violin · Golden Period
Messiah / Messie
A 1716 violin preserved in an exceptionally close-to-original condition.
- Year
- 1716
- Maker
- Antonio Stradivari
- Current player
- Not recorded
01 · Story
A name born from waiting
The Messiah spent long periods in collectors’ hands and was played very little. The Ashmolean recounts that Luigi Tarisio praised the violin to colleagues in Paris but never showed it to them; the waiting inspired the name it carries today. Its central value lies less in embellished legend than in its minimal wear and unusually clear traces of Stradivari’s making.
The Messiah was made by Antonio Stradivari in 1716.
The Messiah’s exceptional fame is closely tied to its unusually preserved condition.
02 · Specifications
Record at a glance
- Made
- 1716, Cremona
- Type
- violin
- Period
- Golden Period
- Location
- Oxford, United Kingdom
03 · Provenance
A life through hands
- 1820–1855
Luigi Tarisio
Kept the violin in Italy while describing it to colleagues in Paris.
- 1939
Ashmolean Museum
Presented through the Hill collection and held by the Ashmolean.
Sources