Biography

This outstanding violin-maker is to be regarded as one of the best representatives of the Dutch School. He was born in the same year as Hendrik Jacobs and raised the art of violin-making in the Low Countries to soaring heights. He was clearly inspired by Nicola amati, but never copied him blindly.
His purfling, always of whalebone, is inserted a little more inside the instrument's outer edge. The channel around the outline of top and back shows a hand which has been trained to the extreme. His entire work is that of he skilles artist. The only detail which creates an impression of lesser elegance, is in the scroll, the button of which seems to be a little massive. His varnish, sometimes clear yellow, then again profoundly dark red, is always of the most beautifully soft composition and sometimes with a 'craquelé', like some famous Italian instruments.

From: The Violin-makers of the Low Countries, by Max Möller, Amsterdam (1955)