Gand & Bernardel Firm

The Gand & Bernardel workshop brought together three top tier violin makers in one Parisian atelier: Charles Nicolas Eugène Gand, Gustave Bernardel, and Ernest Bernardel. Gand began his business partnership with the Bernardel brothers after his own brother and business partner, Charles Adolphe Gand, passed in 1866.

All three luthiers were linked through their shared training. Gand apprenticed under his father, Charles François Gand, who was the student (and son-in-law) of luthier Nicolas Lupot. The Bernardel brothers studied with their father, Auguste Sébastien Philippe Bernardel, who in turn had studied under both Lupot and Gand père. These similar backgrounds made Gand and the Bernardel brothers natural business partners.

The Gand & Bernardel firm enjoyed nearly three decades of success, ending only with Gand’s death in 1892. In its twenty-six years, the Gand & Bernardel firm produced over one thousand high-quality instruments and bows based on Baroque Cremonese models. The atelier also provided a training ground for some of the finest fin-de-siècle bowmakers, including Charles Peccatte, Pierre Simon, Claude Thomassin, and François Nicolas Voirin.