A painting referred to in the 1837 Salon livret as "Portrait de Mme de M..." might well be a portrait of Charlotte Embden Moschelès (d. 1889), with this being the "petit dessin de Charlotte d'après cette peinture," that is, a replica of the canvas on paper. Charlotte Moscheles was a first cousin to Henri Lehmann, the child of one of Lehmann's maternal aunts. The artist also portrayed her husband, the composer Ignaz Moschelès (see 1990.18:1). The two had married in 1825 in Hamburg.
In the summer of 1837, Henri Lehmann and his brother Rodolphe traveled to Hamburg and Munich; a cholera outbreak derailed their planned trip to Rome. Lehmann's drawn portraits of Ignaz and Charlotte Moschelès were executed in August, most likely in Hamburg. The artist's younger brother Rudolf Lehmann would produce a print of Ignaz Moschelès in 1850 when the musician was four years into his post as head of the piano department at Leipzig Conservatory.
Aubrun, Marie-Madeleine., and Lehmann, Henri. "Henri Lehmann : 1814-1882 : Catalogue Raisonné De L'œuvre / Marie-Madeleine Aubrun." France: Association Les Amis De Henri Lehmann, 1984, D.145.
Signed with monogram and dated in pencil at lower left, "HL / 15. Aug. 1837. Abends."
Watermark: none.
Heinrich, J., former owner.
Ryskamp, Charles, former owner.