Raffaele & Antonio Gagliano

Raffaele & Antonio Gagliano were Italian luthiers and violin-makers from Naples, sons of Giovanni Gagliano and grandsons of the prominent maker Nicolò Gagliano (c.1710–1787). They began working together as business partners around 1800 and primarily used the joint luthier's label, 'Raffaelle en Antonio Gagliano'—just like their uncles, Giuseppe I and Antonio I, several decades ago. Brothers Gagliano gave up luthiery at some point and switched to producing gut strings. The latest known instruments date to 1857–'59. They made violins and cellos of "commercial quality" but notably inferior to their predecessors—with broad and inelegant F-holes, often unfinished backs, and highly varying quality of purfling (absent on some builds, doubled on the others). Gagliano's work became rising in value recently, with one of the violins sold for $114,500 in Oct 2010 and cellos appraised as high as $160,900. Raffaele Gagliano (1790—1857) No instruments survived bearing Raffaele's personal label, so most researchers conclude he never worked independently. His son Vincenzo Gagliano (fl. c.1870–'86) also became a luthier. Antonio Gagliano II (1791—1860) Several violins survived bearing Antonio's label, dated between 1813 and 1839, and their craftsmanship is significantly higher than R.A.Gagliano's collaborative work. However, these rare instruments hadn't surpassed the $48,000 mark at current auctions yet.