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Robert Van Vorst Sewell American (1860-1924)
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Robert Van Vorst Sewell American (1860-1924)

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Nymphs in a Landscape
Oil on canvas
41 x 56 inches
Condition: fine condition, lined, in a contemporary carved
gilt frame.
Signed (at lower right)
Like many American artists of his generation, Robert Van Vorst Sewell studied painting in Paris with the French Academic painters Gustave Boulanger and Jules Lefebvre. Boulanger painted mythological and ancient Greek and Roman subject matter as well as decorative schemes. Famously he decorated the Casino in Monte Carlo. Sewell, like his teacher Jules Lefebvre, also had great interest in the female figure – frequently scantily clad. The style and subject matter of Nymphs in a Landscape has elements of both Boulanger’s and Lefebvre’s work; a combination of mythology, female subject matter and a mural-like decorative quality.
A native of New York City, Sewell returned to New York after his time in France and settled in Oyster Bay on Long Island. Later he moved to coastal California where he probably painted Nymphs in a Landscape. In the late 1890’s and early 1900’s Sewell exhibited widely including at the National Academy of Design, the New York Architectural League, the Pan American Exposition of 1901 and the Louisiana Purchase Exhibition in St. Louis, frequently garnering prizes or medals.
The St. Regis Hotel in New York City has a fine example by Sewell. Nymphs in a Landscape must have graced a large home or public space at one time. Sewell traveled widely. He painted in  Europe, the Middle East, Alaska as well as along the East and West Coasts of the United States.

Item ID: WoA-AMP-OC 432

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