THE PAINTER JOAQUIN SOROLLA

In 1909 the Hispanic Society of America staged the most dazzlingly successful show of the work of the Spanish master Joaquín Sorolla. After New York the show moved on to Buffalo and Boston, drawing thousands of admirers in its wake. Eighty years on, this exhibition provided the first major reassessment since that time of the painter often referred to as the Spanish Sargent.

Born in Valencia in Spain in 1863, Sorolla spent most of his working life in Madrid where he painted monumental works of historical and social subjects for national exhibitions. At the same time he also developed his own free style of plein-air painting and from 1900 on indulged freely this aspect of his work, painting landscapes, townscapes, garden scenes, nature studies, seascapes and beach scenes with an extraordinary natural facility for capturing light. He painted the bright and hot sunlight of Valencia, the crisp, winter light of Seville, Castile in all her moods, the softer light of Spain's north Atlantic coast and the damp green of Asturias.

Immensely popular with the public during his lifetime and winner of the premier European art awards, Sorolla died in 1923 at a time of waning influence, just before his reputation as a painter was submerged by the rising tide of the avant-garde movement, and Spain's increasing isolation at the time of the Civil War.

66 paintings, 30 apuntes, and small oil sketches are included  All the paintings are reproduced in color and black-and-white and are accompanied by four informative illustrated essays written by experts on Sorolla's life and work. Also include is a extensive bibliography and an index.