'Tsar Nicholas; ex-Stern' - A violin by Jean Baptiste Vuillaume, Paris, 1840-41

Alexandra Lomeiko, violin

This violin appears to be based on Stradivari’s model of around 1707-8. The stunning one-piece back calls to mind some of Stradivari’s great violins of 1709 and 1710, notably the 'Viotti; Marie Hall'. The violin has been antiqued, partly by Vuillaume himself. Although the label bears the date of 1840, the pencil date in the upper back reads 41, suggesting that the commission was not completed until the following year.

Alexis Feodorovich Lvov was a talented Russian violinist, conductor and composer. Born in 1799, he joined the Russian army as a young man and enjoyed rapid promotion, becoming adjutant to Tsar Nicholas I. In 1833 his composition 'God Save the Tsar' was chosen as the Russian imperial anthem, and the tune was later used by Tchaikovsky in his 1812 Overture. In 1837 Lvov succeeded his father as Director of the Imperial Chapel.

Lvov toured internationally as a soloist, playing Mendelssohn's violin concerto with the composer, and playing recitals with Franz Liszt. In 1840 Lvoff made a concert tour to Leipzig and Paris. There he visited Vuillaume, commissioned the violin and presumably requested that Vuillaume decorate the back of the instrument. He was also responsible for the Tsar's instrument collection, and in addition to this violin, he ordered two further instruments from Vuillaume which bear the same coat of arms - a cello which is a copy of the 'Batta' Stradivari, and an Octobasse dated 1849, now in the collection of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna.

The coat of arms painted on the back of the violin is that of the Lvov family. According to Lvov, the Tsar presented him with a gold snuff box adorned with diamonds and instructed him to add the motto 'God save the Tsar’ to his family coat of arms.

Sadly all paperwork relating to the violin has been lost, so its subsequent history is unclear, but it was in the possession of Isaac Stern in the late 1980s before joining the collection of Olivier Jaques.