G.B. Guadagnini is regarded as the finest of the late classical Italian school of violin makers. His career began in Piacenza in about 1740, a crucial period in nearby Cremona, where Stradivari had died three years previously. By 1747 both of the other great Cremonese makers, Guarneri del Gesù and Carlo Bergonzi, were also dead. Quite suddenly Cremona had lost its pre-eminence in the craft, and the future development of lutherie seemed quite fragile. It was Guadagnini who took on their mantle. 

Despite the proximity of the two cities, there is no evidence that Guadagnini received any direct training from Cremonese (or any other) violin makers, which makes his work all the more remarkable. What is known is that from a very early stage he was working closely with musicians, most importantly the Ferrari brothers, the violinist Paolo and cellist Carlo. Guadagnini’s life was to become a series of movements, from Piacenza to Milan, from Milan to Parma, and eventually from Parma to Turin, where he died in 1786, pursuing work and patronage. His friendship with the cellist Carlo Ferrari remained a constant factor until he left Parma in 1771, and in important ways was pivotal for his career. 

Guadagnini’s very earliest work in Piacenza focussed on cellos, and throughout his life he developed new approaches, generally with the aim of making a more compact soloists’ instrument, livelier and more nimble than the great basses of the past, which had back lengths in excess of 77cm. The difficulty facing all cello makers is in keeping the depth and richness of the lower register in an instrument of smaller physical size and reduced air volume. Guadagnini’s work in general is marked by an original approach to all things, not just in the detailed finish of scrolls, purfling and soundholes, but in developing performance qualities, and in this, his close association with musicians is evident. Guadagnini’s great cellos can be as small as 60cm in back length, but the reduction is compensated for by generally inflating the shape of the arch, giving a larger vibrating wood surface and maximising internal volume. 

The Rostropovich cello of 1783 is one of his last and most noble works, and in itself, a fitting summary of his career. The instrument seems to contain all of Guadagnini’s own artistic ideas about the cello, but overlaid with the clear signs of the influence of his patron, the renowned collector Count Cozio di Salabue. Cozio’s enthusiasm for Stradivari was resented by Guadaginini, who had consistently followed his own course, but nevertheless many of his late Turin works, like this cello, are marked, at Cozio’s insistence, by the blackened edges to the scroll, an idiosyncrasy of Stradivari’s that is at odds with the various personal touches of Guadagnini’s own independent spirit. It remains a powerful work, beautifully modelled and in proportion not unlike the work of the great Venetian cello maker Domenico Montagnana, but significantly reduced in scale. The soundholes are also Stradivarian in form, but set widely on the broad face of the instrument. Guadagnini’s varnish varied considerably depending on his location, and this dark, intense red-brown is characteristic of his Turin period, and still beautifully intact on this wholly remarkable cello.