Niccolò Amati
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Niccolò Amati (1596 - April 12, 1684) was an Italian luthiers from Cremona, a member of the Amati family.
The founder of the Cremona school was Andrea Amati (c.1520–c.1578), whose earliest violins date from c. 1564. His labels bore the name Amadus, and he is credited with the basic design of the modern violin. His sons were Antonio Amati and Girolamo or Geronimo Amati, who worked together and followed closely their father’s patterns in making violins of graceful shape and sweet tone. The Amati instruments were characterized by mathematically derived outlines and transparent amber-colored varnish. Niccolò Amati (1596–1684), son of Girolamo, brought the Amati violin to its height after c.1645. Andrea Guarneri, grandfather of Giuseppe "del Gesu" Guarneri was a pupil of Niccolò. Also at least one Antonio Stradivari label, dated 1666, reads, “Alumnus Nicolais Amati” - student of Nicolo Amati. Other documented pupils of Nicolo include Jacob Railich, Bartolomeo Pasta, Batrolomeo Cristofori, Giacomo Genarro, and Giovanni Battista Rogeri. Niccolò’s son, Girolamo (1649–1740), was the last of his line to achieve distinction. The Latin forms of the first names, Andreas, Antonius, Hieronymus, and Nicolaus, were generally used on the violin labels, and the family name was sometimes Latinized as Amatus.
