A very fine French cello bow by Jean-Joseph Martin (1837-1910).

Born in the legendary violin-making town of Mirecourt, France, Jean-Joseph Martin dove into the local industry after his father’s premature death. He studied bow-making under Nicolas Maire before leaving to work for Jean Baptiste Vuillaume in Paris. With a characteristic drive, twenty-one-year-old Martin, who did not have enough money to travel by coach, walked the whole 230 mile distance from Mirecourt to Paris.

At Vuillaume’s workshop, Martin was exposed to a wide variety of influences. Maire had instilled in him a strong respect for Peccatte, and Martin combined these techniques with the Vuillaume and Voirin models. Martin quickly distinguished himself as a skilled and dedicated archetier and produced some of the Vuillaume workshop’s finest bows during his five years with the firm.

Martin returned to Mirecourt in 1863 to open up his own atelier. By the 1870s, his shop expanded to hire multiple assistants, including Joseph Arthur Vigneron, and supply bows for larger firms such as Jérôme Thibouville-Lamy. Despite his artistry, Martin was never able to truly compete with Mirecourt’s larger workshops, and he lost both his business and his home in 1880. Martin’s dedication to his craft remained, however, and he continued producing high quality bows until his death.