Parlors were used as areas for entertaining guests and as activity areas for the family. Creoles were known for their love of music, games, cards, gambling, and entertaining.

The pianoforte was invented as a result of the desire to combine the sustaining capacity of the clavichord with the power of a harpsichord.  The revolutionary hammer action (strings were hit, not plucked, as with the older keyboard instruments) of the pianoforte was inspired by the dulcimer, a smaller folk instrument, the playing of which entailed the striking of taut strings with small hammers.

Pianoforte; c. 1830; England; square type; manufactured by Gunther & Horwood in Holburn.

Marie Virginie (1816-1879) was 16 in this portrait, which may have been painted on the occasion of her debut.  She would have been presented at the French Opera House, signaling that she was now available to be courted.  At the age of 19, she married Dr. Joseph Ursin Landreaux in St. Louis Cathedral.  The couple had four children.

Portrait; Marie Virginie Hermann; 1832; by Jean Joseph Vaudechamp; oil on canvas.

Lucien Hermann (1811-1885) was the youngest son of the Hermann family. He was approximately 22 in this portrait.  He followed in his father’s footsteps, opening his own successful business firm.  He married Mary Ann Clarke in 1850 and shortly thereafter moved to San Francisco with his new wife, his adopted daughter, Leonide, his brother, Samuel Hermann, Jr., and his sister-in-law, Eugenie. He remained in San Francisco for the rest of his life. 

Portrait; Lucien Hermann; 1834; by Jean Joseph Vaudechamp; oil on canvas.