Name of Instrument: viola d'amore

Maker / Brand: Louis Guersan [spurious] (through Franciolini)

Stearns Catalog #: 1296

Country of Origin:

Region of Origin: Europe

Instrument Category: Chordophone

Date of Fabrication: 1737 [spurious] 19th C.

Location: CHO G 2

Description: This instrument may have come to the Stearns Collection from a highly questionable source--Leopoldo Franciolini. Many Franciolini instruments are forgeries or interesting hybrids of original instruments and scrap wood. In this case, we have a fragmented composite instrument from no currently understood school. It is one of the few instruments in the Stearns Collection to have its original Franciolini label on it. The instrument is impossible to play as it is much to large to be placed under the chin (it is only playable between the knees). There is evidence of pegbox and scroll alternation. It is possible that the body started life as a larger instrument that was cut down because the sound holes appear to inappropriately scaled to this instrument.

It is quite possible that the label which reads, "Louis Guersan, Pres la Commedie Francaise, a Paris, 1737" is an original that Franciolini appropriated for use on this composite instrument. Most of Guersan's instruments were failures tonally, despite their highly decorative carvings that were often copied.

Research: Dr. Bruce Mitchell Smith and William Monical