Andrea Guarneri is the most important student of Nicola Amati and grandfather of one of the best luthiers, Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri, del Gesu.
11 Facts About Andrea Guarneri
1.
2.
In 1652, while still living in the Amati household, Andrea Guarneri married Anna Maria Orcelli, daughter of Orazio Orcelli.
3.
The young Guarneri family finally left the Amati household in 1654, with Andrea probably removing himself from Amati's workshop and patronage at that time.
4.
In 1655 we have the first proof that Andrea Guarneri had definitively left Amati's workshop, in the form of a label in a violin dated 1655, which says "ex Allumnis Nicolai Amati".
5.
Andrea Guarneri soon moved to Mantua and became successful in his own right.
6.
Andrea Guarneri was the first master to make this distinction; the Amatis never did this, though later Stradivari adopted this idea.
7.
The exact date of the beginning Giuseppe's apprenticeship is unknown, but evidence of his work begin to be recognizable in Andrea Guarneri instruments beginning in 1680, and his influence continued to increase towards the end of his father's career, surpassing that of his father by 1685.
8.
Instruments coming out of the Guarneri workshop continue to show the inspiration of Andrea's eldest son, though he was living in Mantua.
9.
The workshop of Andrea Guarneri was one of those who profited from the demand for less expensive instruments that still had the prestigious "Cremonese" designation.
10.
Andrea Guarneri's arching tends toward fullness, and the mitres of his purfling often turning rather abruptly at the corners.
11.
Andrea Guarneri left the back plate quite thick in the centre, thinning it towards the edges, and the table of consistent thickness, though there seems to be no desire to obtain perfect accuracy in the thickening.