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Six Weeks of Stradivarius - Week 5

Writer's picture: Chloe ButterworthChloe Butterworth

Welcome to week 5 of Six Weeks of Stradivarius! Over the next weeks I shall be drawing six of my favourite violins made by the master himself, Antonio Stradivari.


La Cathédrale - 1707


In the fifth week of my series, I present to you the 1707 violin known as 'La Cathédrale'. It reportedly earned its name due to the 'majesty of its tone'.


'It fetched a record $483,000 at Sotheby's auction in 1984, the highest for any musical instrument sold at auction until The Colossus Stradivarius was purchased by Luigi Alberto Bianchi for $726,000 in 1987.'


'Nigel Kennedy played La Cathedrale early in his career, but later purchased the Lafont, an instrument made by Guarneri del Gesù.[3] For a time La Cathedrale was part of the Mandell Collection; antique violins from this collection were loaned to young students. In 2014, the Los Angeles Times reported that the Mandells had sold La Cathedrale to raise funds for the purchase of additional instruments for Mandell Artists. Before the Mandells sold the instrument, La Cathedrale was loaned to Tamaki Kawakubo, who won the 2002 International Tchaikovsky Competition.'


The drawing took slightly more than 5 hours. I spent a considerable time to capturing the wood grain's tone on the body, as it was highly visible and a major focal point in the pictures. I achieved this by drawing several fine vertical lines down the body, which, when shaded over, created the appearance of wood.


Prints available here:






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