AMATI, Girolamo, Cremona, born 1649, third son of Niccolo. The labels which I have seen in a Violin and a Tenor bear the name "Hieronymus Amati," and describe the maker as the son of Niccolo. He was born on February 26, 1649, married in 1678. In 1736 he, together with his family, removed to another parish, as shown by the original extract from the books of the Cathedral at Cremona, sent by Canon Manfredini to Lancetti. Girolamo Amati died in the year 1740. There appears to have been some doubt as to whether Girolamo Amati, the son of Niccolo, made Violins, according to Lancetti. He says, "Those seen with his label, dated between 1703 and 1723, were ascribed by some to Sneider, of Pavia, and by others to J. B. Rogeri, of Brescia." In a letter of Count Cozio di Salabue to Lancetti, dated January 3, 1823, he states that "in May, 1806, Signor Carlo Cozzoni gave an old Amati Violin for repair to the Brothers Mantegazza, dealers and restorers of musical instruments, in Milan, and upon their removing the belly they were pleased to discover, written at the base of the neck, 'Revisto e coretto da me Girolamo figlio di Niccolo Amati, Cremona, 1710.'" In some instances the instruments of this maker do not resemble those of Niccolo Amati, or indeed those of the Amati family. The sound-holes are straight, and the space between them is somewhat narrow. In others there is merit of a high order--the pattern is large, broad between the sound-holes, and very flat in model, and resembling the form of Stradivari rather than that of Amati. These differences are accounted for by the fact made known by Lancetti, that the tools and patterns of Niccolo Amati passed into the possession of Stradivari, and are therefore included with those now in the keeping of Count Cozio's descendant, the Marquis Dalla Valle. The varnish of Girolamo Amati shows signs of decadence; in some instances, however, we find it soft and transparent. The few which have this quality of varnish I am inclined to think were made in the time of Niccolo, since the instruments of a later date have a coating of varnish of an inferior kind. This maker--as with the Bergonzis--seems, therefore, to have been either ignorant of his parent's mode of making superior varnish, or was unable to obtain the same kind or quality of ingredients. With Girolamo closes the history of the family of the Amati as Violin-makers. Girolamo had a son, Niccolo Giuseppe, born in 1684, who removed with his father to another parish in 1736, as mentioned above, but he was not a maker of Violins. AMBROSI, Pietro, Rome and Brescia, about 1730. Petrus Ambrosi fecit Brixiae, 17-- Average merit. The workmanship resembles that of Balestrieri, as seen in the inferior instruments of that maker.