Jean-Baptiste Vuillaume was born in Mirecourt in 1798, where he received his first training as a violin maker, and then moved to Paris in 1818. The major influences on his work were François Chanot, of whom he became an assistant, and Nicolas Lupot. Vuillaume soon established himself as a great copyist of the Italian classical instruments, primarily Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù; this activity led him to considerable and rapid success, which soon allowed him to hire a large number of assistants (among others Honoré Derazey and Pierre Silvestre). His bow making was equally successful, and over the years led him to employ great bow-makers such as the Peccatte brothers, Jean Pierre Marie Persoit, François Nicolas Voirin and others. Vuillaume's talent was also fruitful in various other fields, for instance in the invention of metal bows and with a simplified rehearing system, and of a gigantic instrument called "Octobass".
His activities as a restorer and particularly as a dealer were also noteworthy, and led him to manage the main European atelier of his period; the quality of the ancient instruments he traded, which was already outstanding, reached its peak in 1855 after Vuillaume took over the entire collection assembled by Luigi Tarisio.
