cello

In 2014, the Musical Instrument Fund received this exceptionally beautiful Vuillaume cello on loan from Ms. Marijke Verberne. After her death in 2025, the Musical Instrument Fund purchased the cello from her heirs.

Marijke Verberne purchased the cello in 1976 from a London dealer and traveled the world with it as a professional cellist. She graduated as a student of Carel van Leeuwen Boomkamp. From 1961 to 1967, she was a member of the Netherlands Chamber Orchestra. During that time, she continued to take lessons from André Navarra. She then left the Netherlands to study with János Starker in the United States for a year. Afterward, she spent two years at the University at Buffalo in New York. In 1970, she returned to the Netherlands. From that point on, she worked extensively as a freelance cellist and, starting in 1975, as associate principal cellist of the North Holland Philharmonic Orchestra. She also performed regularly with the “Five Centuries Ensemble,” which presented a wide-ranging repertoire featuring soprano, countertenor, harpsichord, and cello.

She described herself as a progressive musician and an intuitive player. She thought it was a lovely idea that her cello would be played by a classical musician from a young and modern generation. Anton Spronk (winner of the 2014 Amsterdam Cello Biennale Cello Competition) was selected to be the first to play the cello.

The cello was built in Paris in 1865 by Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume as part of a complete string quartet. During his approximately fifty-year career as a violin maker, Vuillaume crafted a number of exceptional instruments. These were often given names to distinguish them from the rest of his production, and sometimes they were adorned with the coat of arms of the patron for whom they were made. The three decorated quartets he made for Count Doria, Prince Caraman de Chimay, and Count Sheremetev are among Vuillaume’s most celebrated and instantly recognizable instruments.

The quartet of which this cello is a part—and which was purchased by Charles Antoine de Riquet, second Duke of Caraman—is probably the best known of Vuillaume’s decorated quartets. According to legend, this quartet was presented at the Great Exhibition of 1867 in Paris, where it caught the duke’s eye. In September of that year, Vuillaume wrote to François-Joseph Fétis, a Belgian musicologist: “I have exhibited two quartets that embody everything I know, because they come as close as possible to perfection.” This immodesty was typical of Vuillaume, but the instruments—all built after Stradivari models—bear witness to his self-confidence.

The duke is said to have stipulated that Vuillaume affix the family seal to the instruments posthumously. The entire quartet was built in 1865, and the instruments are numbered from 2609 (this cello) to 2612. It is believed that the renowned firm Hill & Sons of London purchased the entire quartet directly from the Caraman family in the early 20th century. This firm sold the cello on July 21, 1931, to the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. The institute, in turn, sold the cello to Marc Johnson (1947–2014). Marc Johnson was the principal cellist of the famous Vermeer Quartet for more than 30 years. Our archives contain a certificate of authenticity from the firm William Moening & Son (Philadelphia), dated July 21, 1970, in which Johnson is named as the owner.

Eventually, Johnson put the Vuillaume up for sale, and the cello found its way to Marijke Verberne via dealer Peter Biddulph (London).