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28-474: Amati ( / ə ˈ m ɑː t i / , Italian: [aˈmaːti] ) is the last name of a family of Italian violin makers who lived at Cremona from about 1538 to 1740. Their importance is considered equal to those of the Bergonzi , Guarneri , and Stradivari families. Today, violins created by Nicolò Amati are valued at around $ 600,000. Because of their age and rarity, Amati instruments are mostly kept in

56-783: A few years after the master's death. David Tecchler , who was born in Austria, later worked in both Venice and Rome . Luthiers from the early 18th century include Nicolò Gagliano of Naples , Italy, Carlo Ferdinando Landolfi of Milan, and Giovanni Battista Guadagnini , who roamed throughout Italy during his lifetime. From Austria originally, Leopold Widhalm later established himself in Nürnberg , Germany. The Jérôme-Thibouville-Lamy firm started making wind instruments around 1730 at La Couture-Boussey , then moved to Mirecourt around 1760 and started making violins, guitars, mandolins, and musical accessories. The early 19th-century luthiers of

84-644: A guitar maker in Vienna, Austria and Martin & Co. was born, with the X bracing being developed in the 1850s. Martin & Co still produce acoustic guitars. Paul Bigsby 's innovation of the tremolo arm for archtop and electric guitars is still in use and may have influenced Leo Fender 's design for the Stratocaster solid-body electric guitar, as well as the Jaguar and Jazzmaster . Concurrent with Fender's work, guitarist Les Paul independently developed

112-641: A member of the Amati school. The head by another maker. The back is from one piece of slab cut maple with faint irregular flames. The sides are from slab cut maple similar to the back. The scroll is from quarter cut maple with faint narrow flames. The top is from two pieces of spruce with medium and narrow grain. The dimensions are somewhat reduced. The varnish has a golden brown color. Labelled "ANDREAS AMATIUS CREMONA 1567". Christie's Featured in Riley 1980 . Andrea Amati ca 1570 Two-piece back. The painted decoration

140-488: A museum or private collections and are seldom played in public. Andrea Amati ( c.  1505  – 20 December 1577) designed and created the violin, viola and cello known as the "violin family". Based in Cremona, Italy , he standardized the basic form, shape, size, materials and method of construction. Makers from nearby Brescia experimented, such as Gasparo da Salò, Micheli, Zanetto and Pellegrino, but it

168-494: A set for an entire orchestra of 38 ordered by Catherine de Médicis the regent queen of France and bore hand painted royal French decorations in gold including the motto and coat of arms of her son Charles IX of France . Of these 38 instruments ordered, Amati created violins of two sizes, violas of two sizes and large-sized cellos. They were in use until the French revolution of 1789 and only 14 of these instruments survived. His work

196-739: A solid-body electric guitar. These were the first fretted, solid-body electric guitars—though they were preceded by the cast aluminum " frying pan ", a solid-body electric lap steel guitar developed and eventually patented by George Beauchamp , and built by Adolph Rickenbacher . A company founded by luthier Friedrich Gretsch and continued by his son and grandson, Fred and Fred, Jr., originally made banjos, but now mainly produce electric guitars. Bowed instruments include: cello , crwth , double bass , erhu , fiddle , hudok , morin khuur , nyckelharpa , hurdy-gurdy , rabab , rebec , sarangi , viol ( viola da gamba ), viola , viola da braccio , viola d'amore , and violin . The purported inventor of

224-538: Is credited with creating the archtop guitar . The 20th-century American luthiers John D'Angelico and Jimmy D'Aquisto made archtop guitars. Lloyd Loar worked briefly for the Gibson Guitar Corporation making mandolins and guitars. His designs for a family of arch top instruments (mandolin, mandola, guitar, et cetera) are held in high esteem by today's luthiers, who seek to reproduce their sound. C. F. Martin apprenticed to Johann Georg Stauffer,

252-423: Is marked by selection of the finest materials, great elegance in execution, soft clear amber, soft translucent varnish, and an in depth use of acoustic and geometrical principles in design. Andrea Amati was succeeded by his sons Antonio Amati ( c.  1537 –1607) and Girolamo Amati ( c.  1551 –1630). "The Brothers Amati", as they were known, implemented far-reaching innovations in design, including

280-536: Is the coat of arms of the Spanish crown. Top with two small wings in the lower bouts. Scroll not original. Labeled "Niccolaus & Antonius Fratres Amati, Cremonem Fes...1649." Tarisio Antonio & Girolamo Amati ca 1580–90 This instrument was cut down in size around 1800 from an original length of about 47 cm. The ribs are painted with the inscription: "Non AEtesin Homine sed Virtus Consideramus". Although

308-599: The Tieffenbrucker family, Martin Hoffmann and Matteo Sellas . Two luthiers of the early 19th century connected with the development of the modern classical guitar are Louis Panormo and Georg Staufer . Antonio Torres Jurado is credited with developing the form of classical guitar still in use. C.F. Martin of Germany developed a form that evolved into the modern steel-string acoustic guitar. The American luthier Orville Gibson specialized in mandolins, and

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336-412: The violin family (including violas , cellos , and double basses ) and guitars . Luthiers, however, do not make harps or pianos; these require different skills and construction methods because their strings are secured to a frame. The craft of luthiers, lutherie (rarely called "luthiery", but this often refers to stringed instruments other than those in the violin family), is commonly divided into

364-517: The Medici family, known as the 'Viola Medicea' or the 'Viola del Crocifisso' after the crucifix decoration on its back. The Strad Antonio & Girolamo Amati ca 1615 Violin makers The word luthier is originally French and comes from luth , the French word for " lute ". The term was originally used for makers of lutes, but it came to be used in French for makers of most bowed and plucked stringed instruments such as members of

392-458: The arching of his father's instruments. Amati instruments include some of the oldest extant examples of the violin family, dating to as far back as the mid-16th century. For reasons of conservation , they are only occasionally played in public. Instruments in the UK include Andrea Amati violins from the set delivered to Charles IX of France in 1564. Andrea Amati ca 1536 Originally a tenor viola,

420-989: The back, clearly reveals that this instrument was reduced in both length and width from its original, large tenor dimensions. Fine Strings National Music Museum, The University of South Dakota National Music Museum, The University of South Dakota Tarisio Andrea Amati ca 1564 Large tenor viola with Charles IX decoration. Two-piece back of small-figured maple, bearing the royal insignia and motto. Top of pine of varying grain. Original scroll. Golden-brown varnish. Label not original: "Andrea Amadi in Cremona M. D. L. xxiiij." (1574). Tarisio Tarisio Andrea Amati ca 1564 Ashmolean Museum Oxford Andrea Amati ca 1568 Two-piece back with an ebony inlay of "Chinese-knot" design. Scroll not original. Label not original, dated 1568. Strings Magazine Tarisio Antonio & Girolamo Amati ca 1620 Northern Italian viola attributed to Andrea Amati. Made, in our opinion, circa 1620 by

448-476: The first of the Guarneri family of violin makers. (There is much controversy regarding the apprenticeship of Antonio Stradivari. While the label on Stradivari's first known violin states that he was a pupil of Amati, the validity of his statement is questioned. The last maker of the family was Nicolò's son, Girolamo Amati , known as Hieronymus II (26 February 1649 – 21 February 1740). He improved

476-488: The front is of pine of slightly wavy grain of medium width. The back is one-piece of maple, slab-cut, slightly flamed but with evident circular decorations. The little scroll is later, but it matches the instrument. The varnish is golden brown. Archivio della Liuteria Cremonese Tarisio Andrea Amati ca 1560 This rare viola is one of the best preserved of Andrea Amati's decorated instruments. It features gilt paintings of fleurs-de-lis and trefoils on its back, surrounding

504-802: The instrument comes with a certificate from Simone F. Sacconi attributing it to the Brothers Amati circa 1620, both Charles Beare and Jacques Francais believe it to be a work of Andrea Amati, possibly completed by the Brothers Amati, in which case its date would be closer to 1580. Tarisio Featured in Riley 1980 . Girolamo Amati ca 1590 One-piece back, covered with a painting of the armorial bearings of Henry IV supported on each side by an angel. Top of spruce with an open and well-defined grain. Scroll: of faint narrow curl. Ribs of wood similar to back, inscribed in gilt letters "Dvo Proteci Tvnvs". Red-brown varnish. Tarisio Featured in Riley 1980 . Antonio & Girolamo Amati, ca 1594 Commissioned for

532-455: The instrument reading "A&H". Antonio died having no known offspring, but Hieronymus became a father. His son Nicolò (1596–1684) was himself a master luthier who had several apprentices of note, including Antonio Stradivari (probably), Andrea Guarneri , Bartolomeo Pasta, Jacob Railich, Giovanni Battista Rogeri, Matthias Klotz , and possibly Jacob Stainer and Francesco Rugeri . It is even possible Bartolomeo Cristofori , later inventor of

560-581: The mid-17th century include Giovanni Grancino , Vincenzo Rugeri , Carlo Giuseppe Testore , and his sons Carlo Antonio Testore and Paolo Antonio Testore , all from Milan . From Venice the luthiers Matteo Goffriller , Domenico Montagnana , Sanctus Seraphin , and Carlo Annibale Tononi were principals in the Venetian school of violin making (although the latter began his career in Bologna ). Carlo Bergonzi (luthier) purchased Antonio Stradivari's shop

588-463: The monogram identified by Italian scholar Renato Meucci to be that of Marguerite de Valois-Angoulême. The Latin motto painted in gilt around the monogram, as well as around the ribs, is identical to that found on the Museum's Amati violin made at about the same time and may relate to the court of King Philip II of Spain. The loss of some of the mottoes' text, as well as other decorative elements painted on

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616-414: The perfection of the shape of the f-holes . They are also thought to have pioneered the modern alto format of viola , in contrast to older tenor violas, but the widespread belief that they were the first ones to do so is incorrect given that Gasparo da Salo (1542–1609) made violas ranging from altos of 39 cm to tenors of 44.7 cm. Nicolò Amati (3 December 1596 – 12 April 1684)

644-419: The piano, apprenticed under him (although census data does not support this, which paints this as a possible myth). Gasparo Duiffopruggar of Füssen , Germany, was once incorrectly credited as the inventor of the violin. He was likely a maker, but no documentation survives, and no instruments survive that experts unequivocally know are his. Gasparo da Salò of Brescia (Italy) was another early luthier of

672-447: The two main categories of makers of stringed instruments that are plucked or strummed and makers of stringed instruments that are bowed . Since bowed instruments require a bow, the second category includes a subtype known as a bow maker or archetier. Luthiers may also teach string-instrument making, either through apprenticeship or formal classroom instruction. Early producers of lutes , archlutes , theorbos and vihuelas include

700-659: The violin family. About 80 of his instruments survive, and around 100 documents that relate to his work. He was also a double bass player and son and nephew of two violin players: Francesco and Agosti, respectively. Da Salò made many instruments and exported to France and Spain, and probably to England. He had at least five apprentices: his son Francesco, a helper named Battista, Alexander of Marsiglia, Giacomo Lafranchini and Giovanni Paolo Maggini . Maggini inherited da Salò's business in Brescia. Valentino Siani worked with Maggini. In 1620, Maggini moved to Florence. Luthiers born in

728-486: The violin is Andrea Amati . Amati was originally a lute maker, but turned to the new instrument form of violin in the mid-16th century. He was the progenitor of the Amati family of luthiers active in Cremona, Italy until the 18th century. Andrea Amati had two sons. His eldest was Antonio Amati ( circa 1537–1607), and the younger, Girolamo Amati ( circa 1561–1630). Girolamo is better known as Hieronymus, and together with his brother, produced many violins with labels inside

756-414: Was Andrea Amati who gave the modern violin family their definitive profile. A claim that Andrea Amati received the first order for a violin from Lorenzo de' Medici in 1555 is invalid as Lorenzo de' Medici died in 1492. A number of Andrea Amati's instruments survived for some time, dating between 1538 (Amati made the first Cello called "The King" in 1538) and 1574. The largest number of these are from 1560,

784-498: Was the son of Girolamo Amati. Often considered the most eminent violin maker of the family, he improved the model adopted by the rest of the Amatis and produced instruments capable of yielding greater power of tone . His pattern was unusually small, but he also made a wider model now known as the "Grand Amati", which have become his most sought-after violins. Of his pupils, the most famous were Antonio Stradivari and Andrea Guarneri ,

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