Giovanni Batista Ceruti
Giovanni Batista Ceruti was born in 1755 in Sesto, Italy, near Cremona. Early on, Ceruti may have studied with Alessandro Maggi, Nicola Bergonzi, or Carlo II Bergonzi. He did not start working professionally as a luthier until around 1790. At this point he found work at the shop of Lorenzo Storioni. In 1802, he took over Storioni’s workshop where he perpetuated the cremonese violin making tradition and continued the legacy of his teacher.
Ceruti’s work vastly improved in the early 1800s, as he came into his own as a maker and embraced techniques of the past. Today he is regarded as great maker of the Cremonese tradition. His instruments are extremely fine in quality and sound, with a rich and complex quality. He made over 500 instruments during his career, with many modeled after Stradivari, Amati, and Guarneri.