The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 19, 2025
Woman by the Piano
1906
Location: Not on view
Description
A standard social accomplishment in upper middle-class circles throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, playing the piano, as did countless heroines in English literature from Jane Austen’s Elizabeth Bennet to E. M. Forster’s Lucy Honeychurch, was de rigueur. If a woman’s suitor or husband was musical, he likely played a melody instrument such as the flute or violin, the consequence being that when they played duets, she accompanied him, taking his lead, just as she was expected to do in all other aspects of life.- Themes and Variations: Musical Drawings and Prints. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 25-May 17, 2015).Against the Grain: Woodcuts from the Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 17-November 9, 2003).
- {{cite web|title=Woman by the Piano|url=false|author=Bror Julius Olsson Nordfeldt|year=1906|access-date=19 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1991.230