The brothers Joseph and Salvador Marquès were born in Mataró, 18 miles north of Barcelona, to a family of cabinet makers. In the record books of the Brotherhood of St John the Baptist they are registered as guitar makers, together with many other trades relating to woodworking. They made an unknown number of instruments, which are of less importance than the ones of their contemporaries Joan Guillamí, Joseph Massaguer and Salvador Bofill. Currently there is only one known surviving violin by Joseph, in a private collection, and there is only half a violin back made by Salvador, which is kept at the Museu de la Música in Barcelona. (Conveniently, it is the half that still retains the label.)
Joseph’s activities were directly related to the musical life around the Church of Santa Maria, where according to his will he was buried in 1770. In the inventory of Joseph’s property his elder son, also named Joseph, received: ‘the amount of only 25 pounds, as for many years I financially supported your studies while you were wasting money.’ A younger son named Pere Anton received: ‘a sum of money, a house, some tools, a stock of wood, patterns for making guitars and violins, three violin bows, a hank of black horsehair and a box containing violin, viola and guitar strings’.
MAKER JOSEPH MARQUÈS
NATIONALITY SPANISH
BORN 1701
DIED 1770
INSTRUMENT VIOLIN
DATE 1759
ALL PHOTOS JORDI PINTO