Sidebar 11

The mandolin was a smaller version of the lute that gained popularity in the late 1700s. Italian towns each produced their own versions of the instrument, often lavishing as much ornament as possible on them to make them more pleasing objects to possess.

The mandolin as we know it today is actually the Neapolitan version: compounded from every kind of fretted instrument, oriental or Western, that was known in 18th-century Naples.