Luigi Embergher

1925 Mandolin sold by the Vichy Enchères auction, described as Model 5A "Cubist". This model never became a success and this is the only known example. During the 1930s, Italy's fascists introduced the concept of Degenerate art, a movement that condemned Futurism. The political upheavals were enough that Embergher had to shut down most of his business, including that which made this work of modern art. Photo by Jacques Henri Bayle Antonio Luigi Embergher (4 February 1856, in Arpino – 12 May 1943, in Rome) was an Italian luthier known for his high quality bowlback mandolins. Son of the ebanist Pietro Embergher and Maria Ciccarelli, Born in Arpino 1856.

Life and work In the 1890s he collaborated with the Mandolin virtuoso G. B. Maldura, creating a series of concert mandolins for mandolin orchestras including two mandolin types, a mandoliola (also called Octave mandola) and a mandoloncello, all suited for playing string quartet pieces for mandolin. They were first displayed in Turin in 1898, and soon became came to set the standard measures for mandolin orchestras. Embergher made instruments from approximately 1880 through 1935. He is considered to have taken Rome's standard of building mandolins, exemplified by luthiers Giovanni De Santis and Giovanni Battista Maldura, and improved upon it. His instruments became known for their "strong, sonorous warm sound and a perfect intonation."

After his death in 1943, instruments were made with his standards by luthiers Domenico Cerrone (from 1938 to 1954) and his son Giannino Cerrone, and by Pasquale Pecoraro. Pecoraro was the last to build "in the exact Embergher-design and manner," and died in 1987. Mandolins Numbers 1—4 were orchestra instruments. Mandolins 5, 5-bis, and 6 were for the concert artist and soloist. Numbers 7 and 8 were elite instruments, more decorated than the other models.

The number 5 was sought after by virtuoso performers and "great masters." The number 8 was a more luxurious instrument and inlaid with ivory and mother-of-pearl; one of these was bought by Maria Feodorovna, the Queen mother of Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, in 1902.