Cover Picture: The Nature of the Extraordinary Finish of Stradivari’s Instruments (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 1/2010)

The composition of Stradivari's varnish has raised numerous hypotheses and controversies for the past two centuries, although a clear understanding of the materials could not be reached. In their Communication on page 197 ff., J.-P. Echard, L. Bertrand et al. describe the chemical stratigraphy of the varnishes from five representative Stradivari instruments by using a wide array of analytical techniques. In particular, Stradivari used several red pigments, and may have sought a variety of tints to give his instruments their beautiful appearance.