Daniel Parker

An important early maker of the London school in the eighteenth century, little is known of Parker’s origins. His workmanship can be seen in instruments labelled by Barak Norman and John Hare, but very few examples are known under his own name, with dates between 1712 and 1720. These are however outstanding and pioneering copies of Stradivari (made at a time when the Stainer model was dominant in most workshops throughout Europe). He may well have been acquainted with a ‘Long Pattern’ Stradivari brought to London in this period by the Cremonese violinist Gaspare Visconti, and Parker’s violins certainly conform to the extreme measurements of the violins made by Stradivari between 1692 and 1699. The workmanship is by no means as refined as Stradivari’s, but has a great character and individuality. His name is known primarily because of the fact that Fritz Kreisler owned and played a Parker violin in concert.