Lot 164: ROBERT INERARITY HERDMAN RSA RSW (1828-1888) The

ROBERT INERARITY HERDMAN RSA RSW (1828-1888) The Portrait of Clara Schumann oil on canvas, monogrammed and dated 1856 46cm x 40.5cm Note: Clara Schumann was born Clara Vieck in Leipzig in 1819. Her father was a distinguished piano teacher and among his many famous pupils was Robert Schumann 1810-56. Schumann fell violently in love with Clara while under her father's instruction but Vieck had planned that his daughter should have an international concert career as a piano virtuoso. After a tempestuous courtship during which Schumann wrote some of his most famous music for Clara, her father eventually relented and they married in 1840. Robert Schumann, as editor of Die Neue Musikzeitschrift was at the centre of a wide circle of the most prominent composers of the Romantic period, many of whom fell in love with Clara, again writing music for her to play and dedicating many pieces to here. After Schumann's death in 1856 Clara financed the raising of their family by teaching, editing her late husband's work and concert tours. She visited Britain regularly from 1856-88 and was much in demand as a teacher and performer. She also composed several original works. Towards the end of her life she was much in the company of Johannes Brahms who was deeply attracted to her. In spite of this Clara died a widow in Frankfurt in 1896. In the painting Clara wears 'mourning clothes'. Private Scottish Collection.