Carlo Giuseppe TESTORE

Highest auction price achieved
£ 288000.00

By Cecie Stainer

b. at Novara; settled at Milan about 1687, and worked there till about 1720. He was a pupil of Giovanni Grancino, for whose work his instruments are often mistaken. He was the best workman in this family, but did not make many instruments. His violins, of excellent wood, show good strong work, but not highly finished, and are plain in appearance. The pattern varies; it is moderately arched , the varnish is dry and of a brownish-yellow colour; the tone is good, sometimes very powerful and penetrating. For his violoncellos he generally used pear-tree wood for the backs and very fine wood for the bellies ; the tone was very powerful. When the well-known Lindley “Grancino” violoncello was repaired in 1844, by Andreas Engleder of Münich, the original label, in good preservation, read as follows : " Carlo Giuseppe Testore allievo di Gio. Gran-cino in Contrada Larga di Milano, 1690." A double-bass of his was played on by the celebrated Bottesini at concerts; it had a splendid tone. Label: "Carlo Giuseppe Testore in Contrada larga di Milano al segno deir aquila, 1700." He had two sons, Carlo Antonio and Paolo Antonio, both violin makers.

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Price History

Type Title Sold Price
Violin 35.4 cm Milan, 1730 c. [Attributed to] Sat 1st October 11 £ 49250.00
Violin 35.5 cm Milan, 1700 c. Fri 1st October 10 £ 120000.00
Violin 35.7 cm Milan, 1701 c. Thu 1st April 10 £ 143654.00
Cello 75.5 cm Milan, 1710 c. Thu 1st October 09 £ 150000.00
Violin 35.3 cm Milan, 1710 c. Sun 1st October 06 £ 20700.00
Violin 35.5 cm Milan (the top later) [Probably by] Mon 1st May 06 £ 19928.00
Cello Milan, 1690 c. [Possibly made with his son] Tue 1st November 05 £ 108795.00
Cello Milan, 1697 (sold with "Lamy" bow) Tue 1st November 05 £ 288000.00
Cello Italy 18C. [Ascribed to] Mon 1st November 04 £ 18000.00
Violin 1710 Wed 1st November 00 £ 26450.00
Cello 1699 Wed 1st April 98 £ 95000.00
Violin 17-- Thu 1st December 94 £ 30962.00
Violin 1690 Mon 1st November 93 £ 26014.00
Violin 17-- Fri 1st October 93 £ 23000.00
Violin 1720 c. Fri 1st November 91 £ 23100.00
Cello 1690 c. Wed 1st November 89 £ 126500.00
Violin 1705 Wed 1st November 89 £ 30800.00
Violin 1720 c. Thu 1st June 89 £ 23100.00
Violin 1690 c. Tue 1st November 88 £ 24199.00
Violin 1704 Tue 1st March 88 £ 10450.00
Violin 1705 Mon 1st July 85 £ 15400.00
Violin 1705 c. Mon 1st April 85 £ 29700.00
Cello 1700 Sun 1st January 84 £ 12222.00
Violin Wed 5th October 11 £ 49250.00

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