Description
An English violin by John Sexton, London Bridge, 1730.
Inscribed: Ino Sexton fecit 1730
The reputation of Daniel Parker casts a long shadow over English violin making, with a number of other instruments makers involved with his work, either as resellers, as collaborators or as pupils. For many years these have been lazily incorporated as examples of his work or given the difficult attribution of ‘Daniel Parker School’, acknowledging that there are a number of unidentified hands producing similar work. For many years this violin was identified in such a manner, which has the advantage of giving some indication of it’s credibility, but during restoration we observed a faint inscription (exactly where we would expect a Parker signature) that gave the name of the actual maker, Ino [John] Sexton, fecit 1730. The violin has many of the characteristics of a Parker – further than simply the outline, the conception of the edges is as we expect of Parker and the Cremonese school, and the general observation of Stradivari’s formula. Perhaps the biggest deviation from Parker’s work is the flat arching that is precisely as we expect from a long-pattern Stradivari. By contrast, Parker produces a bolder and more original arching that follows Cremonese concepts. The result is one of the most remarkable Stradivari-inspired violins to be made outside of Cremona during Stradivari’s own lifetime.
Over the years we believe we have seen four Sexton instruments, one of them compelling enough to be sold as Cremonese workmanship, but there are a number of quirks to the interior work that makes his violins highly individual and distinctive. We are not the only ones to hold this maker in high esteem, for in 1904 W.E. Hill & Sons curated an exhibition of ancient musical instruments for the Worshipful Musician’s Company, held at Fishmonger’s Hall. Amongst the enviable selection of English violins the Hills wrote of one Sexton
VIOLIN, English.
By John Sexton, on London Bridge
LONDON. 1720.
Mr. J. T. Chapman
The violins of Sexton are of extreme rarity and considerable merit. Only
two have been seen by Messrs. W.E. Hill & Son during the last fifty years.
It may be coincidental to the Hill’s commentary that this instrument passed through the workshop of Henry Lockey Hill, who replaced the scroll and worked on the varnish to give the instrument a more Stradivarian character, for he seems to have kept records of English instruments to which both Sandys & Forster constantly refer to in their 1864 history of the Violin, and that appear referenced in the later Hill manuscript on English Makers. As we gain a better understanding of the makers influenced by Parker, we may expect to see more of Sexton’s work, but he remains an extremely rare maker, and one of considerable merit and importance.
Certificate: Our certificate available upon purchase.
Condition notes: The violin is in an excellent state of preservation with an expertly restored belly. The scroll is not original, made by Henry Lockey Hill and retained on an original neck of his making, and the varnish on the back has been beautified by him to give a better Stradivarian look to the instrument. Length of back 361 mm.
Literature: Benjamin Hebbert, The Violin Makers of London Bridge (www.violinsandviolinists.com)
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