Images from The Rawlins Gallery

Note: Click on any major structural area of the instrument to see a close-up of that area.

NMM 3366. Violin by Andrea Amati, Cremona, ca. 1560. Witten-Rawlins Collection, 1984.

This rare violin, with its long, hooked corners, is one of only fourteen instruments made by Andrea Amati (ca. 1505-1577) known to survive. Unlike the Museum's smaller Amati violin, made in 1574, this instrument is decorated with gilt paintings of fleurs-de-lis and trefoils on its back, as well as a Latin motto painted in gilt around its ribs. Some scholars believe that this motto links this violin, as well as the NMM's viola by Andrea Amati, to the court of King Phillip II of Spain.

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Soundholes

Note: Click on image above to see a larger image of the soundholes.

This violin was one of seven instruments by Andrea Amati, including the Museum's King violoncello and viola, featured in an exhibition mounted for the Ente Triennale Internazionale degli Strumenti ad Arco at the Palazzo Comunale di Cremona, October 9-18, 1982.   See: Andrea Mosconi and Laurence C. Witten, Capolavori di Andrea Amati (Cremona: Ente Triennale Internazionale degli Strumenti ad Arco, 1984), pp. 41-46 and 67.

The scroll's volute was cut off and grafted onto a new pegbox and neck at some point, when the instrument was modernized.

Note: Click on any painted area of the back to see a close-up of that area.

The gilt painting around the edges of the back of this violin features fleurs-de-lis and trefoils.

Note: Click on pegbox or the text painted on the bass ribs to see close-ups of those areas.

The letters on the bass side spell the words QVO VNICO PROPVGNACVLO ("By means of this bulwark (or fortification or battlement) . . . " [text continues on treble ribs below]).

Note: Click on pegbox or the text painted on the treble ribs to see close-ups of those areas.

The letters on the treble side spell the words STAT STABITQ[VE] RELI[GIO], continuing the Latin motto that began on the bass ribs (see above), ". . . religion stands and will stand." This same Latin motto is found on the Museum's Andrea Amati viola, as well as on another Andrea Amati violin at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City.

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Consult the Luthier's Library for detailed measurements and photos

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Related Links

Individual Instruments

NMM 3351. Violoncello, The King, by Andrea Amati, Cremona, after 1538

NMM 3370. Viola by Andrea Amati, Cremona, ca. 1560

NMM 5260. Violin by Andrea Amati, Cremona, 1574

Comparative Views

Comparison of the Front and Back Views of Four Andrea Amati instruments

Comparison of the Treble and Bass Sides of Four Andrea Amati instruments

Comparison of the Soundholes of Four Andrea Amati instruments

Comparison of the Pegbox/Scroll Views of Four Andrea Amati instruments

Checklists

Checklist of Bowed Stringed Instruments by Andrea Amati, Cremona

Checklist of Bowed Stringed Instruments Made Before 1800

Checklist of 16th- and 17th-Century Instruments

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