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Birth : 1794 Death : 1839 in Mirecourt

Biography

Professional career:
According to Roland TERRIER, Nicolas FLORENTIN was born in 1794  in a village near MIRECOURT (1).  He lived and worked then in MIRECOURT where, in 1820,  he married  the sister of Prosper Antoine MOITESSIER, from Carcassonne.
TERRIER also specified that FLORENTIN’s production was abundant and of good quality with characteristic features such as the carving of the back of the scroll. However, his “guitar violins” have been quite rare to find.

Tarisio, in its invaluable archives, shows a viola made without corners, named “guitar shaped violin” (2). This model is similar to #4376 displayed in our Archives section. It’s interesting to note that this viola bears both a “Georges CHANOT” label and a “ N. FLORENTIN” stamp.
We know that in 1824 François CHANOT returned to active duty in the Navy and abandoned instrument making (3). This viola shows that Georges CHANOT continued after that date the commercialization of this model, producing some of them in collaboration with N. FLORENTIN.

Finally, and without being an established fact, Albert JACQUOT mentioned in his dictionary that on 8 September 1671, present at the marriage of Charles MÉDARD, was Charles FLORENTIN, an Italian merchant called as a witness for the future groom (4). It is fun for us to propose that he could have remained in Lorraine and that Nicolas was one of his descendants.

Nicolas FLORENTIN died in MIRECOURT in 1839

Sources :
1 - Roland TERRIER
2 - Tarisio "guitar shaped violin"
3 - (Millant R. 1972)
4 - (Jacquot A. 1985 reprint de l’edition 1912)
(More specific publication references are available in our Bibliography section.)

 

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