Aldred, Thomas
Thomas Aldred [Allred]
flourished 1620-1640
City of activity: London
Thomas Mace write in Musick's Monument in 1676 remarking that 'of such viols there are no better in the world than those of Aldred, Jay and Smith'. One English bass viol survives that we know of with the label reported to read "Thomas Allred / Holborn / London 1635". It may be the same one offered to W.E. Hill & Sons on 30 March 1906 reported to have the manuscript label Thomas Aldred / in Holborn, London, 1639. A second bass viol also survives with a similar manuscript label "Thomas Allred / in Holborne / Lodon 1629" (or 1625). The example of 1635 shares a similar outline and sound hole placement to the John Rose viol in the Victoria and Albert Museum, although the presence of a 'v' in the purfling beneath the heel of the back supports a date of making after about 1604, when this style came into vogue. It is not surprising to see instruments of this period closely copying an earlier style. The same broad placement of the soundholes has some similarity to Henry Smith's work, being a contemporaneous maker in Holborn, over against Hatton House, but they appear to be independently thinking instrument makers.
Benjamin Hebbert
www.hebberts.com
References:
T.G. MacCracken Database of Historic Viols (www.vdgsa.org)
flourished 1620-1640
City of activity: London
Thomas Mace write in Musick's Monument in 1676 remarking that 'of such viols there are no better in the world than those of Aldred, Jay and Smith'. One English bass viol survives that we know of with the label reported to read "Thomas Allred / Holborn / London 1635". It may be the same one offered to W.E. Hill & Sons on 30 March 1906 reported to have the manuscript label Thomas Aldred / in Holborn, London, 1639. A second bass viol also survives with a similar manuscript label "Thomas Allred / in Holborne / Lodon 1629" (or 1625). The example of 1635 shares a similar outline and sound hole placement to the John Rose viol in the Victoria and Albert Museum, although the presence of a 'v' in the purfling beneath the heel of the back supports a date of making after about 1604, when this style came into vogue. It is not surprising to see instruments of this period closely copying an earlier style. The same broad placement of the soundholes has some similarity to Henry Smith's work, being a contemporaneous maker in Holborn, over against Hatton House, but they appear to be independently thinking instrument makers.
Benjamin Hebbert
www.hebberts.com
References:
T.G. MacCracken Database of Historic Viols (www.vdgsa.org)
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| Bass viola da gamba by Thomas Aldred, Holborn, 1635 (private collection). |
