Odds On Racing - Harness Racing

Odds On Racing's

Personality of the Month
for November 2008

Edward Troye

Edward Troye, born in Switzerland to French parents in 1808, was one of the foremost painters of horses in the nineteenth century. Showing an early interest in art, he received instruction in drawing and painting in England before immigrating to America in 1831.

Struggling with his art career, he began work as a magazine illustrator. The next year, at the age of 23, Troye submitted three paintings to the annual exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts and was able to attract his first commission from horseman John Charles Craig.

Edward Troye

This relationship proved very profitable for Troye since it gained him an introduction not only to racing at Long Island's Union Course, but, more crucially, to the affluent owners who provided him with commissions for the next four decades.

Troye gained more fame through his work for The American Turf Register, the nation's first sporting magazine. Twenty-one of his paintings were chosen to be frontispieces for this new periodical devoted to sports ranging from badger hunting to horse racing.
painting3

Following his marriage in 1839, Troye settled in Kentucky. Flourishing amidst the state's rich horse-breeding culture, he devoted a majority of his time to the focus of horse portraiture.
Troye Portrait of two stallions

Painting in the pre-photography era, Troye provided the trotting world with expertly crafted portraits of Alexander's Abdallah, Belmont, Dexter, Dictator and Mambrino Pilot – of whom the world might not otherwise have had a visual record.
Troye White Stallion

Troye passed away in 1874, at the age of sixty-six, in Georgetown, KY following a case of pneumonia.