Featured Maker

Morizot Frères

In light of the rapid price increase of bows by Morizot Père which are now beyond many players budget we should take a close look at the bows by the sons. Louis Joseph Morizot Père had six sons, five of whom were bow makers, the Morizot Frères (Morizot brothers) These five bow makers did all of their training with their father and had a unique and harmonius relationship with each other.

René Morizot was the exception as he was a violin maker.

Like many of the sucessful ateliers of the period they devided the work according to their expertise, for example Louis Gabriel specialised in double bass bows, André Auguste was responsible for the top quality bows mounted in silver or gold, he also did the cambering of the sticks which he was extremely good at. Paul Georges did the finishing polishing and mounting and Paul Charles also nicknamed " The Chief " made the frogs!

The bows of the Morizot brothers are every bit as good as the bows of the father, their output is from around 1930 through to 1965 - 1970 when the last of the brothers André retired. They worked through the war years but with less assistants and then in 1945 at the end of WWII they increased production turning out 6 bows a day between them. 

Bows by the father Louis Joseph Morizot Père are now priced at between £3,000 to £6,000 whereas you are still able to buy a Morizot Frères for half the price of a Morizot Père! They are well made, the sticks are excellent and in fact are often confused as the work of the father, especially as the same L.Morizot stamp was used on many of the best bows.

We have several examples of Morizot Frères, please see links below, from lowest to highest price:

WP101 - Louis Morizot Frères - WP126 - Louis Morizot Frères

WP107 - Louis Morizot Frères - WP116 - Louis Morizot Frères - WP113 - Silver Louis Morizot Frères