Jacob Stainer
Absam 1617 - 1683
The premier maker of the Austro-German school, Jacob Stainer may have been a student of Nicolò Amati in Cremona, though historical records are not complete enough to substantiate that assumption. In any case, his work, the earliest of which dates from the 1630s, bears strong similarities to Amati's. Stainer eventually settled in his birthplace of Absam in 1656, where he began to produce some of his finest instruments, which appear to be inspired by Amati's Grand Pattern. In this period Stainer moved away from the high arching of his early career, and for much of the remainder of the 17th Century he produced exceptional instruments that rivalled or even surpassed the works of his Cremonese contemporaries.
Stainer's legacy was paramount in the early- to mid-18th Century Venetian and Florentine schools, but also widespread in England, Germany, and in his native country of Austria. In fact, Stainer models were held in the highest esteem before the influence of Stradivari became foremost later in the 18th Century. However, Stainer copies of the period tend to exaggerate his singular stylistic features out of proportion to the balanced refinement of his own works.
