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 continued the workshop's prolific and high quality output. Contino won a gold medal at the Padua exhibition of 1932.