Amati, the earliest of the great Cremonese luthiers, has been credited with defining the violin's elegant form and setting the standard of superb craftsmanship that likewise characterizes the work of his followers, who included two of his sons and his distinguished grandson Nicolo, as well as Antonio Stradivari. Masterful baroque violins by Nicolo Amati and Stradivari already appear in our collection; this much older and rarer instrument beautifully illustrates the Renaissance origin of the violin’s familiar shape. The maker's label inside the body is a modern facsimile, but the violin's authenticity has never been seriously challenged, and dendrochronology securely confirms its age. Remnants of original varnish appear beneath later coats. The maple back and sides are decorated with the untraced Latin couplet "Quo unico propugnaculo stat stabiq[ue] religio" ("By this bulwark alone religion stands and will stand"), perhaps referring to a royal establishment. Additional painted ornaments, mostly worn off, include fleurs-de-lys that suggest a French provenance. Some similarly decorated instruments of Andrea Amati's bear a motto associated with the court of Charles IX, whose mother, Catherine de Medicis, cultivated Italian music in France.