Guitar, Spanish, Altimira, 1840-1849

Guitar with pine back and sides, veneered with amboyna; engraved and painted ivory plaque on the back; pine soundboard, with mother-of-pearl openwork; painted mother-of-pearl purfling (bordering); ebony-veneered neck

Given by Manuel Terrero

Gift from Manuel M. Terrero Esq., Rockstone House, Pinner. RP152231M.
Presented by Manuel Terrero Esq. A.R.S.M.as having belonged to and been used by his mother, Doña Manuela de Rosas de Terrero, only daughter of General Don Juan Manuel de Rosas, ex Dictator of the Argentine Republic.

"Guitar. Barcelona; mid-nineteenth century. Fig. 84. Label, printed: No. 385 Fabca. de Altimira. Calle de Escudellers No. 61. Barcelona, año184 . Back of a single piece of Amboyna wood veneered on to two pieces of pine. Sides of amboyna without pinewood base. Belly of a single piece of pine, purfled with mother-of-pearl painted with floral designs. Surrounding the soundhole, hunting scenes painted on wood with figures of painted and inlaid mother-of-pearl. An oval medallion with a love scene is painted on the back with figures similarly executed. Pin bridge faced with mother-of-pearl and surrounded with mother-of-pearl marquetry carved and applied to the belly. Plain neck block. The raised fingerboard has seventeen metal frets, between them panels of engraved and painted mother-of-pearl representing rural scenes and floral designs. Machine head for six strings."

This guitar is perhaps the most lavishly decorated instrument of its kind, and it belonged to Doña Manuela de Rosas, daughter of Don Juan Manuel de Rosas (1797-1877), dictator of Argentina, who fled into permanent exile in England in 1852.

The back and sides of this guitar are made of pine veneered with amboyna, a tropical wood more prized for its appearance than its resonance. The instrument was made by Agustín Altimira (1805-1884) of Barcelona, who won a silver medal for one of his guitars at the Exposition Universelle in Paris in 1878. It is a fairly late example of the smaller-bodied and lighter-toned guitar widely used in Spain until the 1870s, after which it was gradually replaced by the modern classical guitar, the invention of Antonio Torres (1817-1891) of Cadiz.

W.15-1915