A violin by Joseph Panormo, London 1800

Price range: £50,000+

Joseph Panormo, born in Naples around 1768, was the second eldest of

Vincenzo Panormo’s four sons and would have begun working in his father’s

workshop after the family moved from London to Paris in 1779. On returning

to London ten years later, Joseph continued assisting Vincenzo and must have

been joined by his younger brother George during the early 1790s. The youngest son,

Louis, later renowned for his guitars but previously listed as a bow and violin maker,

would have been enlisted into the workshop by the late 1790s.

Vincenzo is recorded in Dublin towards the end of 1800, about the time Joseph

appears to have begun working independently in London. ln 1801 he wrote a receipt

in ltalian after making two basses for Domenico Dragonetti and the following year is

listed as an instrument maker in Portland Street. When Vincenzo died in 1813 both

George, after living for five years in an area of Shoreditch closely associated with the

Betts workshop, and Louis were living in Monmouth Street, a stone’s throw from where

Louis would establish his guitar making business. Meanwhile Joseph had moved to King

Street, Soho, and is later listed with his son Edward Ferdinand as Joseph Panormo &

Son, although he appears to have struggled in later life. He died in 1837 in St Anne’s

Workhouse, near his last address in New Compton Street, his occupation given as ‘pauper

Sean Bishop “This violin is a beautiful example of his fine work . Modelled on Stradivari, it is unlabelled, like most of his instruments, yet Panormo has written his name on the end block inside the violin. This violin has been in the same family for over 100 years and was featured in the Strad magazine recently”

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