Girolamo II Amati, né
Hieronymus Amato (26 February 1649, Cremona — 21 February 1740,
Ibid.) was an Italian luthier and maker of violins and violoncellos who represented the fourth and last generation in the renowned dynasty of Cremonese violin-makers — son of legendary
Nicolo Amati (1596—1684), grandson of
Girolamo Amati (1561—1630), and great-grandson of
[url=/artist/14952707]Andrea Amati[/url] (ca.1505—1577). Fairly little is known about the youngest Amati's actual work as a luthier, with contrasting determinations in the reference literature, ranging from praises of his talent as Nicolo's most underestimated pupil to claims of categorical inferiority of his instruments; alternatively, some scholars suggested Girolamo II was barely engaged in the oeuvre at all, primarily looking after Casa Amati workshop as a general manager.
Name variations: Hieronymus II, Girolamo II, Gerolamo II, Ieronimo, Jerome, Hieronimo, Hieronimus, Hieronymus Amatus
His father got married relatively late, when he was already 49, to a 25-year-old
Lucretia Pagliari (ca.1619/21—1703), and subsequently they had nine children; Hieronymus was third but became the heir and Casa Amati's successor since the firstborn son,
Girolamo Francesco Amati (1646—48), died in early childhood. Hieronymus apprenticed under Nicolo Amati at a very young age, presumably 7 or 8, alongside his father's most gifted and favorite pupil, a future patriarch of the "Guarnerius" dynasty,
Andrea Guarneri (1626—1698), who was already 15. According to many experts, a few other "non-boarding" teenage students took lessons at Casa Amati sometime between 1641 and 1657, including
[url=/artist/6359214]Francesco Ruggeri[/url] (ca.1628—1698),
Giovanni Battista Rogeri (ca.1642—ca.1710), and renowned
Antonio Stradivari (1644—1737). Girolamo Amati likely began assisting at his father's workshop as early as 1660, when he was barely eleven, due to the enormous market demand and the shortage of skilled makers. In 1678, Girolamo II married
Angela Carettoni (16??—June 1685), who passed away only seven years later. In this short marriage, they had three children:
Victoria Aloisia (b. July 1679—??),
Eufrasia Scolastica (b. Nov 1681—??), and the sole male heir,
Nicola Giuseppe Marie Amati (13 May 1684 — bur. 26 July 1687), who didn't make it to adulthood. (Subsequent fates of Amati's daughters are unknown.) Girolamo, evidently, never remarried and stayed a widower for the rest of his life.
In 1684, 35-year-old Girolamo II inherited Casa Amati from the late Nicolo Amati, taking over the renowned workshop. By this time, his hometown market became fiercely, almost "bloodthirsty" competitive, as the hype for Cremonese violins across Europe and even overseas reached its peak (triggered, ironically, by his father's legacy, first and foremost, through countless direct and "in-spirit" Amati disciples and makers who closely followed Nicolò's renowned "Grand Pattern"). Quite possibly, the acclaim and veneration of his family brand was both an advantage and a burden for Girolamo II; on top of competing against
[url=/artist/3610124]Casa Stradivari[/url], his work was condemned for the uttermost scrutiny and comparison against the finest builds of his family and the leading Grand Pattern champions — i.e., is "this Amati" even worth to claim the glorified name. In a certain way, Girolamo's fate is similar to the career of [url=/artist/7215308]Giuseppe
filius Andreæ Guarneri[/url] (1666—ca.1739), [url=/artist/5464318]Andrea[/url]'s second son, who carried on
Casa Guarneri and also experienced major decline around that time, surpassed by Stradivari's triumphant success.
In 1697, Girolamo II left Cremona and relocated to Piacenza, due to unspecified legal troubles. Nothing is known about his activities over the next two decades, but presumably he had already retired from luthiery. Several known instruments dated between 1703 and 1723 had been described in the professional literature as mislabeled and made either by [url=/artist/8983546]G.B. Rogeri[/url] of Brescia or Giuseppe Sneider (fl. ca. 1690–1725) from Pavia. (See George Hart's 1884 "
Violin: Its Famous Makers And Their Imitators," for instance, and C. Stainer's 1890 "
Dictionary of Violin Makers.") Around 1715, Girolamo Amati returned to his hometown, where he died 25 years later at the age of 91.
Labels☞ Continued using
Girolamo Amati's labels:
Hieronimus Amati Cremonensis
Fecit Anno Salutis 16__☛ Handwritten inscription inside the "old Amati violin" (presumably,
Nicolo Amati's), at the base of the neck, discovered in 1806 by [url=/artist/10791223]"brothers" Mantegazza[/url] in Milan:
Revisto e corretto da me Girolamo, figlio di Niccolò Amati, Cremona, 1710("Revised and corrected by me Girolamo, son of Nicolò Amati, Cremona, 1710")
☛ Presumably authentic:
Hieronymus Amati, figlio
di Niccolo Amati Cremona 17__☛ Variations per Cecie Steiner (line breaks unspecified):
→ Hieronimus Amatus, fecit Cremonae, 1670
→ Hieronimus Amatus Cremonensis, fecit anno salutis, 1697
→ Hieronymus Amatus, Cremonen, Nicolai fil., 17—
→ Hieronymus Amatus, Cremonensis, an. 1700
