This remarkable Italian instrument began its life as a compact 14½-inch viola before being skillfully and sensitively reduced to a 14 3/16-inch violin. Following careful examination and extensive playing by experts, it was determined that this transformation would better realize the instrument’s full potential, enhancing both its versatility and the richness of its tonal color in its new role as a violin.

Rather than diminishing its character, the conversion has endowed the instrument with a renewed artistic identity, one that has proven both distinctive and highly successful. Its voice, far from compromised, has evolved into something exceptional.

Today, the instrument stands as an unusually rich, resonant, and powerful violin. It possesses a remarkable depth of tone, a wide expressive range, and a compelling personality that distinguishes it from its contemporaries. The marriage of its origins and its transformation have resulted in a voice that is at once nuanced, vibrant, and profoundly captivating.

The Gagliano family occupies one of the most important positions in Italian violin making history. Descended from Alessandro Gagliano, the family developed a distinctly Neapolitan interpretation of the Cremonese tradition, one focused less on aristocratic perfection and more on warmth, color, immediacy, and musical expressiveness. Nicola Gagliano instruments are especially admired for their vocal quality of tone, broad lower registers, and flexible, singing response.

This violin retains much of that unmistakable old Neapolitan character. The glowing golden-amber varnish, organic modeling, elegant old wood, and tonal breadth all evoke the cultivated but practical artistry for which the Gagliano school became celebrated. There is a spontaneity and naturalness to the workmanship that many musicians find deeply appealing.

The instrument bears strong stylistic affinities to the circle of Nicola Gagliano and the great Neapolitan school of the 18th century. Christophe Landon certifies the instrument as original in all principal parts, apart from the scroll, which he describes as probably English.

For players and collectors alike, this is an opportunity to acquire a deeply characterful old Italian instrument connected to the great Neapolitan tradition – one possessing both historical intrigue and genuine concert-level tonal power.

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