Tommaso Balestrieri was a Cremonese-trained maker who established his workshop in Mantua during the mid-eighteenth century. His labels consistently identify him as 'Thomas Balestrieri Cremonensis Fecit Mantuæ,' indicating both his Cremonese training and Mantuan workshop location [1][2][5]. Documented instruments bearing his labels span from 1755 to 1792, suggesting an active career of at least four decades [6][7][1]. The consistency of his back lengths—clustering between 35.1 and 35.4 cm across full-size examples—indicates a standardized model [1][2][3][5][6][7][8]. Attribution complications arise from later scroll replacements and label substitutions, as evidenced by instruments subsequently relabeled with other makers' names [2][4], a common practice affecting period attribution studies.
Sources: [{"index":1,"url":"https://ingleshayek.com/notable-sales-instrument/a-violin-by-tomasso-balestrieri/","description":"Violin, 1788, ex-Caressa collection, original label"},{"index":2,"url":"https://ingleshayek.com/notable-sales-instrument/a-violin-by-tommaso-balestrieri-2/","description":"Violin, 1767, scroll later replaced"},{"index":3,"url":"https://ingleshayek.com/notable-sales-instrument/a-violin-by-tomasso-balestrieri-2/","description":"Violin, 1792, reproduction label"},{"index":4,"url":"https://ingleshayek.com/notable-sales-instrument/a-3-4-size-violin-by-tommaso-balestrieri/","description":"3/4-size violin, scroll later labeled Guarnerius"},{"index":5,"url":"https://ingleshayek.com/notable-sales-instrument/violin-by-tomasso-balestrieri-in-mantua-on-1767/","description":"Violin, 1767"},{"index":6,"url":"https://ingleshayek.com/notable-sales-instrument/violin-by-tomasso-balestrieri-in-mantua-on-circa-1760-2/","description":"Violin, 1756"},{"index":7,"url":"https://ingleshayek.com/notable-sales-instrument/violin-by-tomasso-balestrieri-in-mantua-on-circa-1760/","description":"Violin, 1755"},{"index":8,"url":"https://ingleshayek.com/notable-sales-instrument/a-violin-by-tomasso-balestrieri-mantua-1765/","description":"Violin, 1775"}]
We track 8 instrument(s) attributed to Tommaso Balestrieri in our database.
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