Matteo (II) SELLAS

SELLAS, Matteo (II) Born 1681, died 1731 Venice Italy. Son of Zuanne Sellas and grandson of Matteo (I), above. Succeeded to the shop of his great-uncle Giorgio, at the sign ‘alla Stella’. Very significant figure in Venetian lutherie, although he himself seems to have become a dealer and entrepreneur at the head of a prolific workshop, which indubitably employed some of the greatest Venetian violin makers, including Pietro Guarneri, and albeit possibly tangentially, Domenico Montagnana and Carlo Tononi. [Pio]