About the maker
A modest number of Antonio Fabiani’s instruments have reached us, and they are an excellent example of the output of Marche luthiers from the early 20th century. Fabiani also focused on restoring antique instruments, including the ones of local makers such as Mariani and Postacchini.
The history
Antonio Fabiani was born in Ascoli Piceno in 1898 and died there in 1969. He always remained attached to his city, where he began studying the violin and approaching violinmaking as an adult. There are records of his participation in exhibitions, the most important of which was the National Violin Making Competition of 1933, where he submitted a string quartet.
References
Leonhard Florian, The Makers of Central Italy. Cremona: Edizioni Novecento, 2011.
Consistent quirks
Despite a relatively low output of instruments in his career, Fabiani was undoubtedly a skilled and accomplished maker. He was not particularly concerned with beauty, but an almost inherent eye for detail and tidiness shows through on the instruments he made. For example, the outline shows symmetry, neat purfling and f holes that are carefully cut. As we can observe in this beautiful example, the scroll is a strong and well-crafted piece with excellent proportions. Fabiani was a maker who showed dedication to instrument making, and this can most certainly be observed here.
