Amati (, ) is the last name of a family of Italian violin makers who lived at

Cremona Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of th ...

from about 1538 to 1740. Their importance is considered equal to those of the

Bergonzi Bergonzi is an Italian surname. It is the surname of the following: * Bernard Bergonzi (b. 1929), British literary scholar, critic and poet * Carlo Bergonzi (tenor) (1924-2014), Italian singer * Carlo Bergonzi (luthier) (1683-1747), Italian violin ...

, 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 museum or private collections and are seldom played in public.

Family members

Andrea Amati

Andrea Amati (December 20, 1577) designed and created the violin, viola and cello known as the "violin family". Based in

Cremona, Italy Cremona (, also ; ; lmo, label= Cremunés, Cremùna; egl, Carmona) is a city and ''comune'' in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po river in the middle of the ''Pianura Padana'' ( Po Valley). It is the capital of t ...

, he standardized the basic form, shape, size, materials and method of construction. Makers from nearby

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and ''comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo. ...

experimented, such as Gasparo da Salò, Micheli, Zanetto and Pellegrino, but it 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 Lorenzo di Piero de' Medici (; 1 January 1449 – 8 April 1492) was an Italian statesman, banker, ''de facto'' ruler of the Florentine Republic and the most powerful and enthusiastic patron of Renaissance culture in Italy. Also known as Lorenzo ...

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, a set for an entire orchestra of 38 ordered by

Catherine de Médicis Catherine de' Medici ( it, Caterina de' Medici, ; french: Catherine de Médicis, ; 13 April 1519 – 5 January 1589) was an Florentine noblewoman born into the Medici family. She was Queen of France from 1547 to 1559 by marriage to King H ...

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 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.

Antonio and Girolamo Amati

Andrea Amati was succeeded by his sons

Antonio Amati Antonio Amati ( – 1607) was an Italian luthier, active from 1560 to 1605. Biography Born in Cremona, Andrea Amati's son and Girolamo Amati's brother, Antonio worked first with his father, then with his brother, in the same workshop. With th ...

(–1607) and

Girolamo Amati Girolamo Amati (1561–1630) was an Italian luthier, active from 1580 to 1630. Biography Born in Cremona, Girolamo was the youngest son of Andrea Amati and brother of Antonio Amati. Girolamo worked, probably from 1575, with his brother, in ...

(–1630). "The Brothers Amati", as they were known, implemented far-reaching innovations in design, including the perfection of the shape of the

f-holes A sound hole is an opening in the body of a stringed musical instrument, usually the upper sound board. Sound holes have different shapes: * round in flat-top guitars and traditional bowl-back mandolins; * F-holes in instruments from the v ...

. They are also thought to have pioneered the modern alto format of

viola The viola ( , also , ) is a string instrument that is bow (music), bowed, plucked, or played with varying techniques. Slightly larger than a violin, it has a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of ...

, in contrast to older tenor violas, but the widespread belief that they were the first ones to do so

Nicolo Amati

Nicolò Amati (December 3, 1596April 12, 1684) was the son of Girolamo Amati. He was the most eminent 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 Andrea Guarneri (1626; 1698, in Cremona) was an Italian luthier, musician and founder of the Casa Guarneri. He is the most important student of Nicola Amati and grandfather of one of the best luthiers, Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri, del Gesù. Bi ...

, 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.

Girolamo Amati (Hieronymus II)

The last maker of the family was Nicolò's son,

, known as Hieronymus II (February 26, 1649February 21, 1740). He improved the arching of his father's instruments.

Extant Amati instruments

Amati instruments include some of the oldest extant examples of the violin family, dating to as far back as the mid-16th century. , they are only occasionally played in public.

United Kingdom

Instruments in the UK include Andrea Amati violins from the set delivered to Charles IX of France in 1564. * Amati instruments at the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

, Oxfor

* Andrea Amati *
Violin, 1564 (ex–French royal collection)
** Viola * Amati instruments at the

Royal Academy of Music Museum The Royal Academy of Music Museum (previously known as the York Gate Collections) is a museum of musical instruments and artefacts and research centre of the Royal Academy of Music in London. The building The building was designed in 1822 as par ...

, London * Amati instrument at the Tullie House Museum and Art Gallery,

Carlisle Carlisle ( , ; from xcb, Caer Luel) is a city that lies within the Northern England, Northern English county of Cumbria, south of the Anglo-Scottish border, Scottish border at the confluence of the rivers River Eden, Cumbria, Eden, River C ...

* Andrea Amati *
Violin, 1564 (ex French royal collection)

United States

*Amati instruments at the

Metropolitan Museum of Art The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...

(New York) **Andrea Amati: **
Violin,
** Nicolò Amati: **

* Amati instruments at the

National Music Museum The National Music Museum: America's Shrine to Music & Center for Study of the History of Musical Instruments (NMM) is a musical instrument museum in Vermillion, South Dakota, United States. It was founded in 1973 on the campus of the University ...

(University of South Dakota)