Paolo De Barbieri (Genova 1889 – 1962)
Born in Genova in 1889, Paolo De Barbieri ran away from home when he was a teenage due to a difficult relationship with his step mother, and he embarked himself as a ship-boy; later he was a sailor and a soldier in the Navy and he partecipated with honors to the battle of Dardanelli in 1912; back to Genova in 1915, Paolo De Barbieri entered the workshop of Cesare Candi where he remained until 1919, when he opened his own workshop in piazza Paolo da Novi. During the thirties’ De Barbieri was awarded in exhibitions of Barcellona (1929), Padova (1930), South Florida (1931) e Cremona (1949); during the years of the second world war he assisted Cesare Candi in the conservation of the violin of Paganini, il “Cannone”, made by Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù in 1743. Paolo De Barbieri died in Genova in 1962; his son Renato De Barbieri (1920-1991) was a renowned violin player.
A hard worker and an amateur painter, Paolo De Barbieri scored a cospicuous output of violins and only a few violas and cellos; he followed throughout his entire career Cesare Candi’s working method based on the use of the continuous linings. The “Cannone” models and more generally the Giuseppe Guarneri “del Gesù” models made by Paolo De Barbieri are remarkable for personality and skill.
