"Anders Zorn was born the 18 February, 1860 at Mora, in Dalame, the son of a brewer from Bavaria and a Dalecarlian woman. He was brought up as a peasant boy on the banks of Lake Siljan, and when but a small child gave evidence of his passion for art by carving wooden figures, which he colored with berry juice.

At the age of fifteen he went to Stockholm. Though he first studied sculpture at the Academy of Arts, it was as a watercolor painter that he made his initial mark. As early as 1881 he began to travel, spending considerable time in Spain, and later residing for some years in London.

During the nineties he passed no little time at his home in Mora, upon which he has lavished his most ardent l...