In 1831 a young Swiss immigrant stepped
onto American soil bringing a talent that would impact the world
of the American Thoroughbred. For forty years Edward Troye painted
America's most distinguished horses beginning with Medley, Sir
Archy and Trifle and finishing with such notables as Kentucky,
Lexington, and Longfellow. Troye's career began in a day preceding
the age of photography so now his paintings allow us perhaps
the only visual record of our early foundation sires and mares,
those legends whose names fill the pedigrees of our more familiar
champions. Troye became known for his faithful renderings; his
patrons appreciated his artistic attention to an animal's conformation
and coloring. These were horsemen intent on establishing and
preserving the bloodlines of their cherished livestock.
At the same time America's first magazine
of sport began. The American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine
primarily devoted its pages to the turf and to its thoroughbreds
and Edward Troye's paintings became engraved frontispieces for
twenty-one different issues. Troye's art served as a marketing
tool for magazine and horseman as the Turf Register spread
his work across the country. For the first time these engraved
portraits of early thoroughbreds appear together in one place
and their stories are retold borrowing the very words of the
magazine. Sifting through fifteen years of Turf Register
history was necessary to retrieve the excerpts chosen to tell
the stories of these important horses. Reading these nineteenth-century
passages transports us back to that time and brings appreciation
to that first American sporting journal. This book celebrates
not only a beautiful legacy of Troye's art, but also his desire
to preserve a historical record as well.
Troye's dedication to preserving images
of American livestock did not stop with our earliest thoroughbreds.
Arabians, jacks, trotting stock and Shorthorn cattle stood amid
landscapes on Troye canvases. He also painted a series of landscapes
depicting the Holy Land and included in this book are photographs
of paintings that represent the breadth of Edward Troye's work.
Thanks to the generosity of private collectors, thoroughbred
associations, museums and libraries across the country, images
of Troye paintings are exhibited in this volume. From 1832 to
1872 Edward Troye painted some of America's most important blooded
stock and now his paintings give us their stories.