Victorian home scene: The piano lesson in the parlor (1899)
This photo is from 1899 or 1900, taken in a stately Victorian parlor with Arabian detailing on the windows.
Officially titled “African American man giving piano lesson to young African American woman,” the portrait was featured in a book called Negro life in Georgia, U.S.A.
Antique Pleyel piano in an art nouveau style (1900)
The Gold Piano at the White House (1900s)
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Woman in a long flowing dress standing at an old piano (1903)
Louis XV Steinway Parlor Concert Grand Piano (1906)
This illustration shows a Steinway Parlor Concert Grand Piano in the style of Louis XV, made to order by us for Mr Edward L Doheny of Los Angeles, California, as it appears in Mrs Doheny’s music room.
Louis XV Steinway Parlor Concert Grand Piano in Pennsylvania (1906)
The Steinway Piano has a reputation founded on the recorded judgment of the world’s greatest artists of two generations, and the combined opinion of the most eminent musical and scientific experts. It is known everywhere as the standard piano of the world, and the mere possession of a Steinway Piano puts the seal of supreme approval upon the musical taste of its owner.
It can be found in every capital and court of the world, in famous concert halls, palatial hotels, aboard luxurious yachts and nearly all of the great steamships, as well as in more than a hundred thousand homes, from modest collage to sumptuous mansion. The Steinway Pianos in actual use at the present day represent in value the enormous total of more than one hundred million dollars.
Piano shown: Parlor Grand Piano in the style of Louis XV, made by us for Mr Alexander R Peacock, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as it appears in Mrs. Peacock’s Music Room.
We make pianos of regular styles ranging in price from five hundred to sixteen hundred dollars, and have made pianos in art cases costing as much as fifty thousand dollars.
Aside from our regular models, we have in our warerooms a large and fine assortment of Grand and Upright Pianos in the principal historic periods of architecture, such as Louis XIV, XV and XVI, Renaissance, Gothic, Rococo, Empire, Early English, Colonial, Chippendale, Sheraton, Adam, Mission, etc., etc.
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These instruments are encased in the choicest Mahogany, Satinwood, Circassian Walnut, Prima Vera and other rare and costly woods, delicately and elaborately hand-carved, inlaid, gilt, finished in Vernis Martin, or painted by artists of national and international fame.
We also make them on special order, either according to our own designs or the designs that may be submitted to us by architects, to harmonize with the decorations or furnishings of any particular room or suite of rooms. Our prices are moderate and our estimates compare favorably with those of the foremost decorators and both in this country and Europe. An inspection of our Art Rooms is respectfully invited.
Custom Louis XV Steinway Parlor Concert Grand Piano (1906)
The [below illustration shows a Steinway Parlor Grand Piano in the style of Louis XV, made to order by us for Mr J Roosevelt Shanley of New York as it appears in Mrs. Shanley’s music room.
Antique grand piano of inlaid and carved burl walnut (1919)
Antique piano – Sheraton model (1919)
Antique carved piano/organ with matching bench (1919)
Baby playing a piano at the Hotel Waldorf Astoria (1921)
Wurlitzer Art Grand pianos (1926)
“Lovely beyond words!” Exclamations like this come so naturally and so sincerely when you see and hear these superb Wurlitzer Art Grands. For, the rich, luxurious beauty of these superb pianos finds its match in the golden tone for which Wurlitzer has always been known.
Fifteen authentic period designs. Hand-carved decorations exquisitely wrought. Finish is perfection itself. And you can buy any Wurlitzer Art Grand — with or without the famous Apollo Reproducing Action — on convenient monthly payments. $850 and up at all Wurlitzer stares and from leading dealers everywhere.
The Wurlitzer Italian Renaissance model pictured above shows the decided influence of the elaborate Florntiens style on the early Lombardy and Tuscan modes.
Modern grand piano in bleached walnut (1937)
Straightforward modern in a new grand piano designed by Donald Deskey, first shown in the Paris International Exhibition. Here illustrated in bleached walnut, it comes in nine additional finishes.
Vintage 1930s SpinetGrand piano
The SpinetGrand is a direct descendant of the old-fashioned square piano. Combining compactness in size with the fine construction of a grand piano, it is noted for its exceptional sweetness of tone.
Chippendale Musette piano (1937)
Vintage musician Thelonious Monk (1947)
Monk is seen here playing piano at Minton’s Playhouse in New York (colorized)
Leonard Bernstein marking a score at the piano (1950)
Old-fashioned piano lessons for kids with color-coded music (1951)
Steinway Centenary Grand piano (1953)
Vintage Baldwin piano in light-colored wood (1953)
Vintage Musette piano (1953)
Guy Lombardo: “I chose Musette as my piano because Musette offers beautiful styling as well as the tonal perfection a musician demands.”
Actor Marlon Brando playing the piano (c1956)
Liberace at the piano in When the Boys Meet the Girls (1965)
Three kids playing music for their mother (1958)
Actress Betty White with a piano (1959)
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Spinet-style player piano (1968)
Lucille Ball playing a transparent grand piano (1974)
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Singer/musician Neil Sedaka at piano (c1970s)
Stevie Wonder on piano (1970s/1980s)
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