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Scan 51
Old Violins And Their Makers, 1883
8 lines. Read by computer on 30 September 2026. Printed page 37. See the scan on archive.org.
1into the market it is very soon known in circles interesting themselves in such matters, and generally has not long to wait for a purchaser if its price be a moderately fair one. This last item, of course, depends entirely on its condition. The one to which I refer above was in perfect preservation, but a violin by the best maker that ever lived may be so destroyed by neglect or violence, patching, lining and spoiling generally, as to be scarcely worth carrying away, so to speak, except as a curiosity. An authentic ticket of Nicolas Amati runs as follows: "Nicolaus Amatus Cremonen. Hieronymi Fil. ac Antonij Nepos Fecit. 1677" (see Fig. 3). A number of violins by Nicolas Amati were exhibited at South Kensington in 1872.
3Hieronymus, son of Nicolas, was born on the 26th of February, 1649. He is the last of the name in Cremona. He is stated to have somewhat enlarged the pattern of his father, but made few instruments. Those which he did make were reckoned so inferior as not to call for any special mention—this means inferior to those of the others of his family. One of the last of his violins bore date 1672. Nothing more is known of him. Even the date of his death is not transcribed. The only other son Nicolas had—Giovanni Batista—was born in 1657, became a priest, and died in 1706.
5A Joseph Amati (supposed to be related to the Amatis of Cremona) is said to have made violins in Bologna in the beginning of the seventeenth century, and instruments of his are also stated to be in existence, but no further information is obtainable regarding him.
7The Amatis are reported to have descended from one of the most ancient and noble families of Cremona, and
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