Italian violin-maker, associated throughout his life with Cremona, where he brought the craft of violin-making to its highest pitch of perfection. 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 already begun to insert his own label on violins of his making, which at first follow the smaller Amati model, solidly constructed, with a thick yellow varnish. It was not till 1684 that he began to produce a larger model, using a deeper-coloured varnish, and beautifying the instruments in various details, his long patterns (from 1690) representing a complete innovation in its proportions; while 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 Sellière (before 1680), the Tuscan (1690), the Betts (1704), the Ernst (1709), La Pucelle (1709), the Viotti (1709), the Vieuxtemps (1710), 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 Deurbroucq (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 (1701), and the Paganini (1731). Violoncellos: the Archinto (1689), the Tuscan (1690), the Aylesford (1696), the Cristiani (1700), the Servais (1701), the Gore-Booth (1710), the Duport (1711), the Adam (1713), the Batta (1714), the Piatti, the finest of all (1720), the Bandiot (1725), the Gallay (1725). Antonio Stradivaris sons Francesco (16711743) and Omobono (16791742) were also violin-makers, who assisted their father, together with Carlo Bergonzi, who appears to have succeeded to the possession of Antonios stock-in-trade. The Stradivari method of violin-making created a standard for subsequent times; but what is regarded as Antonios special advantage, now irrecoverable, was his varnish, soft in texture, shading from orange to red, the composition of which has been much debated.