The Lady Blunt is a

Stradivarius violin A Stradivarius is one of the violins, violas, cellos and other string instruments built by members of the Italian family Stradivari, particularly Antonio Stradivari (Latin: Antonius Stradivarius), during the 17th and 18th centuries. They are co ...

made in 1721 by the renowned Italian

luthier A luthier ( ; AmE also ) is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word "luthier" is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers of ...

Antonio Stradivari Antonio Stradivari (, also , ; – 18 December 1737) was an Italian luthier and a craftsman of string instruments such as violins, cellos, guitars, violas and harps. The Latinized form of his surname, '' Stradivarius'', as well as the col ...

. It is named after one of its first known owners, Lady Anne Blunt, the British co-founder of the

Crabbet Arabian Stud The Crabbet Arabian Stud, also known as the Crabbet Park Stud, was an English horse breeding farm that ran from 1878 to 1972. Its founder owners, husband and wife team Wilfrid Scawen Blunt and Lady Anne Blunt, decided while travelling in the Mi ...

Ownership

The first owner of record was

Jean Baptiste Vuillaume Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume (7 October 1798 – 19 March 1875) was a French luthier, businessman, inventor and winner of many awards. His workshop made over 3,000 instruments. Early life Vuillaume was born in Mirecourt, where his father and gra ...

, an award-winning luthier, who found the violin in Spain in the 1860s. He sold the instrument to Lady Anne Blunt, the daughter of

Ada Lovelace Augusta Ada King, Countess of Lovelace ('' née'' Byron; 10 December 1815 – 27 November 1852) was an English mathematician and writer, chiefly known for her work on Charles Babbage's proposed mechanical general-purpose computer, the ...

and granddaughter of

Lord Byron George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron (22 January 1788 – 19 April 1824), known simply as Lord Byron, was an English romantic poet and Peerage of the United Kingdom, peer. He was one of the leading figures of the Romantic movement, and h ...

. In the 1890s, W.E. Hill & Sons bought the violin from her and sold it to an important collector. It was sold at auction by

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

in 1971 for the then-record amount of £84,000 by Robert Lowe, (US$200,000) who owned the violin for nearly 30 years. In 2008 it was sold to the

Nippon Music Foundation The Nippon Music Foundation (NMF) is an organisation under the supervision of the Arts and Culture Promotion Division, Agency for Cultural Affairs, a special body of the Japanese Ministry of Education. Established 3 March 1972, its stated purpose ...

for over US$10 million in a private transaction. In the wake of the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six m ...

, the Lady Blunt was put up for charitable sale, with proceeds going to the

Nippon Foundation of Tokyo, Japan, is a private, non-profit grant-making organization. It was established in 1962 by Ryoichi Sasakawa. The foundation's mission is to direct Japanese motorboat racing revenue into philanthropic activities, it uses this money ...

's relief fund.

Tarisio Auctions Tarisio Auctions is a web-based auction house that specializes in string instruments and bows. Founded in 1999 with locations in New York and London, it provides a service to clients around the world. Locations Tarisio's New York offices and galle ...

handled the sale online, raising almost £10 million (US$15.9 million), more than four times the previous auction record for a Stradivarius, held by the Molitor when it sold for US$3.6 million in 2010.

Instrument

The Lady Blunt is one of the two best-preserved Stradivarius violins in existence. It has survived, like the

Messiah Stradivarius The ''Messiah - Salabue Stradivarius'' of 1716 is a violin made by the Italian luthier Antonio Stradivari of Cremona. It is considered to be the only Stradivarius in existence in ''as new'' state. It is in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum i ...

of 1716, in near-original condition, since it has resided mostly in the hands of collectors and seen little use. It was built on the PG form, being a mature golden period violin. The violin also retains its original neck. It has been played very rarely;

Yehudi Menuhin Yehudi or Jehudi (Hebrew: יהודי, endonym for Jew) is a common Hebrew name: * Yehudi Menuhin (1916–1999), violinist and conductor ** Yehudi Menuhin School, a music school in Surrey, England ** Who's Yehoodi?, a catchphrase referring to t ...

played it in 1971, when the instrument was up for sale. In 2011 it was described as "the best-preserved Stradivarius to be offered for sale in the past century."

References

1721 works Stradivari violins Stradivari instruments {{violin-stub

Ownership

Instrument

See also

References