ArtistSewell, Robert van Vorst

Artist Years1860-1926

Artist NationalityAmerican

TitleSpring

Yearca. 1890

MediumPainting > Oil

Dimensions23 X 9 inches

ProvenanceLouise Whitford Gallery, London, 1973

Accession NumberRC1399

NotesSewell studied at the Art Students League in New York and continued his education at the Paris Academie Julian, where he worked under Gustave Boulanger and Jules Joseph Lefebvre. Considered part of the American Renaissance movement at the turn of the century, he specialized in mural painting and drew most of his subjects from allegorical, mythological and literary sources. He received numerous commissions during his career, including a series which was installed in the Palm Room of the St. Regis Hotel in New York. His linear style, with its emphasis on careful outline, was well suited for large-scale decorative cycles. After his death, the Academy eulogized him for his "distinct bias towards decoration and particularly towards the decorative use of horses in his mural panels. . . . there are very many of Sewell's canvases from which one cannot nor would not wish to separate the equestrian souvenir."
(source: Academy Museum)