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Images from The Cutler
Gallery
Violin by Chanot & Lété Workshop, Paris, ca.
1819
François Chanot (1788-1825) was the eldest son of
Joseph Chanot, a violin maker in Mirecourt, the major French center of
this trade. Rather than entering the family business, he studied at
l'École polytechnique in Paris and became a naval engineer. In
1816, after a distinguished career in the navy, he was dismissed because
of his suspected sympathies for Napoleon, now in exile after his defeat at
Waterloo. During the following few years, Chanot turned his engineering
talents to redesigning the violin and the larger instruments of the
family.
Dispensing with the tailpiece, Chanot attached the
strings to an ebony plate set in the belly, in the manner of a guitar.
Guided by a theory that the wood fibers should be as
long as
possible, Chanot simplified the shape of the violin's f-holes and adopted
the
cornerless body design that had often been used by luthiers in the
past.
Soundholes
Pegbox and Scroll
Chanot
turned the scroll backwards to facilitate fastening the strings to
their tuning pegs. Alternatively, the pegboxes of some Chanot instruments
have, instead of a scroll, a simpler finial with a shield.
Quartet of Chanot Instruments
The Museum's quartet of instruments (viola, 'cello,
and two violins) by the Chanot & Lété workshop, Paris, ca. 1819-1820.
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of Violins Made Between 1800-1849
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