Dictionary of Makers

Born in Mirecourt, bowmaker André Vigneron began to assist his father Joseph Arthur Vigneron at his shop in Paris at the end of the 19th century. His model at first hewed closely to that of his father, with somewhat thinner heads, and the two worked well together until the father's death in 1905. André then took over the workshop and remained faithful to his father's somewhat sober style while developing his own personal features. The heads and frogs become narrower, and buttons are more delicate. Despite this further shift away from his Joseph Arthur's model, Vigneron continued to use his father's brand until about 1910. 

After 1910 Vigneron began stamp bows with his own name, and his model progressed through greater stages of refinement, lightness, and precision. Some of his bows after 1920 are stamped with his father's first and less common brand, "Vigneron Paris." On the whole his considerable body of work is of excellent quality and sometimes of great beauty.