This violin was made by Jehanne H. Blaise in Mirecourt a violin-making town in France. Blaise's good choice of tonewoods can be seen beautifully under the intensively orange-red colored varnish. Blaise mostly uses regularly grained spruce on top and flamed maple from Vosges mountains on its two-piece back. As a result, his violins express a warm and dark voice, with clarity, maturity, and good resonance.
This is a French JTL Virtuoso Violin Copy (c 1900) of Francisco Ruggieri dated 1671. Ruggieri was a skilled instrument maker from a renowned family of luthiers in Cremona, Italy. JTL represents Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy & Cie, a French musical instrument manufacturing company established by Louis Emile Jérôme Thibouville and Marguerite Hyacinthe Lamy in the early 1900s.
Leon Bernardel is a French violin maker born in Paris in 1853. He came from a lineage of violin makers tracing back to Nicolas Lupot and his father, Ernest August Bernardel. Bernardel went under training with Justin Derazey in Mirecourt. After joining the Bernardel brothers and the firm Gand, Leon opened his own workshop in 1899. In 1900, Leon began producing his own works, signing them. Leon died in 1931.
Lambert-Humbert Frères firm (fl. 1876 – 1969) was a major violin manufacturer in Mirecourt, offering a wide range of models and quality levels, established in 1876 by violin-making brothers Maurice-Emile and Pierre Alexis Auguste Laberte.
Check out this Leonidas Nadegini violin made about 1920. Jean-Baptiste Leonidas Nadegini was a Ukrainian luthier who was awarded as gold medalist for sonority in Saint Petersbourg competition in 1907.
Léon Bernardel (1853–1931) learned violin making under his father, Ernest Auguste Bernardel, and later worked with Derazey before joining the family’s shop, Gand et Bernardel Frères. In 1899, he established his firm, collaborating with his son, Léon (II). Bernardel’s violins are highly celebrated for their rich, warm tone and exceptional projection, a result of his innovative craftsmanship and attention to detail. His instruments remain sought after by musicians and collectors, and his work continues to inspire luthiers to this day.
This is the Paul Kaul violin made in France dated 1918. Paul Kaul is a French violin maker who joined several workshops such as Thibouville Lamy, Silvestre and Maucotel, Vuillemin-Didion. He started several workshops on rue Racine, Nantes in 1907, rue du Pont Communeau in 1908, and at 130 Boulevard Brune in 1926.