Johann Kulik

Who was Johann Kulik?

Johann Kulik - considered one of the best Prague makers / luthier of the 19th century. He was a pupil of Schembera, Prague, and of Martin Stoss, Vienna.

His workmanship is exemplary throughout. His scrolls, for example, are most beautiful and the material always handsome. The varnish is mostly thick and hard but transparent. Superb choice of woods.

He based his models always on the basis of some fine Italian specimen he had handled including Antonio Stradivari, Joseph Guarneri filius Andreae, Pietro Guarneri, and Giovanni Paolo Maggini. After 1850, he got enthusiastic about a specimen of Andrea Guarneri and henceforth followed his master almost exclusively. Some superb examples bear coat of arms, as they were commissioned by nobility.

His chief disciple was J.B. Dvorak.