Alfredo Contino violin, Naples 1923

Neapolitan violin maker Alfredo Contino (1890–c. 1963) began studying at a young age in the renowned workshop of Vincenzo Postiglione, assimilating the influential maker’s techniques to excel in his own right as a master copyist of Gagliano models. Upon Postiglione’s death in 1916, Contino took over the business when he was only 26, and he continued the workshop’s prolific and high-quality output. Contino won a gold medal at the Padua exhibition of 1932 and was awarded a prize at an exhibition in Rome.