Carter, John
John Carter
fl. circa 1770-1790
Drury Lane, London
Carter seems to have had a varied career but his basic style places him firmly in the workshop of Richard Duke at the beginning of his career, and there is some discussion attributing the cheaper instruments of the Duke workshop to him. By the 1773 he seems to have become independent of the Duke business, finding his way to Wych Street (Aldwych) off Drury Lane. The move put him in close vicinity of the Forster workshop, and it seems that he found employment there with William (II) Forster. A letter accompanying a pentachord made and labelled for Joseph Merlin states that it was made by "Carter, and assistant of Wm. Forster" this instrument (The British Violin 256-7) is made very much in the character of the Duke school, rather than the contrasting style of Forster.
fl. circa 1770-1790
Drury Lane, London
Carter seems to have had a varied career but his basic style places him firmly in the workshop of Richard Duke at the beginning of his career, and there is some discussion attributing the cheaper instruments of the Duke workshop to him. By the 1773 he seems to have become independent of the Duke business, finding his way to Wych Street (Aldwych) off Drury Lane. The move put him in close vicinity of the Forster workshop, and it seems that he found employment there with William (II) Forster. A letter accompanying a pentachord made and labelled for Joseph Merlin states that it was made by "Carter, and assistant of Wm. Forster" this instrument (The British Violin 256-7) is made very much in the character of the Duke school, rather than the contrasting style of Forster.
Carter seems to have come into his own as a maker, and for English making he is a remarkably early copyist of Cremonese patterns. One violin from 1784 that we have seen proves to be a very fine interpretation of a Girolamo (II) Amati of about 1710. This is of particular interest as Girolamo made very few instruments, yet the virtuoso, William Corbett had commissioned just such a violin during his time in Northern Italy, and it was part of the collection that he bequeathed to the City of London's Gresham College in 1747 for the benefit of violin makers. Although the collection was dispersed by auction three years later, it is not beyond the realm of possibility that this provided the prototype for Carter's unconventional design. As an early copyist, he seems to have been fortunate that the brown varnish used by Girolamo in this late period is roughly similar to the standard varnish of the Duke workshop. The choice of very fine-grained spruce, and the aesthetic choices of the one-piece back are exactly typical of a Richard Duke violin, however it is well observed including the rather flattish approach to the arching that is so distinctive on these late Amati violins. He was evidently highly regarded by Duke (II), because he was a witness to his will.
In 1782 Carter was also working for John Betts, evidenced by the Licence Books to Employ Non-Freemen of the City of London granting Betts license to employ John Carter of Wych Street for three calendar months in his business in the Royal Exchange. Betts was another former apprentice of the Duke family who had established his city-based business a year or so beforehand. (British Violin, 44). Sandys & Forster (1864) recorded that "Carter worked for John Betts, and was respected by him. It is said his employer paid the expense of his funeral."
His hand is detectable in some instruments bearing the Betts label of the middle quality. There is some influence of Richard Duke in his modelling and the nut-brown varnish, which is an interesting point in itself because John Betts was a direct pupil of Duke's. His hand is identified in some of the instruments made for Joseph Merlin, and from about 1773 he worked on his own from various addresses around Drury Lane.
His labels are rare "J. Carter / Violin Tennor and Bass Maker / Wysh Street. Drury Lane / London 1781." and instruments may be branded "I.CARTER".
Labels:
J. Carter / Violin Tennor and Bass Maker / Wysh Street. Drury Lane / London 1781.
J. Carter / Violin Tennor and Bass Maker / Wysh Street. Drury Lane / London 1781.
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