The Guarneri (/ɡwɑːrˈnɛəri/,[1][2] UK also /-ˈnɪər-/,[3] Italian: [ɡwarˈnɛːri]), often referred to in the Latinized form Guarnerius, is the family name of a group of distinguished luthiers from Cremona in Italy in the 17th and 18th centuries, whose standing is considered comparable to those of the Amati and Stradivari families.
Two of Andrea's sons continued the father's traditions: Giuseppe Giovanni Battista was father to two further instrument makers: Other 20th-century 'del Gesù' players include Arthur Grumiaux, Jascha Heifetz, Leonid Kogan, Kyung Wha Chung, Michael Rabin, Joseph Silverstein, Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, Charles Fleischman, Robert McDuffie, Itzhak Perlman, Midori Goto, Rachel Barton Pine, Henryk Szeryng, Sarah Chang, Leila Josefowicz and the late Eugene Fodor.
"Signor Giovanni de Piccolellis, in 1885, searched the archives at the church, San Donato, in Cremona for information on the Guarneri family.
"[5] Some of the world's most famous violinists, such as Niccolò Paganini, Jascha Heifetz and Yehudi Menuhin have preferred Guarneris to Stradivaris.
In the summer of 2010, the ex-Vieuxtemps Guarneri del Gesù, a violin built in 1741 by Bartolomeo Giuseppe Guarneri, was offered for sale at auction with a starting bid of $18 million, the highest price ever sought for a musical instrument.