Girolamo Amati - 1609

This is one of Girolamo Amati's violins from 1609. It's an early violin, considering that the modern violin was developed (or took form) around 1520 - five hundred years ago. This one is by the first Girolamo (there are two, although the second one is sometimes referred to as Geronimo). He was the son of Andrea Amati. Girolamo (1551-1635) had two sons - Antonio and Nicolo. Nicolo (1596-1684) was the father of Geronimo (the second Girolamo - 1649-1740), who was the last in line of the Amati violin makers. If you click on the photo, it will probably give you an enlarged version so that you can see all the tiny scratches. This violin is probably worth more than $1,000,000, although I am just guessing.

Amati 1574

Andrea Amati is said to be the founder of what is called the Cremona school of violin making. He was born around 1520 and died in 1578, perhaps earlier and maybe later – only God knows. His earliest known violins date from about 1564. Amati is unfairly credited with the basic design of the modern violin since Gaspar Da Salo lived around the same time and built them the same way. Andreas’ sons were Antonio and Geronimus. Nicolo Amati (Andrea’s grandson) was Geronimus’ son and Girolamo was Nicolo’s son. It is said that Andrea Guarneri (1698-1744) and Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) studied with either Girolamo (1649-1740) or Nicolo Amati. There is no evidence to prove such a claim though. They had to apprentice with someone - you don't learn to do this stuff by yourself - we just don't know who. The Amati shown here is from 1574. If you want to see it in a slightly larger size, just click on it.