Guilhermina Suggia: cellist

Born in 1885 in Porto, Portugal, to a middle-class musical family, Guilhermina Suggia began playing cello at the age of five.

A child prodigy, she was already a seasoned performer when she won a scholarship to study with Julius Klengel in Leipzig at the age of sixteen.

Suggia lived in Paris with fellow cellist Pablo Casals for several years before World War I, in a professional and personal partnership that was as stormy as it was unconventional.

When they separated Suggia moved to London, where she built a spectacularly successful solo career.

Suggia's virtuosity and musicianship, along with the magnificent style and stage presence famously captured in Augustus John's portrait, made her one of the most sought-after concert artists of her day.

In 1927 she married Dr Jos? Casimiro Carteado Mena and settled down to a comfortable life divided between Portugal and England.