Nicolo Amati

AMATI, Nicolò Born 1596, died 1684 Cremona Italy. Son, pupil, and successor of Hieronymus Amati, above. Apparently assisting his father from c.1610, his hand is detectable in work bearing the ‘Brothers Amati’ label from 1620 . A precociously gifted craftsman even by the standards of his own family, it is very fortunate that he survived the plague which decimated Cremona in the early 1630s. It took some time for the workshop to recover, but by the 1640s it was in full production. To achieve this Nicolò took in apprentices, the first and most important of whom was Andrea Guarneri. This secured the status of Cremona as the home of violin making by initiating Andrea Guarneri (and in due course his descendants) into the techniques and methods of the Amati, thus increasing the flow of Cremonese work into the rest of Europe. Many other documented apprentices came and went, including Christofori, Gennaro, Pasta, Rogeri, and several German craftsmen. By c.1660 he was also assisted by his son Hieronymus (II), below. Earlier writers liberally associated other eminent makers with the Amati workshop, notably Stradivari, Rugeri, Stainer, and Cappa, but there is no evidence for this in any documentation so far discovered. Nicolò developed the Amati model with higher, more dramatically sculpted, archings and finally changed the flutings of the scroll by extending the central ridge to the throat, keeping the two flutes separate for the full depth of the face of the volute. His most significant innovation was the ‘Grand Amati’ model which took the larger sized pattern used by his father and grandfather, but increased the width overall. This model became the standard for subsequent Cremonese makers and was adopted almost universally elsewhere. Many consider his masterpiece to be the ‘Alard’ violin, now in the collection of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. He also produced violas and cellos of large size, but these are comparatively rare. Nicolaus Amatus Cremonen Hieronymi / fil. ac Antonij Nepos, fecit 1649

Sohn und Schüler des talentvollen Girolamo I und Enkel Andrea’s. Er war seit 1645 mit Lucreria Pagliari (geb. 1619, f 1703) vermählt. Einer seiner Trauzeugen war sein Schüler Guarneri. Von seinen neun Kindern wurde nur Girolamo II ein Geigenbauer. Nicola Amati war der grösste Künstler aus seiner Familie. Bis etwa 1625 arbeitete er ziemlich genau nach dem Modelle seines Vaters, häufiger als Violinen scheint er damals Gamben und Violen gemacht zu haben. Auf der Höhe seiner Kunst stehend, findet er allmählich sein eigenes Modell, das er schliesslich zu dem sog. »Grossen Amati-Modell« ausgestaltete. Es war dies die schönste Frucht seines rastlosen Strebens und sichert seinem Namen in der Geschichte des Geigenbaues einen unvergänglichen Ruhm, auch wenn die Werke seiner grossen Schüler jetzt vorgezogen werden, weil sie den heutigen Anforderungen besser entsprechen. Er war im Vollbesitz dessen, was man jetzt so gerne das »Geheimnis der Cremoneser« bezeichnet. Seine Arbeit verräth den denkenden Künstler, und es ist sicher, dass er seine wissenschaftlichen Kenntnisse, die er zweifellos besessen hat, nicht nur auf empirischem Wege erwarb. Wölbung und Holzstärke sind besser erdacht und feiner berechnet als bei allen seinen Vorgängern. Der Rand ist schräg abgerundet, die F-Löcher kühn im Schwung, die Schnecke meist klein, aber elegant, das Holz prachtvoll gewählt und der Lack elastisch und feurig, von gelbbrauner bis rothgoldiger Farbe. Er war von bestimmendem Einfluss auf die ganze Cremoneser Schule und fast alle Meister ersten Ranges vom Beginne des 18. Jahrhunderts waren direct oder indirect seine Schüler. Er nahm das Gute der Brescianer, sowie aller seiner Vorgänger auf. Die Formen werden bei ihm edler, das Format zierlicher, die äusserliche Verzierung fällt weg, und dafür wird der Wahl des Holzes und des Lackes besondere Aufmerksamkeit zugewendet. So sind seine Geigen vollendete Kunstwerke, der Ton ist zwar mehr lieblich als gross, entsprach aber vollkommen der Forderung seiner Zeit, und deshalb behaupteten seine Geigen den allerersten Platz bis zum Anfang des 19. Jahrhunderts unbestritten. Er baute Violinen, Violen und Violoncelli, es giebt aber auch einige Bässe von ihm, darunter solche, die seinen Namen und Jahreszahlen von 1580 — 1586 tragen. Man hat daher angenommen, dass er einen gleichnamigen Oheim gehabt haben müsse. Wahrscheinlich sind es Arbeiten von ihm mit gefälschter Jahreszahl.

Son of Girolamo Amati, b. Dec. 3, 1596 ; d. April 12, 1684, aged 88, according to the registers of Cremona Cathedral. Is the most celebrated maker of the Amati family. His instruments resemble those of his father till about 1645, then steadily improve. The pattern is graceful, the thicknesses and arching accurately determined, the varnish a deep, rich colour, the tone clear, sweet and powerful.
The “Grand Amati” violins are scarce and are worth £300 to £400; they are made on a large pattern, of beautiful wood, the back of maple, and the belly generally of deal, of which the thickness diminishes from the centre to the sides (this, when exaggerated, makes the second string nasal in tone); the arching drops somewhat suddenly from the bridge to the edges, with a slight groove where the purfling comes, this is said to give the noted sweetness of tone; the sound-holes are beautifully cut, the varnish is of fine quality and varies from amber to red colour. An instrument with double purfling is a remarkable piece of work.
He made numbers of tenors and violoncellos, several ” three-quarter ” violins, and perhaps three or four double-basses. Many of the small violins still exist, one dated 1668 shows some of his finest work, and the tone is wonderfully sweet and clear.
“Nicolaus Amatus Cremonensis faciebat, anno 1650” (in a large bass-viol);
Violins are known dated 1647, 1655, 1661, and 1662, and two violoncellos dated 1669 and 1670 respectively. Among Nicola’s celebrated pupils were the Guarneri, the Ruggeri of Cremona, Montagnana of Venice, the Rogeri and Tononi of Bologna, and, greatest of all, Antonio Stradivari. He married May 23, 1645, Lucrezia Pagliari (d. Nov. 25, 1703) ; Andrea Guarneri, his pupil, was present at the ceremony and signed the register. Of nine children, only one, Girolamo, became a violin maker.