(b Mirecourt, 7 Oct 1798; d Paris, 19 Feb 1875). French violin maker and dealer. His activities in the middle of the 19th century dominated the trade and made a major contribution in the field of new instruments and bows. He was born of an old but undistinguished violin-making family in Mirecourt, a flourishing centre of French lutherie in the Vosges. In 1818, having trained with his father, he went to Paris to work with François Chanot, moving to the workshop of Lété in 1821. There he progressed, and in 1823 began to sign his own instruments, giving each one a serial number. In 1827, after he had made about 80 new instruments with the help of his brother Nicolas-François, the connection with Lété was dissolved, and Vuillaume established his own workshop at 46 rue Croix des Petits-Champs. He remained there until 1858, when there was a final move to a large and elegant house in the rue Demours at Les Ternes.
Vuillaume’s first instruments were heavily varnished a deep, dark red all over, but were otherwise excellently made, rather in the style of Lupot or Pique. By the 1830s he had begun to make imitations of models by Stradivari, Guarneri ‘del Gesù’ (including Paganini’s violin, of which he made several copies from 1838 onwards), Nicolò Amati and Maggini, in response to the prevailing demand for old Italian violins as opposed to new instruments. He was greatly helped in this by Luigi Tarisio, a connoisseur and collector of Italian instruments. Vuillaume quickly became the pioneer of imitation and trade began to flourish. He developed an excellent eye for old instruments, and his increasing expertise and understanding of the old Cremonese makers contributed largely to the success, tonal as well as visual, of his own copies. His was soon the leading Paris violin shop, and by 1850 the first shop in Europe conducting business in every country. His instruments won distinction at several world fairs, including the Great Exhibition, London (1851) and the Exposition Universelle, Paris (1855), and he was awarded the cross of the Légion d’Honneur in 1851.
In his dealings in old instruments, Vuillaume had the opportunity of handling many of the world’s finest. In 1855, after the death of Tarisio, Vuillaume was able to purchase his entire collection, including fine examples of all the best Italian makes. The greatest of these was the ‘Messiah’ Stradivari, made in 1716 but in unused condition, a violin of which Tarisio had often spoken in Paris, though the dealers there doubted its existence (the authenticity of this violin, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, is still disputed; see Stradivari, esp. fig.2). As was his habit with the more spectacular instruments that he was able to acquire, Vuillaume made a number of very good copies of the ‘Messiah’. Vuillaume’s imitations have seldom if ever been mistaken for the originals. They have a distinctive appearance, and, since there are so many, they are easily recognized. After the first few years of experiment, he developed firm ideas about how worn varnish should look. He did not, however, make any but the most half-hearted attempt to reproduce knocks and scratches and other normal signs of centuries of use. His instruments are copies, therefore, rather than fakes. All but a very few bear Vuillaume’s own label, and a minute brand on the interior of back and table, the serial number and the date of manufacture. In addition he created two less expensive lines of instruments for pupils and amateurs, the ‘Sainte Cécile’ and the ‘Stentor’; most of these were made for him by his brother Nicolas in Mirecourt.
Vuillaume was also an innovator and he developed many new instruments and mechanisms, most notably the three-string ‘octobass’ (1849–51), a huge double bass standing 3·65 metres high, and the ‘contralto’ (1855), a large viola. 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. These innovations did not survive beyond the end of the century; the instruments were too large to be played easily, the hollow steel bow was inadequate, though the ‘self-rehairing’ bow was at least a good idea.
After he moved to Les Ternes in 1858, Vuillaume concentrated far less on imitations. Many of his later instruments were left fully varnished: his reputation made, it was no longer necessary to simulate age. He built 3000 instruments in total, and, with Lupot, was one of the foremost French violin makers of the 19th century. During his lifetime he engaged numerous assistants and many of the best French makers of violins and bows were his workmen and pupils. These included (dates indicate approximate duration of employment): the violin makers Hippolyte Silvestre (1827–31), Honoré Derazey (from 1830), Charles Buthod (1830–40), Charles Adolphe Maucotel (1833–44), Joseph Germain (1845–60) and Télesphore Barbé (1845–75); and the bowmakers Clément Eulry (1823), J.P.M. Persoit (1823–41), Dominique Peccatte (1826–37), Joseph Fonclause (1830–c50), Nicolas Maline (1840–50), Pierre Simon (1840–47), François Peccatte (1850–53), F.N. Voirin (1855–70), and Charles Peccatte (1865–9). A hard worker, a wonderful craftsman and a wily businessman, Vuillaume achieved honours and earned a large fortune. His instruments are increasingly sought after nowadays. (For illustration of a Stradivari model instrument by Vuillaume, see Violin, fig.13.)
Vuillaume had two younger brothers who were also violin makers. Nicolas Vuillaume (b Mirecourt, 21 May 1800; d Mirecourt, 14 April 1872) worked with Jean-Baptiste in Paris from 1832 until 1842 before moving back to Mirecourt. He made a few instruments of his own but mainly worked for his brother. Nicolas-François Vuillaume (b Mirecourt, 3 May 1802; d Brussels, 16 Jan 1876) moved to Paris in 1824 to work with Jean-Baptiste, before settling in Brussels in 1828 where he remained until his death. He was appointed luthier to the Brussels Conservatory and had a great influence on the Belgian school of violin making. He was primarily a copier, and if he did not quite have the talent of his brother, his instruments are nevertheless very good and much sought after. A nephew, Sébastien Vuillaume (b Mirecourt, 18 June 1835; d Paris, 17 Nov 1875), who married Dominique Peccatte’s daughter in 1859, was also a violin maker of some note.
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C. Reade: Cremona: Violins and Varnish (Gloucester, 1873/R) [orig. pubd in Pall Mall Gazette (Aug 1872)]
D. Laurie: Reminiscences of a Fiddle Dealer (London, 1924)
J. Roda: Bows for Musical Instruments of the Violin Family (Chicago, 1959)
E. Doring: Jean Baptiste Vuillaume of Paris (Chicago, 1961)
R. Millant: J.B. Vuillaume: sa vie et son oeuvre (London, 1972)
E. Vatelot: Les archets français (Paris, 1976)
Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume: Mirecourt 1998
Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume: un luthier français Musée de la Lutherie, 8 May – 30 Sept 1998 (Mirecourt, 1998) [exhibition catalogue]
Violins: Vuillaume, Musée de la Musique, Paris, 23 Oct 1998 – 31 Jan 1999 (Paris, 1998) [exhibition catalogue]
S. Milliot: Histoire de la Lutherie parisienne du XVIIIe siecle à 1960. Tone III: la Famille Vuillaume (forthcoming)
CHARLES BEARE, JAAK LIIVOJA-LORIUS/SYLVETTE MILLIOT