beethoven as well as Michelangelo. In 1986, at the age of 88, Dr. Sterba returned the violin to Mrs. Hawkins. That same year the instrument was sold to the present owner, a concert violinist. A student of Efrem Zimbalist and Ivan Galamian, this owner used the Guarneri as the primary instrument for both solo and chamber music until 2005.
Rembert Wurlitzer
Mrs. A.G. Hawkins
Dr. Richard Sterba
Present Owner
The first recorded owner was a Dr. E.A. Campbell of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania as indicated by the certificate issued by Emil Herrmann in 1938. From Campbell the violin passed through the New York shop of Rembert Wurlitzer where the last recorded transaction was its sale to Mrs. A. G. Hawkins of Berwyn, Pennsylvania in 1971.
A member of the Mellon family, Mrs. Hawkins was a patron of the arts and a supporter of the classical music community. Upon acquiring the violin she loaned it to her friend, Dr. Richard Sterba, for an indefinite period.
Viennese by birth, Richard Sterba was a student of Sigmund Freud and a member of the first graduating class at the Vienna Psychoanalytic Institute in 1924. He left Austria for the United States in 1938 and settled in Detroit in 1939. An accomplished amateur violinist, as well as art collector, he had studied with Otakar Sevcík and served on the board of the Marlboro School. Dr. Sterba is best known for his psychoanalytic studies and writings on the lives of artists and musicians, publishing works on Beethoven as well as Michelangelo. In 1986, at the age of 88, Dr. Sterba returned the violin to Mrs. Hawkins. That same year the instrument was sold to the present owner, a concert violinist. A student of Efrem Zimbalist and Ivan Galamian, this owner used the Guarneri as the primary instrument for both solo and chamber music until 2005.
Further Details
END OF SALE