Louis STERNBERG (1810–post 1875)
Upright piano, circa 1865
Instrument plated with zinc, inlaid with tortoiseshell, copper and brass
117 x 154 x 61 cm
Coll. MIM, inv. 2514
Legacy of Marie-Henriette of Habsburg-Lorraine
The second Queen of Belgium and archduchess of Austria, Marie-Henriette of Habsburg-Lorraine (1836-1902), was an avid horse rider, music lover and musician. She played piano, harp and cymbalum, a typical instrument from her native Hungary. Leopold II's first wife left her instruments to the MIM upon her death, including this richly decorated Sternberg -upright piano with motifs of flowers, birds and musicians in tortoise, copper and brass inlays.
Trained with Pleyel and Erard Louis Sternberg founded his own piano manufacture in the early 1840s. He participated in several national exhibitions and the first world exhibitions, and won several medals. In 1862 he was recognised as ‘the best Belgian musical instrument maker’. In 1875 he ceased his activities.
