An engraved portrait of the celebrated piano maker. By French printmaker Charles Achille d'Hardivillier, published two years after Erard's death.

Sébastien Érard built his first pianoforte in 1777 in his Paris factory and quickly earned a reputation as the best in town, earning commissions even from Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. He fled for London during the Revolution, his royal ties putting him in some danger, and would bounce back and forth between the two cities once peace was restored. Érard was the first maker in Paris to fit pedals on the piano and patented his own double escapement action in London. Many notable musicians used his instruments, both during and after his lifetime: Haydn, Beethoven, Chopin, Liszt, Mendelssohn, Clara Schumann, Wagner, Verdi, and Ravel. Paderewski loved his Érard so much, he traveled with it.