Scan 141
The violin: its famous makers and their imitators, 1884
4 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 87. See the scan on archive.org.
1ITALIAN MAKERS.
3In some instances the instruments of this maker do not resemble those of Niccolò Amati, or indeed those of the Amati family. The sound-holes are straight, and the space between them is somewhat narrow. In others there is merit of a high order—the pattern is large, broad between the sound-holes, and very flat in model, and resembling the form of Stradivari rather than that of Amati. These differences are accounted for by the fact made known by Lancetti, that the tools and patterns of Niccolò Amati passed into the possession of Stradivari, and are therefore included with those now in the keeping of Count Cozio's descendant the Marquis Dalla Valle. The varnish of Girolamo Amati shows signs of decadence; in some instances, however, we find it soft and transparent. The few which have this quality of varnish I am inclined to think were made in the time of Niccolò, since the instruments of a later date have a coating of varnish of an inferior kind. This maker—as with the Bergonzis—seems, therefore, to have been either ignorant of his parent's mode of making superior varnish, or was unable to obtain the same kind or quality of ingredients. With Girolamo closes the history of the family of the Amatis as Violin-makers. Girolamo had a son, Niccolò Giuseppe, born in 1684, who removed with his father to another parish in 1736, as mentioned above, but he was not a maker of Violins.
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