Giuseppe Guarneri del Gesù, anglicised to Joseph Guarneri, is the only luthier to rival Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737) with regard to the respect and reverence accorded his instruments, and has been called the finest violin maker of the Amati line. Giuseppe is known as "del Gesù" because his labels incorporated the "nomina sacra", I.H.S. ("iota-eta-sigma") and a Roman cross. Wikipedia
The definitive Wikipedia entry for Giuseppe Guarneri. Wikipedia is the biggest multilingual free-content encyclopedia on the Internet. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giuseppe_Guarneri
