violin

The Musical Instrument Fund has had this extremely rare violin on loan from the Royal House since 2009. For a long time, the violin was part of the “Oskar Back Collection,” the majority of which was transferred to our collection in 2009. The violin was purchased in 1922—possibly as a birthday gift—from the Vedral company in The Hague for the then-young Princess Juliana; she played it during her childhood. A small crown was added to the violin’s tailpiece in 1978. On the advice of Theo Olof, Herman Krebbers, and Jaap Schröder, and with the approval of the Royal House, the violin was then restored to its original Baroque playing condition. The Oskar Back Fund awarded the violin every two years as a special prize for chamber music during the Oskar Back Competition. In 1979, Irene den Herder was the first recipient, for a period of two years. Eleven other musicians followed. In 1998, the violin was exhibited and played during the “Oranje and Music” exhibition at the Paleis op de Dam. Since its inclusion in our collection, the violin has been loaned on a long-term basis to violinists who specialize in authentic Baroque performance. Daphne Oltheten played this unique Van der Sijde from 2014 to 2017. Since then, the Van der Sijde has been in the hands of Elise Dupont.