STRADIVARI, ANTONIO (1644-1737), Italian violin maker, was associated throughout his life with Cremona, where he brought the craft of violin-making to its highest pitch of perfec tion. The obscure details of his life have been thoroughly worked out in the monograph on him by W. H. Hill, A. F. Hill and Alfred Hill (1902). He was still a pupil of Nicolas Amati in 1666, when he had begun to insert his own label on violins of his making, which at fret follow the smaller Amati model, solidly constructed, with a thick yellow varnish. It was not till 1684, that he began to produce larger models, using a deeper coloured varnish, and beautifying them in various details, his "long" patterns (from 1690) representin: a complete innovation in the proportions of the instrument ; whil'.! from 1700, after for a few years returning to an earlier style, he again broadened and otherwise improved his model. He also made some beautiful violoncellos and violas. The most famous instruments by him are :-Violins: the "Hellier" (1679), the "Selliere" (before 168o), the "Tuscan" (169o), the "Betts" (1704), the "Ernst" (1709), "La Pucelle" (1709), the "Viotti" (1709), the "Vieuxtemps" (I 710), the "Parke" (1711), the "Boissier" (1713), the "Dolphin" (1714), the "Gillot" (1715), the "Alard," the finest of all (1715), the "Cessot" (1716), the "Messiah" (1716), the "Sasserno" (1717), the "Maurin" (1718), the "Lauterbach" (1719), the "Blunt" (1721), the "Sarasate" (1724), the "Rode" (1722), the "Deur broucq" (1727), the "Kiesewetter" (1731), the "Habeneck" (1736), the "Muntz" (1736). Violas: the "Tuscan" (1690), two
of 1696 formerly belonging to the king of Spain, the "Archinto" (1696), the "Macdonald" (I7oi ), and the "Paganini" (1731). Violoncellos: the "Archinto" (1689), the "Tuscan" (169o), the "Aylesford" (1696), the "Cristiani" (I7oo), the "Servais" (I7oi ), the "Gore-Booth" (I 71O), the "Duport" (i7i 1), the "Adam" (1713), the "Batta" (1714), the "Piatti," the finest of all (1720), the "Bandiot" (1725), the "Gallay" (1725). Antonio Stradivari's sons Francesco and Omobono (1679-1742) were also violin-makers, who assisted their father, together with Carlo Bergonzi, who appears to have succeeded to the possession of Antonio's stock-in-trade. The Stradivari method of violin-making created a standard for subsequent times ; but the secret of his varnish, soft in texture, and shading from orange to red, though much debated, has never been discovered. (See also VioLIN.)