Origins and Inspiration: Sorolla’s Early Formation and the European Masters

This year closes with a finished brushstroke of nostalgia, foreshadowing a Sorolla year in Spain that will unfold in 2023. The state museum, guiding the city’s house museum, signals the kickoff of a program that frames what lies ahead: Origins. Every artist, especially the gifted ones, carries a deep sense of art history, studies the great masters, and uses those lessons to spark new directions. Joaquín Sorolla would surely agree. To achieve real growth, the roots must sink into solid ground. Copying the works of masters remained common well into the 19th century. Lists of painters and sculptors who sought access to grand museums to study originals reveal this practice. The Prado Museum now preserves records of recognizable names who begin by learning from the greats. What seems extraordinary has long been a shared thread among the world’s most famous artists. Michelangelo, Bramante, and Bandinelli studied works from Laoaconte; Rubens requested permission to copy Titian’s works during his Madrid visit in 1628; and Goya drew on Velázquez to illustrate what it means to learn from peers who shaped the art of their era — because learning often involved copying a master. Source: Sorolla Museum.