RE-DATING THE "MESSIAH" VIOLIN ATTRIBUTED TO ANTONIO STRADIVARI

Abstract

The "Messiah" violin attributed Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) crossdates with the "Archinto" viola of Stradivari setting the youngest tree ring at the year 1686 according to a previous controversial dating of the "Archinto" viola. The revised date of the "Messiah" is 1701. This date is obtained by crossdating with the larch chronology ITAL040 of the International Tree Ring Data Base. Furthermore, the violin crossdates with a viola, which bears a "Jo: Battista Ruggierius" label, though possibly made by a different instrument maker. The viola crossdates with the "Messiah" violin setting the youngest ring at the year 1699 but fails to crossdate with any other chronology. However, the comparison of its yearly tree-ring pattern with decadal-resolution climate data reveals a useful relationship, thus indirectly supporting the revised date of the "Messiah" violin. The matching with reconstructed temperatures is made via indexing of the tree-ring measurements. An exponential curve is fitted to the measurements, and the index of growth is obtained by dividing the measurements with the values of the curve. The best match is the year 1700.