 What he did grasp as well as any Stradivari follower was incomparable good taste in workmanship; within this discipline he gave expression to his own admirable ideas, as described by Sibire (1806).His rich orange-red varnish, perfectly transparent, gave the final touch.Occasionally he copied Guarneri del Gesù, whose violins were rapidly achieving fame in the first two decades of the 19th century.