Determining the resonance wood provenance of stringed instruments from the Cherubini Conservatory Collection in Florence, Italy

The wood provenance of what is considered today’s most important collection of stringed instruments by
Tuscan violin-makers, the Collection of the “Luigi Cherubini” Conservatory, at the Accademia Gallery in
Florence, was analyzed dendrochronologically. On the basis of 95 geographically very widely distributed
master chronologies, the most likely areas of origin of the Norway spruce wood used for the construction
of 32 from a total of 37 instruments were determined. Consequently, the most important centres of
wood supply were established. Finally, a location in the Tuscan-Emilian Apennines was identified as the
likely provenance of a considerable quantity of timber used in the construction of these instruments. The
results provide a new prospect in studying the geographical origins of the wood from which stringed
instruments were made in the past, by using dendrochronological analysis.