(b ?Cremona, 1683; dthere, 1747). Italian violin maker. He was one of the greatest Cremonese makers, overshadowed only by his contemporaries Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri ‘del Gesù’. Perhaps working alone from 1720, he built his finest instruments between 1730 and 1740. They have beautifully symmetrical scrolls and are made from unusually handsome wood; richly varnished, they are almost unsurpassed visually and tonally. His son Michel Angelo (c 1722-after 1758) was a fine maker though he lost or abandoned his father's great varnish.
