Cremona 1679 – Antonio Stradivari was in his thirties and, despite his young age, was undoubtedly a renowned maker among the excellent Cremonese craftsmen. He lived with his first wife Francesca Ferraboschi in strada Magistra, in the parish of Sant’Agata. The following year he took an important step as confirmation of his success and wealth: he bought a house with workshop opposite the church of San Domenico, in the quarter that was the heart of the creative activity of the city’s violin makers. Made in the same year, the Hellier violin and the Sabionari guitar reveal Stradivari’s great technical skills and artistic maturity. The Hellier, a violin of large size and vigorous style, was named after its first, lucky owner, a rich gentleman of British origin who presumedly bought the violin directly from Stradivari. The decoration of the ribs and scroll, made with the technique of inlay filled with mastic of wood paste and glue, is characterized by a phytomorphic design of flowers and buds with animals. The elegant ornamentation on the top and back plates consists of a double inlayed purfling enclosing small ivory or bone lozenges and roundels fixed with mastic of wood and glue.

The Sabionari is one of the five Baroque guitars made by Antonio Stradivari that have survived to date. It was made in 1679 based on the same mould used in 1681 for the Giustiniani guitar and in 1688 for the Hill guitar. According to some sources, the instrument was sold by Stradivari’s descendants to Giovanni Sabionari from Ferrara at the end of the eighteenth century. In the early nineteenth century, it was modified to become a six-string guitar, as it happened to many Baroque guitars, by the maker Giuseppe Marconcini. In 2011, the guitar was restored to its original Baroque configuration with five double strings after the replacement of the parts made by Marconcini.