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"St. Sebastian & Ionic Column, " Painting in Ink and Watercolor, Porter Woodruff

About the Item

This sensitive depiction of St. Sebastian, pierced by a myriad of arrows but not yet expired, was painted by Porter Woodruff in a gorgeous combination of watercolor, gouache and ink. The saint is shown against an Ionic column, with a dark and turbulent sky behind that is punctuated by a row of poplars pointing skyward. Woodruff was best known for his paintings and illustrations for Vogue magazine -- one of five American fashion illustrators who worked for the magazine -- as well as House & Garden. Woodruff was born in Tennessee, but spent much of his creative life in Paris and Tunisia, where he lived with Georges Sébastian, an important Hungarian-born, French orchestra conductor. He worked from Villa Sebastian, his home and painting studio in Hammamet, Tunisia and is buried in the gardens there. (Dimensions include matte; painting itself is 16 inches high by 10 inches wide.)
  • Creator:
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 20.75 in (52.71 cm)Width: 15 in (38.1 cm)Depth: 0.1 in (2.54 mm)
  • Style:
    Art Deco (Of the Period)
  • Materials and Techniques:
  • Place of Origin:
  • Period:
  • Date of Manufacture:
    circa 1930s
  • Condition:
  • Seller Location:
    Philadelphia, PA
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU865128073492
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