Antonio Amati and Girolamo Amati
Antonio Amati and Girolamo Amati
Antonio Amati (b Cremona, c1540; d Cremona, 4 Feb 1607) and his half-brother Girolamo [Hieronymus] Amati (b Cremona, c1561; d Cremona, 21 Oct 1630). They are commonly known as ‘the brothers Amati’. Although heirs to their father’s business, they apparently worked little together, and in 1588 the business was divided, with Girolamo retaining the family workshop and tools. Nevertheless, in all but a very few instances the productions of both the Amati workshop still carried the printed label of their partnership until 1630.
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NMM 3664. Violin, 7/8-size, by Girolamo Amati, Cremona, 1609. Ex colls.: Pietro Verri, Milan; Melzi family; Bisiach, Milan. Witten-Rawlins Collection, 1984.
They further developed the craft of violin making, improving the form of the soundhole and in subtle ways giving their instruments more strength. They experimented with different forms of outline and arching as well as with the visual aspect of the edge and purfling, but always retained that special quality of sound and an elegance that delights the eye. One innovation attributed to them, though this was possibly a Brescian creation and is also sometimes ascribed to Maggini, was the contralto viola, the size regarded as more or less ideal today. The much larger tenor viola was more common at the time, and the Amatis also made many of these. They also built large-size cellos; both these and the tenor violas have mostly been reduced for modern playing.
The instruments of the brothers Amati were spread throughout Italy and the Continent, and their influence upon other schools of violin making is incalculable. The superior appearance and construction of their instruments made them the model for all violin makers and thus Cremonese violins became the standard by which all are judged, even today. They were soon copied, even counterfeited, and long after the brothers' passing their designs inspired violin makers in Turin, Venice, Bologna, Milan, Florence, Padua, the Tyrol and the Netherlands. In England they were much in vogue at the end of the 18th century, the time of Forster and Banks. Since that time, however, the work of Nicolò, and especially his ‘Grand Pattern’, has generally been more appreciated by violin makers, and the brothers are sometimes underrated by comparison.
