Robert Van Vorst Sewell was born in New York City in 1860. After studying at the Academie Julian under Jules Lefebvre and Gustave Boulanger, he returned to the United States and settled in Oyster Bay, Long Island, later moving to the West Coast. Sewell was a painter and a celebrated muralist. He traveled widely, painting in Europe, the Middle East, and along the west and east coasts of the United States, including Monhegan Island.

Sewell was a member of the National Academy of Design, the Century Club, the Union League Club, the New York Architecture League, the National Society of Mural Painters, and the Lotos Club. The artist exhibited at the Paris Salon, the Boston Art Club, the National Academy of Design, the Pan-American Expo, the St Louis Expo, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts.