Stradivarius, Antonio (Hist.)

The great violin maker who has the craftsman's delight in perfect work and defends his gospel of hard honest work against the jeers of Naldo the eclectic painter. "'Tis rare delight: I would not change my skill / To be the Emperor with bungling hands, / And lose my work, which comes as natural / As self at waking . . . / . . . 'Tis God gives skill, / But not without men's hands: / He could not make / Antonio Stradivari's violins / Without Antonio." The central idea of the poem, the delight of the work man in perfect work, George Eliot took from the character of her father, Robert Evans. Antonio Stradivari, or Stradivarius (1644-1737) was a famous Italian maker of violins.

Stradivarius

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