violin

In 2002, the Musical Instrument Fund received a large sum of money to purchase a number of high-quality string instruments. This violin is one of the instruments that the Musical Instrument Fund was able to add to its collection using that budget. The Verbeek is without a doubt the most exceptional early Dutch instrument in the Music Instrument Fund’s collection. Although it was known that Verbeek must have worked as a violin maker in Amsterdam during the 17th century, no instrument had ever been definitively attributed to him because no Verbeek label had ever been found. By ruling out other makers, experts could therefore only speculate that certain instruments must have been built by Verbeek. When this violin, bearing its original label, was listed by Christie’s auction house in the catalog for the London auction, all the Dutch experts were thrilled. This violin simply had to come to the Netherlands! During the auction, however, an anonymous buyer outbid the Dutch experts over the phone. The Verbeek ended up in the hands of a London-based expert. That expert later acknowledged that he had not acted fairly and subsequently offered the instrument to the Dutch experts. By then, however, they considered the price too high for the sole purpose of keeping the violin in a safe as a reference piece. It was decided to approach the Musical Instrument Fund, as the Fund could serve multiple interests, thereby justifying the market-based price. The Musical Instrument Fund recognized the importance of bringing the violin to the Netherlands. Remy Baudet, concertmaster of the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century, described the Verbeek’s tonal qualities as exceptionally beautiful.

The Musical Instrument Fund therefore purchased the violin and has since offered Baroque violinists of the highest caliber the opportunity to play this unique instrument. Players must, however, agree that the violin may occasionally be used for (international) lectures, conferences, and/or exhibitions on the history of Dutch violin making. The Verbeek was selected in 2013 to be featured in the annual calendar of the trade journal *The Strad Magazine*. In the early years, the violin was played by Rémy Baudet and later by Benjamin Scherer. In 2014, it was passed on to Javier Lupiáñez Ruiz, a Baroque violinist and artistic director of the Scaramuccia ensemble. In early 2022, the Verbeek returned to the Musical Instrument Fund.

In 2022, following extensive consultation with a number of experts, it was decided to remove the Verbeek violin from the loan program due to its extreme rarity. This decision was made after it was concluded that the opportunity to have this instrument played did not outweigh the importance of preserving it in its current excellent condition for the future. This exceptional instrument will, however, remain available for exhibitions and lectures, during which it can also be played and heard.

Listen here to the Verbeek violin played by Javier Lupiáñez: