Francesco Emiliani
Violin maker
(c. 1680 – 1736)
Francesco Emiliani rarely signed his own work, which is a real part of why he is comparatively little known today — instruments now attributed to grander names may in fact be his. Born in Bologna around 1680 to Carlo Emiliani and Maddalena Ranucci, he had already been active for some years out of Rome's Via del Governo Vecchio before he is first recorded, in 1730, under his own professional title of "Violinaro," married to a Roman wife, Maria Elisabetta Rossi. His elderly mother, who lived with him, died that same April at eighty-four; Francesco himself died only six years later, on 21 November 1736, felled — like her — by an apoplectic stroke. His instruments, small-bodied and built to a Stainer-and-Tecchler-derived pattern (a resemblance the maker's own Cozio Archive entry notes has never been traced to any documented connection between the two men), are prized above his larger work: well-chosen wood, elegant rounded edges with f-holes recalling Nicolò Amati, and a good, sweet-toned varnish ranging from red-yellow to amber. Two real labels survive: "Franciscus Emilianis Roma" and "Franciscus de Emilianis, fecit Roma anno Dni 1729."
Price History
- The auction record for this maker is $43,850 in Jun 1987, for a violin.
- 15 auction price results.
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