the red violin is it a true story
The film was inspired by one of the violins of Antonio Stradivari, the 1721 Red Mendelssohn, which features a unique red stripe on its top right side. By the time the film was made, the Red Mendelssohn was owned by Elizabeth Pitcairn, heiress to the PPG fortune, whose grandfather purchased it for her 16th birthday for $1.7 million at auction at Christie's London. Despite rumours and the film, the Red Mendelssohn is varnished with burgundy rather than blood. Stradivarius used red varnish on numerous other violins from 1704 to 1720, the so-called ``golden period'', and other red-coloured violins besides the Red Mendelssohn survived.
The Red Violin