Giovanni Antonio Baffo

Giovanni "Joannes" Antonio Baffo (pre-1523 — after 1594; fl.1570–79) was an Italian harpsichord and virginal maker active in Venice. His biography is largely undiscovered, with the analysis of extant instruments complicated by an abundance of fraudulent and misattributed builds. As per Dr. Denzil Wraight's 2014 entry on Baffo in the Oxford's Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments, there are only four genuine instruments (three harpsichords and one virginal) undoubtedly made by Giovanni, with two more possible harpsichords and five polygonal virginals. In recent years, organologists identified many counterfeit instruments previously cataloged as "Baffo." Wraight named six fakes by Leopoldo Franciolini (1844—1920), a notorious Italian antique dealer and fraudster, in his 1992 "Historical Harpsichord" monograph series, and further identified the "Baffo" harpsichord at Historisches Museum, Basel as Giovanni Battista Giusti's build, and c.1610 virginal at London's Fenton House as the work of Vincentius Pratensis, a XVI-century Tuscanian maker from Prato. In his 1999 article for The Galpin Society Journal, Canadian researcher Grant O'Brien attributed 1581 harpsichord with a counterfeit inscription ✠ JOANNES ANTONIVS BAFFO VENETUS F. MDLXXXI ✠ at Smithsonian's Museum of Cultural History to a little-known maker Ignazio Mucciardi. [u]Giovanni Antonio Baffo instruments[/u] 1523 Harpsichord, owner and current location unknown; lost in World War II. 1570 Virginal at Musée de Cluny in Paris, France. Compass: C–f3 (originally, C/E–f3 with short octave) c.1570/94° "The Queen Elizabeth" Spinet/Virginal at V&A South Kensington in London, UK. Compass: GG, BB–c3. Nanke Schellmann discovered a "1594" date on the jackrail, as per a 2002 article in V&A Conservation Journal, which is considerably outside of Baffo's recognized activity years. 1574 Harpsichord at Victoria And Albert Museum in London, UK. Compass: GG/BB–c3, short octave (originally, C/E–f3 w/ short octave) 1574 Harpsichord, private owner in Nyack, New York, USA. Compass: C–c3 1578 Harpsichord, private owner in Toulouse, France. Fifty keys, compass unknown. 1579 Harpsichord at Cité de la Musique in Paris, France. Compass: AA–f3 (originally, C/E–c4 with 57-note range); modified twice, w/ original keys preserved 1580 Harpsichord at University of Leipzig's Grassi Museum in Leipzig, Germany. Compass: C–f3 1581 Harpsichord at Germanisches Nationalmuseum in Nuremberg, Germany. Compass: GG, AA–c3 1581 Harpsichord at Historisches Museum in Basel, Switzerland. Compass: GG, AA–c3