Joaquin Sorolla

Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida - 1863-1923.

An orphan raised by an aunt and uncle, Joquin Sorolla was born in Valencia, Spain in 1863. Sorolla painted many gorgeous and touching portraits of his wife and daughters, as well as portraits of famous persons such as United States President William Howard Taft, Louis Comfort Tiffany (of Tiffany lamps fame), and King Alfonso XIII of Spain. J. Paul Getty purchased ten of Sorolla's Impressionist beach scenes at auction in 1933. He later explained, "One could hardly imagine greater contrasts than those between a Van Goyen and a Sorolla - but, as I say, I bought what I liked." Sorolla's widow left a large collection of his paintings to the people of Spain. The collection is now a museum, the Museo Sorolla, in the artist's house in Madrid.