This treble viola da gamba was bought from a dealer in Spain around 1980.
It needed restoration. As a matter of fact...
it was bought in this condition, with all of its separate parts in a box!
For years, it remained in this condition:
no violin-maker dared to attempt to restore it.
Until Petr Vavrous saw it. He said: I love it! I will restore it!
This type of instrument is found in paintings of the 17th. Century
Here a bass viola da gamba in *festooned* form, as it is often called.
Here a treble viola da gamba, almost identical to the one in the collection.
Another example of a festooned viola da gamba
In 1998 this instrument appeared in an auction in London. The similarity to the other treble viol is so striking...
Almost identical sound holes: Here from Treble I
Here from Treble II, revealing that it was the same maker.
Sound hole from Treble II
Rosette from Treble I
Rosette from Treble II
...that it would have been a pity not to see them side by side, so it, too, was purchsed, 20 years after the first one!
In fact, they make a lovely pair: here at their new home in the Castle of Kremsegg
Many years later, two knowledgeable gentlemen, Dr. Peter Klein and...
Dr. Micha Beuting, from the Hamburg University visited the collection to investigate the dates of the instruments.
Their dendrochronolo-gical research revealed that the tops of these two instruments came from THE SAME TREE!
These two twin sisters had been separated for several hundred years! Here, together again, at the exhibition in Salzburg
And they have been together again for many years. Here, at the Castle of Duino, Italy
And playing music together again: a touching story with a happy end!
The twins, performing in Ibiza
At their permanent home, the Castle of Kremsegg
Performing at the Château de Thoiry, France
