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Iconography
Birth : 1866 in Nice (Alpes-Maritimes) Death : 1939 in Paris

Biography

Career
Albert CARESSA served his apprenticeship under GAND and BERNARDEL in Paris. In 1901, when Gustave BERNARDEL retired, CARESSA became the head of the firm. He took Henri FRANCAIS as an associate and they ran the firm together under the name CARESSA ET FRANCAIS until 1920, at which point Henri FRANCAIS retired.

Works
The CARESSA & FRANCAIS firm kept the tradition established by LUPOT and was transmitted through generations of talented violin makers including Sébastien BERNARDEL, Ernest BERNARDEL, Eugène GAND, Gustave BERNARDEL, and Emile FRANCAIS.

Label
Printed label:
ALBERT CARESSA
Luthier du Conservatoire de Musique
n°... Paris .... (see iconography)

Collector
Albert CARESSA amassed an important collection of instruments throughout his professional life.

Honors & awards
Luthiers du Conservatoire National de Musique. Luthier de l'Opéra. Experts at the Civil Tribunal of the Seine.

Successor
Emile FRANÇAIS in 1938.

Bows
Like many of the great Parisian violin firms, CARESSA & FRANCAIS has sold bows under its name. These bows were made by the great makers of the time including Jules FETIQUE, Claude THOMASSIN, and André RICHAUME.

Sources
Dictionnaire Universel des Luthiers. René VANNES. 1981.
Musée de La Musique. Fonds d'archives Gand, Bernardel, Caressa et Français.
(More specfic publication references are available in our Bibliography section.)

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