Giovanni Francesco Pressenda

Giovanni Francesco Pressenda (1777—12 Dec 1854), also known as Joannes Franciscus Pressenda, was an Italian luthier, one of the formative figures of the "Turin School" of violin-making. Giovanni grew up in a remote village and spent his early adulthood working on farms. With a natural talent for crafts and wood-carving, Pressenda eventually relocated to a more urban area. In the early/mid-1810s, he pursued luthiery at Nicolas Leté-Pillement's renowned workshop in Turin. An avid French entrepreneur, Lete-Pillement operated his atelier very efficiently, with a sizable staff of specialists, continuous training and workflow procedures, etc. Their instruments represented the "Parisian style," essentially modified Stradivarius, and this influence prevailed in Pressenda's early builds. After Nicolas Leté passed away in 1819, Giovanni F. Pressenda, who was the only Italian on staff, gradually took over the atelier. Around 1832, Pressenda established his independent workshop in Turin. Giovanni Francesco operated it as "manifattura," perhaps inspired by his business-savvy French teachers, and had multiple assistants and apprentices; his best-known student was Giuseppe Rocca. It appears that Pressenda actively spread bogus claims he was Lorenzo Storioni's apprentice in Cremona before relocating to Turin, perhaps to increase his brand's credibility. In later instruments, Pressenda was bolder and more inventive, experimenting and introducing some original solutions. With the iconic scribe line down the center of the scroll and darker-red varnish, Pressenda's violins became a benchmark of "Turin School" for the next few generations of Italian luthiers.