Janos Toth

John Dilworth

TÓTH, János Born 1875 Magyarkanizsa, died 1944 Budapest Hungary. Very influential Hungarian maker. Son of a cabinet maker. Pupil of J. Braun in Szeged and Lutz in Vienna. Brief experiences in London and Paris also. Married in Debrecen and established for a short time in Szolnok, finally settled in Budapest from 1910, at 8 Kossuth Lajos Street. Widowed and remarried; his second wife Ilona Martá (above) succeeded to the business 1944. Prizes awarded in Budapest 1922 and Rome 1931. A very controversial and opinionated maker, he judged a well-made modern violin to be superior to a violin older than one hundred years. Published several instructional works: The Violin (Budapest, 1919), The problems of the Modern and Old Italian Violins (Budapest, 1926), Did Stradivari have Secrets?, The Problems of Making Concert Violins and The Art of Violin Making. Classical models, most often copies of Guarneri on a large form, showing excellent craftsmanship. Interior neatly finished in willow, with the linings spliced rather than morticed to the blocks. Purfling of various materials including whalebone and ebony; very accurately cut. Orange to red varnish, of amber resin base according to his own writings. Guarneri models usually with darker brown colours. Tóth devised a unique way of fastening the plates to the bench while being worked, and this results in four small pieces of under-edging being placed either side of the upper and lower block position on both plates. These are usually easily detectable. Some instruments signed internally. Joannes Tóth / fecit propria manu / anno 1921 Budapestini Op.70. / Quamquam novus sum, dulcius tamen cano / quolibet antique Straiduario Johannes Tóth / ad formam Ant. Stradivári / Budapestini anno 1927 [Benedek]