around 1827
Clara Wieck at the age of 8
Coloured miniature on ivory by an unknown artist, around 1827
Robert Schumann House, Zwickau
This portrait, set in a preserved original metal frame, is the first known representation of Clara Wieck who made her first public appearance soon after as a child prodigy at the Leipzig Gewandhaus concert hall. At this concert held on 20th October 1828, Clara, manifestly still blond at that time, performed, together with Emilie Reichhold, the Varations brillantes à quatre Mains sur la marche de ‘Moisé’ de Rossini Op. 94 by Friedrich Kalkbrenner. The miniature remained in the hands of the family for a long time and was only transferred to the holdings of the Robert Schumann House in Zwickau in 1926 from the estate of the oldest Schumann daughter, Marie.
(I.B./J.M.N., translated by Thomas Henninger)
Cf. Clara und Robert Schumann, Zeitgenössische Porträts [Clara and Robert Schumann, Contemporary Portraits], 1994, p. 16, Cat. No. 2.