Amati > Makers Archive > Lorenzo Storioni

Lorenzo Storioni

Highest auction price

£154,000

Auction price history

Type	Details	Sold	Price
Violin	34.8 cm 1800 c. [Attributed to]	Tue 1st November 2011	£17,292
Violin	35.8 cm late 18th C. (possibly composit, back altered)	Fri 1st July 2011	£11,017
Violin	35.6 cm Italy , 1800 c. [Atributed to]	Fri 1st October 2010	£21,250
Violin	35.4 cm [Ascribed to]	Thu 1st April 2010	£34,959
Violin	35.7 cm 19th C. [Attributed to]	Fri 1st May 2009	£5,047
Violin	35.4 cm Cremona, 1790 c.	Sun 1st March 2009	£57,600
Violin	35.8 cm [Attributed to] [Lit.]	Sun 1st March 2009	£17,500
Violin	35.5 cm Italy, 18th C. [Ascribed to]	Sun 1st March 2009	£37,250
Viola	39.2 cm Cremona, 1783 c.	Mon 1st October 2007	£71,394
Violin	35.4 cm [Attributed to and possibly by]	Tue 1st May 2007	£23,043
Violin	35.5 cm Cremona, 1768 c.	Tue 1st May 2007	£77,769
Violin	35.5 cm 1780 c. [Attributed to]	Thu 1st March 2007	£6,325
Violin	35.3 cm Cremona, 1796 c.	Thu 1st March 2007	£102,884
Viola	39.1 cm Cremona, 1789 c.	Sun 1st October 2006	£64,686
Viola	39.1 cm Cremona, 1800 c. [Probably by]	Sat 1st July 2006	£28,800
Violin	35.2 cm [Ascribed to]	Mon 1st May 2006	£44,455
Violin	Cremona, 1790 c. [And his assistants]	Sun 1st May 2005	£72,000
Violin	Cremona, 1776	Sun 1st May 2005	£113,015
Violin	[Attributed to]	Mon 1st November 2004	£31,070
Violin	1783	Tue 1st October 2002	£99,330
Violin	1793	Fri 1st March 2002	£60,950
Violin	1792	Thu 1st November 2001	£75,887
Violin	1770	Thu 1st March 2001	£44,650
Violin	1790	Mon 1st March 1999	£43,300
Viola	38.9 cm 1789	Thu 1st June 1995	£43,700
Viola	39.4 cm 1749	Tue 1st November 1994	£54,300
Violin	1780	Tue 1st November 1994	£31,050
Violin	1794	Tue 1st March 1994	£154,000
Violin	1780	Fri 1st November 1991	£24,200
Viola	40.8 cm 1750-99	Fri 1st June 1990	£37,400
Violin	1770	Thu 1st March 1990	£41,800
Viola	40.8 cm 1750-99	Tue 1st November 1988	£38,500
Viola	40.6 cm 1770	Tue 1st September 1987	£34,100
Violin	1789	Sun 1st January 1984	£4,400
Violin	1786	Wed 1st April 1981	£8,049

Biographies

John Dilworth Cecie Stainer George Hart Willibald Leo Lütgendorff Henri Poidras Karel Jalovec

John Dilworth

STORIONI, Lorenzo Born 1744, died 1816 Cremona Italy. Early life spent in Contrada Confettoria (present-day via Robolotti) where the family were neighbours and associates of the Rugeri family including Francesco (II) and Carlo (II), sons of Vincenzo. Active as a violin maker from 1768, he is acknowledged in the diaries of Count Cozio di Salabue in 1775. A viola d’amore made to Stradivari’s designs by Storioni, labelled and branded by him, demonstrates that he had access to the Stradivari shop before the tools and relics were purchased by Cozio and removed in 1776. Between 1782 and 1786 he took on G. Rota as an apprentice and by 1787 was established in Casa Bolzesi, Contrada Coltellai. In 1790 he was joined at this address by Nicola Bergonzi, still an active maker. Storioni moved to Casa Sterlini in 1795, and in 1797 to Sant’Agostino. From 1802 he made several departures from Cremona. He was away in 1802, present the following year, and absent again1804-1809. During this period there is at least one instrument labelled from ‘Flumio’ which is taken to mean Fiume (now Rijeka, Croatia). In 1810 he returned to Cremona, settling in Contrada Sepciana (now via Anguissola), but there are no known instruments dated later than 1804. It would seem that G. B. Ceruti took advantage of his absence to establish himself as the leading maker in Cremona in the early 19th century. Storioni’s work lacks the vitality of the classical period in Cremona, in most part because his harder plain yellow varnish is not of the same quality. His early instruments are a little clumsy and scrolls are a weakness thoughout his career. But his mature work is full of interest, often taking a cue from Guarneri models as much as from the late Bergonzis. The quality of wood is inconsistent: the maple often of a wild and rooty figure and the spruce of bland and winding grain seeming to be locally sourced. The archings are sometimes a little pinched, but invariably low and very effective. Several violas extant and a few short-patterned cellos. Sometimes branded in the pegbox: ‘L.S.’ or ‘S’ Laurentius Storioni fecit / Cremonae. 1793 Laurentius Storioni Cremonensis / fecit Anno 17.. Laurentius Storioni restauravit / Cremonae 1780 Lorenzi Storioni fecit anno 1786. Cremona [Gindin]