This illustration of a violin by Ferdinando Gagliano was published in The Strad, May 1958. The following text is extracted from the article accompanying the photographs:

Ferdinando Gagliano was the eldest of the third generation of Gaglianos, a family of luthiers who enjoyed a virtual monopoly of violin making in an around Naples during the 18th century. They played an important part in the history of violin making in Italy and although in the instruments of the Neapolitan School we miss the lustrous varnish and handsome wood of Cremona, Naples has furnished the player with many excellent violins and violincellos.

Although many of Ferdinando’s violins follow the style and pattern of his father Nicolo’s, a number are rather broader looking. A feature sometimes observed is his treatment of the longitudinal arching of the table. This rises in some of his violins somewhat suddenly at the top and remains at about the same height as far as the notch of the sound-holes when it falls away gradually to the lower margins.

This month an American subscriber, Mr Leslie F. Bardin, of Arlington, California, has supplied us with his photographs and details of an excellently preserved violin by Ferdinando Gagliano, dated according to its original label from Naples in 1774.

The two-piece back of Mr Bardin’s Gagliano is of handsome maple marked by a small figure slanting downwards from the centre joint. The ribs are of similar wood, and that of the scroll plain. The table, which is jointed, is of choice medium grained pine. The principal measurements are: Body Length, 13 7/8th inches; Upper Bouts, 6 7/16th inches; Middle Bouts, 4 3/8th inches; Bottom Bouts, 7 7/8th inches.

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