William Forster II
The William Forster II cello is one of the finest examples of the English making tradition — an instrument of considerable beauty, refinement, and depth.
Forster's work of this period is immediately recognisable: a classic outline, unhurried and assured, with a plain scroll and the deep, rich red varnish that distinguishes the best London making of the era. The back is lightly figured maple in two pieces, and the spruce front, with its strong and characterful grain, brings a visual individuality that rewards closer inspection. The patina is warm and velvety, the condition largely original — a cello that wears its age with quiet distinction.
The sound is dark, warm, and richly chocolatey — the voice of an instrument that has lived long enough to know itself. It carries the depth and resonance of the finest English cellos of the period, filling a room with colour and speaking with the unhurried authority of a distinguished English gentleman: refined, sophisticated, and utterly sincere.
Available for trial by appointment.
Padday Luthiers
A family workshop, specialising in the sale, repair and restoration of new and antique instruments.
Padday Luthiers
"Warm, dark, and deeply resonant — a sound that has only grown richer with time."
William Forster II
1770s
William Forster II
1739
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1808
Forster's cellos are his most distinguished work and the pieces by which his reputation properly stands. Built on a shortened Amati model of his own development, they are instruments of genuine character — well-proportioned, responsive, and with a tonal quality that has kept them in professional use for two centuries. Three double basses were made for the private band of George III; a cello known as the Royal George was made for George IV; and the Royal Warrant from the Prince of Wales, which entitled him to trade as maker to the Court, was the formal recognition of a standing he had earned on the quality of the instruments alone. His finest signed violins, finished in a vibrant reddish-brown oil varnish of considerable beauty, represent his most refined single-instrument work, though it is the cellos that collectors and players seek. The output was produced across three grades: a trade tier with painted purfling and plain finish; a middle tier of competent workmanship; and a finest grade that bears comparison with the best English making of the century. William Forster II was born in Brampton, Cumberland in 1739, the son of a spinning-wheel maker who also repaired fiddles. He arrived in London in 1759, reportedly travelling south in part as a cattle-drover. His first employment was at Beck's music shop on Tower Hill; he then established himself at Duke's Court and later at 33 St Martin's Lane, before moving in 1785 to 348 Exeter Exchange on the Strand, where his son William III joined him and the firm traded as Forster and Son. That same year he contracted with Joseph Haydn to publish his works in England, introducing over a hundred major compositions to the English market. His grandson Simon Andrew Forster documented the workshop in his History of the Violin (1864), which remains a primary source. Forster died in London in 1808.