Jean (I) VUILLAUME

b. 1700 ; d. 1740. A maker in Mirecourt. Is said to have been a pupil of Stradivari, but his work shows no sign of it. A violin known is of very ordinary workmanship ; the way in which it is arched is similar to Maggini instruments; the sound-holes are badly cut, the edges are too thin, the purfling painted, and a little design in black runs round the body; the scroll is carved, the varnish is yellow in colour; inside is the label: " Fait par moy, Jean Vuillaume a Mirecourt, 1738." Although the Parisian family of makers may have descended from Jean, the connection has not yet been traced.