Gaetano Pasta

Gaetano was the son of Bartolomeo Pasta, who was recorded as working for Nicolo Amati in Cremona in 1660. The family subsequently moved to Milan, apparently staying in the house of the Testore family, where Gaetano was born in about 1679. By 1694 he was established in Brescia with his brother Domenico, in a shop known as ‘Alla Pallada’. Giovanni Battista Rogeri, who had also worked with Amati alongside Bartolomeo, had been in Brescia since 1664, and may have been able to offer work to the brothers; Gaetano’s violins certainly bear a strong stylistic resemblance to those of Rogeri, but lack the subtlety of finish. The Pasta family offer an interesting link between the schools of Cremona, Milan and Brescia in this formative period, and provide some very characterful and distinctive work reflecting all these various styles.