A Dictionary of Music and Musicians/Serafin, Santo
SERAFIN, Santo and Georgio (uncle and nephew), two celebrated violin-makers of Venice. The uncle, as his label informs us ('Sanctus Seraphin Utinensis fecit Venetiis'), was originally of Udine, a town in the Venetian territory towards the mountains of Carinthia, and probably of Jewish extraction. His violins date from about 1710 to 1740. The nephew, if we may judge from the style of his instruments, worked with the uncle many years, and appears to have succeeded him in the business. The instruments of Sanctus Serafin occupy a middle place between the Italian and the Tyrolese school. As far as external appearance goes, the maker seems to vacillate between the model of Stainer and that of Nicholas Amati. But in the essential particulars of the art, in the selection of wood of the finest and most sonorous quality, in the proper calculation of the proportions, and the solidity and finish of the parts, he worked on the principles of the Cremona makers. Few equalled him as a workman. Those who wish to see how far mechanical perfection can be carried should examine Serafin's purfling with a magnifying glass. In Serafin's earlier years, the Stainer character predominates in his instruments: in his later years he leaned to the Amati model. His instruments are famous for their perfect finish (reminding forcibly of the style of Stradivarius), their remarkably lustrous deep red varnish, and fine mellow tone.
George Serafin followed his uncle's later model with such precision that it is difficult to find any point of difference. Like his uncle, he finished his instruments to a degree of perfection which amounts to a fault, depriving them, as it does, of character and individuality. Like his uncle, he used a large copperplate label (nearly all the Italian makers used letterpress labels) bearing the inscription 'Georgius Seraphin Sancti nepos fecit Venetiis, (1743).' Both makers branded their instruments at the tail-pin. Their works are not common in this country, and specimens in good preservation realise from £20 upwards.[ E. J. P. ]