In 1894, at the age of 27, Pirandello agreed to a marriage that had been arranged by his parents to Antonietta Portulano, the daughter of one of his father's business partners who Luigi had never met. For the first few years, the young couple seemed reasonably happy, but after the birth of their third child and the loss of the family fortune in a flood, Antonietta suffered a complete mental breakdown. In spite of her extremely violent and delusional behavior, Pirandello chose to care for her at home for fifteen years before finally sending her to a private sanitarium in 1919. His wife's illness had a profound effect on the struggling writer and inspired explorations of madness, illusion, and isolation in his plays.