Andrea Guarneri - Biography

Biography

Thought to be born in 1626 to Bartolomo Guarneri in the parish of Cremona, Italy, very little is known about Andrea Guarneri's family of origin. There are records of a wood-carver by the name of Giovanni Battista Guerine, which may have been an alternative spelling of Guarneri, living near the residence of Nicolò Amati in Cremona in 1632, and he may be supposed to be a relative. By 1641 the young Andrea was living with Nicolò Amati and being instructed in the art of violin making, probably working along side Francesco Ruggieri and Antonio Stradivari who were also an apprentices at the same time. In 1652, while still living in the Amati household, Andrea married Anna Maria Orcelli, daughter of Orazio Orcelli. The young Guarneri family finally left the Amati's household in 1654, and Andrea probably removing himself from Amati's workshop and patronage at that time. They moved to the house of Guarneri's father-in-law, the Casa Orcelli, which eventually became the Casa Guarneri. Anna Maria soon bore a daughter, Angela Teresa, followed just over a year later by a son, Pietro Giovanni, who was eventually to carry on his father's violin making. In 1655 we have the first proof that Andrea had definitively left Amati's workshop, in the form of a label in a violin dated 1655, which says "ex Allumnis Nicolai Amati". In all previous labels "Alumnus" was written, spelled correctly and without the prefix "ex". However, it is thought that even quite some time after both Andrea Guarneri and Francesco Ruggieri left Amati's workshop they occasionally made entire instruments for their former master, which bear the Amati label.

By the mid-1660's Andrea and Anna Maria had had two more sons, Eusebio Amati, born in 1658, and Giovanni Battista in 1666. Despite their third son Eusebio's namesake, and probably his god-parent, he was the only son not to follow in his father's footsteps to the violin making trade. No further information on Eusebio is available. By evidence in the workmanship of his violins, it is thought that by 1670 or 1675 at least his eldest son Pietro Giovanni (later known as Pietro of Mantua), was making his presence known in the Guarneri workshop. Some of the instruments become lighter, and show a Stradivarian influence. Eventually entire instruments appear to be made by Pietro Giovanni's hand, though they contain the original Andrea Guarneri label. But the cooperation between father and son was short-lived. In 1679, at the age of 24 Pietro's name appears for the last time in the census at his father's house. He soon moved to Mantua and became successful in his own right.

However, soon enough Andrea's youngest son joined his father at the workbench. Giuseppe Giovanni Battista is commonly known in the violin trade as Joseph Guarnerius, filius Andreæ. Probably between the first and third sons were other apprentices and assistants whose identities are lost, though their work is sometimes clearly distinguishable. Andrea himself clearly sought to distinguish between the work of him and his family from that of other workers in his workshop by inserting labels saying Sotto la disciplina (Under the discipline of...). Andrea Guarneri was the first master to make this distinction; the Amatis never did this, though later Stradivari adopted this idea. Some known assistants who were registered in the Guarneri household and later became known luthiers include Giacomo Gennaro (1641-1646) and Paolo Grancino.

The exact date of the beginning Giuseppe's apprenticeship is unknown, but evidence of his work begin to be recognizable in 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. Instruments coming out of the Guarneri workshop also continue to show the inspiration of Andrea's eldest son, though he was living in Mantua. Probably the younger looked up to the elder and eagerly copied some of his ideas especially in the form of the outline and cut of the f-holes.

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. Occasionally, however, specific patronage afforded him the opportunity to rise to a higher level, of which he was quite clearly capable. The surviving examples of the workshop only total about 250 instruments with only four violas and fourteen violincelli.

In his will Andrea Guarneri recorded for posterity the bitterness he felt toward his elder son Pietro for having left the family and moving to Mantua, and for his ingratitude to them even before that. For this he is punished by receiving a reduced inheritance and is called to account for various articles he had taken with him from the family home and workshop. He died on 7 December 1698 in Cremona and was buried in the family crypt of his mother in Basilica di San Domenico.