Giovanni Battista Rogeri settled in Brescia around 1675. He was a pupil of Nicolò Amati in Cremona from 1661-1662.
Instruments from his time in Brescia, where he developed his fascinating style, represent the peak of his superior craftsmanship. His Cremonese inspired elegance of finish and attention to detail were quite at odds with the very free and improvisatory style of the earlier Brescian makers.
This violin is a splendid example of his extraordinary style. The wood of the back is a typically magnificent piece of maple with a handsome small curl. On the front, the two pieces of spruce are of equal quality with a very fine grain opening slightly towards the flanks. Overall, the soft varnish is tinted with orange-brown pigments and lit beneath by a very reflective lighter ground coat. The violin’s sound holes are long and narrow, the arching made with a slightly flat undercut and the materials consistently of the very best quality.
Despite the fact that he had always continued to build in the Cremonese school style, Giovanni Battista Rogeri would go down in history as a Brescian violin maker.