Amati (lived 16th-17th centuries)

Italian family of violinmakers working in Cremona. Nicolò Amati (1596-1684) taught Andrea Guarneri and Antonio Stradivari. Nicolò's grandfather Andrea Amati (c. 1511-c. 1580) brought the violin to its classic form.

Andrea Amati's earliest known violins were made with only three strings and it may have been he who first fitted the fourth string. He is known to have made small and large (the ‘grand’ model) violins and violas and to have made cellos, a set of which were commissioned by Charles IX of France after 1560 and some of which survive. The sound of his instruments is mellow and beautiful but less powerful than those of his successors of the Cremonese school, perhaps due to the highly arched belly which was a characteristic of his violins and violas.

Andrea was succeeded by two sons, Antonio (1550-1638) and Girolamo (Hieronymus) (1561-1630), who continued in the same tradition as their father, often signing their instruments jointly as ‘the brothers Amati, sons of Andrea’. Nicolò Amati, the son of Girolamo, is the most illustrious member of the family. His violins produced a great intensity and richness of sound, which he achieved by using thicker wood and reducing the elevation of the belly. By this time Cremona violins had won the reputation, which they still hold today, of being the best in the world. The fame of Nicolò and of his pupils, Guarneri and Stradivari, has somewhat eclipsed the renown of Andrea and his sons, but they are remembered for their pioneer work in the introduction of a new craft into Italy.