Coming Home Series (Excerpt)

Coming Home Series: Edward Troye (1808-1874) Oct. 1, 2014 -Mar. 29, 2015

Edward Troye (1808-1874)

CLARICE SMITH: POWER & GRACE

Coming Home Series

National Sporting Library & Museum

Coming Home Series Edward Troye (1808-1874) Edward Troye and His Biographers: The Archives of Harry Worcester Smith and Alexander Mackay-Smith October 1, 2014 – February 22, 2015 | Forrest E. Mars Sr. Exhibit Hall Faithfulness to Nature: Paintings by Edward Troye October 26, 2014 – March 29, 2015 | Museum

NATIONAL SPORTING LIBRARY & MUSEUM Middleburg, Virginia 2014

Table of Contents Preface Melanie Leigh Mathewes

ix

Foreword Manuel H. Johnson

xi

Edward Troye and His Biographers: The Archives of Harry Worcester Smith and Alexander Mackay-Smith Martha Wolfe

15

Edward Troye’s Obituary

30

Faithfulness to Nature: Paintings by Edward Troye Claudia Pfeiffer Plates

33 49

Illustration Details & Credits

134

Endnotes

141

Bibliography

143

Index

144

Foreword

Manuel H. Johnson | Chairman of the Board, National Sporting Library & Museum The Coming Home Series, an exciting new program developed at the National Sporting Library & Museum, pairs one of our John H. Daniels Fellows with NSLM curators to research the Library’s ex-

to preserve, promote, and share the literature, art, and culture of turf and field sports.

Martha Wolfe, a 2012/2013 John H. Daniels Fellow, returned

tensive holdings and plan exhibitions and publication projects. The

to our archives during the first half of this year to work on her essay,

first in this series is a focus on the nineteenth century animal artist,

Edward Troye and His Biographers: The Archives of Harry Worcester Smith

Edward Troye (1808-1874). His work in particular epitomizes the aim

and Alexander Mackay-Smith, which is included in this catalogue.

of the series to mine some of the most important holdings of the

From her research, the NSLM Curatorial Department developed an

Library.

exhibition with the same title featuring paintings, prints, papers,

Held here in the archives are the papers and research of two

and ephemera in the Forrest E. Mars, Sr. Exhibit Hall, on view in the

eminent sporting scholars, Harry Worcester Smith (1865-1945) and

Library until February 22, 2015. Most of the items on display are from

Alexander Mackay-Smith (1903-1998) who were instrumental in

NSLM collections, with the inclusion of a few key loans. One loan

bringing Troye’s role in early American art to light in the twentieth

from the Yale Center for British Art library is a rare book entitled

century. As an artist, Troye’s paintings were commissioned all across

Race Horses of America (First series) by Edward Troye, printed in 1867,

the country by the leading Thoroughbred breeders and owners of

and bound by Worcester Smith with a foreword he wrote in 1930.

the mid-nineteenth century. As a chronicler of American bloodlines,

The exhibition and Wolfe’s in-depth essay bring to life the incredible

reproductions and reviews of Troye’s imagery became staples of

story of how Worcester Smith rediscovered Troye’s art and Mackay-

popular turf and field magazines of the era. This combination of

Smith brought his scholarship to completion with the publication

printed material and original paintings embodies NSLM’s mission

of his expansive biography and catalogue of Troye’s artwork, Race

Foreword

xi

Horses of America 1832-1872: Portraits and Other Paintings by Edward

cess and recognition among the leaders of the horse racing industry

Troye, in 1981.

in a time when American art was still maturing. Among the works

The NSLM’s George L. Ohrstrom, Jr. Curator Claudia Pfeiffer

that have been brought together are Donkey and Goat, 1823, a sensitive

developed her essay for the Museum exhibition Faithfulness to Nature:

charcoal study completed by Troye when he was just fifteen years old

Paintings by Edward Troye, relying heavily on Mackay-Smith’s defini-

before immigrating to the United States; portraits of foundational

tive book, Wolfe’s research, and other contemporary sources. With

Thoroughbreds such as American Eclipse, Henry, Glencoe, and

the assistance of NSLM Museum Exhibitions and Collections Chair

Boston; Troye’s famous self portrait painted while he was in Mobile,

F. Turner Reuter, Jr., forty-two important paintings and sketches

Alabama; two acclaimed mural-sized paintings, A Bazaar in Damas-

have been gathered from public and private collections, including:

cus, 1856, and Syrian Ploughman, 1856; and his final painting, Waverly,

The Jockey Club, Bethany College, Yale Center for British Arts, Vir-

1872.

ginia Museum of Fine Arts, National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, Pebble Hill Plantation, and the NSLM. This major exhibition on view through March 29, 2015, ap-

Bringing material of such magnitude “home” to the National Sporting Library & Museum is thrilling, for both our staff and visitors. It brings a fresh perspective to the artist and the broad scope

peals to both enthusiasts of turf and field sports and American

of his work. We hope you enjoy the first of what promises to be an

sporting art. It develops a narrative of Troye’s immense skill as a

innovative series.

naturalist observer and painter of animals who attained great suc-

xii

Foreword

Edward Troye and His Biographers The Archives of Harry Worcester Smith and Alexander Mackay-Smith

Martha Wolfe | National Sporting Library & Museum John H. Daniels Fellow

“I reached the Dead Sea the 6th of March 1856 having been there the day before on my way to Jerico [sic]. We pitched our tent on the 6th and I commenced painting on the 7th and continued painting until the 19th … Nothing can be more dreary…The evaporation going on is so great as to produce quite a hazyness [sic] preventing the distance from being clearly seen, while the atmosphere presents a foggy appearance.”

E

dward Troye’s transcribed diary of his trip to the Holy

Portraits and Other Paintings by Edward Troye (The National Museum

Land in 1855 is held in the National Sporting Library &

of Racing, 1981). Here in the archives, in boxes stacked nearly to the

Museum’s (NSLM) archives. Also in the archives are Harry Worcester

ceiling, is the story of three men whose lives spanned two centuries,

Smith’s papers, which chronicle his quest for Troye’s movements and

whose interests overlapped and whose souls were kindred: artist

muses a half-century later. And it was in the archives, within Harry

Edward Troye (1808-1874), the indomitable sportsman Harry Worces-

Worcester Smith’s papers, that Alexander Mackay-Smith found in-

ter Smith (1864-1945) and scholar, chronicler and author Alexander

spiration to write what is still considered the definitive text on Amer-

Mackay-Smith (1903-1998).

ica’s greatest animal portraitist: The Race Horses of America 1832-1872:

Edward Troye had taken the trip of his lifetime to the Dead Edward Troye and His Biographers

15

Smith began by contacting the Post Masters in every little hometown of Troye’s and his patrons’ families, asking for informa-

and if you are interested, I will obtain further information when I next am in that part of the Blue Grass.”

tion of the whereabouts of

Another correspondent, Tom

their living relatives. Word of

Lindsey of Louisville, Kentucky

his quest got around, which

writes: “The Singleton that

must have set off a firestorm

I had was 26 x 32 inches in

of speculation on the value

size and in perfect condition,

of Troye’s work. “Some few

figure of horse only. Since

weeks ago,” Mr. J. Churchill

receiving your letter, have

Newcomb, editor of The Chase

purchased one of Limington

Magazine writes to Smith,

and one of Lexington [plates

“while motoring in the Blue

35 & 36], both 25 x 30 inches,

Grass I came across a very odd

however, within the last week

character who had heard of

have sold all three. Am now

your interest in Troye paint-

after a small head of horse at

ings, so he packed his kit and

watering-trough…”9 One series

went down to the far South, to

of correspondences between

see if he could also unearth any

Smith and the Lucius P. Brown

unknown relics in that part of

family of Ewell Farm in Spring

the country. He returned with fig. 6. Notes referencing Edward Troye paintings that Harry Worcester Smith

Hill, Tennessee, in which

six Troyes which he tells me you have never seen…I cannot

catalogued during his visit to the home of Keene Richards’ widow, c. 1920 National Sporting Library & Museum, Harry Worcester Smith Archives

Smith attempts to secure two photographs for documenta-

remember the name nor the address of the little Scotchman that had

tion, spans nearly a decade between March, 1930 and November, 1938.

the six, but I am enough of a countryman to get back to him again

In September, 1924, C. E. Marvin, commissioner of Kentucky’s DeEdward Troye and His Biographers

21

A

lexander Mackay-Smith met Harry Worcester Smith on the hunt field in Virginia’s Loudoun Valley late in the 1930s. Mack-

ay-Smith writes about his friend: “He was then 70 years old, had only half of one lung in working order, and could gallop for not more than a mile or two…”13 “Who will continue my accumulation of thought, feeling and art?” Harry Worcester Smith mused, in a hand-written note on the back of an envelope found framed in the National Sporting Library & Museum’s archives. No date is given. When did he transcribe his fear that all he had done, contemplated, worked for and completed would go unnoticed, or worse, forgotten? [fig. 1] March 23, 1945, Harry Worcester Smith was helping Mrs. John Osgood Blanchard, (Elizabeth Amis Cameron Blanchard) author of The Life and Times of Sir Archie [Sir Archy]: the story of America’s greatest thoroughbred, 1805-1833, plan “one of her celebrated Sporting Breakfasts.”14 The guest list includes “Mr. A. Mackay-Smith, Master Blue Ridge Hunt, studious collector and historian, and Mrs. A. MackaySmith, successful breeder of ponies, etc.” The breakfast was to take place April 10. Smith died on the sixth. Carvel Collins, who compiled a portfolio of engravings, most of which are based on Troye’s paintings, titled The American Sporting Gallery: Portraits of American Horses from Spirit of the Times 1839-1844, wrote to Alexander Mackay-Smith on April 11, “Mr. Harry Worcester Smith on the day before he died gave me his compliments on your interest and skill in historical research 24

Coming Home Series: Edward Troye

Fig. 8. Wallace Wilson Nall (American 1923 – 2003) after a painting by Jean Bowman (American, 1917 – 1994) Alexander MacKay-Smith, 1955, painted 1999 oil on canvas, 44 x 35 ½ inches National Sporting Library & Museum Gift of an anonymous donor

Faithfulness to Nature Paintings by Edward Troye

Claudia Pfeiffer | George L. Ohrstrom, Jr. Curator, National Sporting Library & Museum

Two draft pages of Edward Troye’s obituary written in the

Richards was Troye’s champion in life and in death. He was a

flowing handwriting of Alexander Keene Richards on July 25, 1874,

loyal patron and friend for thirty years from the time the artist traveled

the morning of the artist’s passing, are held in the archives of the

with him to purchase Arabian horses from the Bedouins until Troye died

National Sporting Library & Museum. It is a daunting task to craft a

at Richards’ Blue Grass Park in Georgetown, Kentucky. Richards had

testimony to someone’s life and career for posterity. In the final ver-

even built a studio for him there in the last years of his life. The phrasing

sion which appeared in Richard’s hometown paper, The Weekly Times,

of the obituary echoes writings by Troye in his 1856 Oriental Paintings

he noted, “Troye’s paintings were studies from nature, faithful to a

pamphlet which accompanied the masterworks he created on com-

fault, but never mechanical. He was no imitator. He had a style of

mission for Richards while they were in the Middle East:

his own, and often said it was his head that painted his pictures, not his hand.” 2 The concept of presenting a realistic interpretation of an observed subject within its environment, also known as naturalism, had gained momentum in art. Troye would finally attain recognition for his significant contributions to animal, sporting, and early American art in the twentieth century, but most profoundly he was a gifted naturalist painter.

Edward Troye, the Artist, was selected by a gentleman of the South to transfer from nature, and true to nature, the scenes which these paintings represent…He has followed his profession in this country for more than twenty years; and his faithfulness to nature in all his delineations is well known to his many patrons throughout this country…The Artist, in his execution of the work, claims no merit beyond a faithful representation of Nature, having avoided all creations of his own imagination…”3 Faithfulness to Nature

35

In the pamphlet Troye also boasted, “The Artist was Educated

in 1805. In May 1832, within six months of his arrival, three of Troye’s

in London and Had the Advantage of the Best Masters.” He noted

paintings were accepted for exhibition at the venerable institution:

that “he commenced his profession as an animal painter after the

Attack of a Lion Upon a Horse, likely inspired by George Stubbs; Bear

style of Stubbs and Sartorius” but never expanded on who his teach-

Hunting and Attack, after a painting by Franz Snyders (Flemish, 1579 –

ers were. 4 It can, however, be safely assumed that Troye’s innate

1657), and Portraits of a Celebrated Horse and His Rider.

talents were encouraged by his father, Jean-Baptiste de Troy, a Swiss sculptor of French descent.

Edward Troye was born Edouard de Troy on July 12, 1808, in

There is no recorded description of the latter composition other than the title, but it is likely that this work garnered him attention and set him on his path as an equine portraitist. He was in

Lausanne, Switzerland. His mother died when he was an infant, and

impressive company. Others who exhibited in 1832 were historical

his father brought him and his three siblings to London, where they

painter Benjamin West, portraitist Gilbert Stuart, and portrait en-

were raised in the French Quarter. They all pursued the arts. Troye’s

graver John Sartain.

brother Charles de Troy became a painter active in Antwerp; one

While Keene Richards’ obituary notes that Troye was first

sister, Marie de Troy Thirion, sculpted medals; and the other, Esper-

employed in the “Art Department of Sartain’s Magazine,” John Sartain

ance Paligi, became a musician and the first woman to be accepted

did not start Sartain’s Union Magazine until 1848. The two, however, had

into the Paris Conservatory of Music. The young Troye proved his

much in common and traveled in the same circles. The artists were the

talent as an animal artist at a young age. Donkey and Goat, 1823 [plate

same age, both emigrated from England, and each moved to the United

1], a sensitively-executed charcoal study, is his earliest known surviv-

States within one year of each other. By the time Troye arrived, Sartain

ing work and displays artistic maturity well beyond his fifteen years.

was one of the top mezzotinters in Philadelphia. In the May 1832 exhibi-

Additionally, the signature, “E. Troye.” is evidence that the

tion, Sartain exhibited five engravings after portrait paintings, includ-

artist had already anglicized his name to Edward Troye prior to

ing a self-portrait by English artist Thomas Lawrence and two composi-

immigrating to the United States. Troye arrived in Philadelphia on

tions by Academy Chairman Thomas Sully. One of these was a portrait

October 5, 1831 at the age of 23. The largest city in the United States

of Nicholas Biddle, brother-in-law and silent breeding partner of Troye’s

at the time, it was already a major cultural center attracting interna-

first patron, race horse owner John Charles Craig. It is highly likely that

tional artists to the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, established

Craig and Troye became acquainted through the exhibition.5

36

Coming Home Series: Edward Troye

Troye’s artwork must have stood out. In the catalog he was

exhibited. For example, Henri DeLattre, a respected French painter

listed as a “Painter of Animals etc.” The prevalence of portraits,

who worked in America and was not regarded as highly as Troye

epic scenes, and mythical subjects was beginning to make room for

by connoisseurs of sporting art and art historians, exhibited at the

portrayals of landscapes and animals. According to Anna Wells Rut-

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, National Academy of Design in

ledge who compiled the Academy’s cumulative record of exhibition

New York, Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore, and at the Paris

catalogs from 1807 to 1870: “The works exhibited at the Pennsylvania

Salon in France. It is more likely that Troye no longer saw the need

Academy of Fine Arts can be classified briefly as, one ‘Old Masters’;

to exhibit after his introduction to the flood of patrons who would

two ‘Great Exhibition Paintings’; three, fashionable, contemporary

support him for the rest of his career. 8

genre and landscape, American and European; and, four, endless portraits”6 It was an innovative time in the international art scene. The tenets of naturalism in England and France had already produced some of the finest animal and sporting artists by the beginning of the nineteenth century. Although American painter Benjamin West was an innovator, gaining recognition abroad by becoming the second President of the Royal Academy in London, American art was still defined by the influence of artists who trained in European centers and came to the United States. A truly American artistic expression originating from within its borders was just beginning to take shape. 7 The 1832 exhibition was the only time that Troye exhibited at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts. There is no evidence that he tried to enter works again, and it is unlikely that his paintings would have been rejected for exhibition, in light of contemporaries who

fig. 11. Henri DeLattre (French, 1801 - 1876) Carriage Horse with a Docked Tail, 1854 oil on board, 8 x 10 inches National Sporting Library & Museum, Gift of the Family of Duffy Rathburn, 2009

Faithfulness to Nature

37

50

Coming Home Series: Edward Troye

Plate 1

Donkey and Goat, 1823 charcoal on paper 13 x 18 ¾ inches National Sporting Library & Museum Gift of Ms. Elizabeth J. D. Jeffords, 2008 While the work is signed with Troye’s anglicized name, it is inscribed with the location “8 Soho Square” and the date in French, “13 7bre [July] 1823.” The address is in the heart of the French quarter of London that had once housed the Soho Academy until 1805. Artists such as Thomas Rowlandson and J.M.W. Turner had attended, but it had long since folded by 1823 when Troye, at the age of fifteen, drew the donkey and goat with expressive eyes and subtle shading. Troye usually sketched from life. Quite possibly he saw the animals at the square. Plate 22 of John B. Papworth’s series of engravings, Select Views of London, published in 1816, depicts farm animals being herded through the Soho Square next to its park, Soho Square Gardens.

Faithfulness to Nature

51

Plate 9

American Eclipse, 1834 oil on canvas 24 ½ x 29 ¾ inches The Jockey Club This vibrant painting of American Eclipse, by Duroc, out of Miller’s Damsel, done in 1834 has a similar background to the study from life Troye sketched of the horse standing to stud at Snedecker’s farm on Long Island [fig. 13]. This version of the famous race horse American Eclipse was reproduced in the New York Sporting Magazine in September 1834. The first oil painting completed of the Thoroughbred in April 1834 was done for either Colonel William Ransom Johnson or Walter Livingston who had bought American Eclipse at auction for $8,050 in 1828. In the same public auction, Henry, the famed rival in the May 1823 match race, was purchased by Livingston’s cousin, Robert Livingston Stevens.

The great match race between American Eclipse and Henry in May 1823 marked the resurgence of horse racing in this country after the War of 1812 and a twelve-year ban on racing driven by anti-gambling sentiment. With the opening of the Union Race Course on Long Island in 1821, American Eclipse was brought out of retirement to serve as the Northern contender for a series of match races against various Southern horses. This culminated in the May 1823 race at the Union Race Course. The race had become legendary in horse racing by the time Troye painted the iconic horses a decade later.

66

Coming Home Series: Edward Troye

Faithfulness to Nature

67

Plate 22

Self-Portrait, 1852 oil on canvas 38 x 54 Âź inches Yale University Art Gallery, Whitney Collections of Sporting Art, given in memory of Harry Payne Whitney, B.A. 1894, and Payne Whitney, B.A. 1898 by Francis P. Garvan, B.A. 1897, M.A. (Hon.) 1922 Completed November 8, 1852, Troye presented the painting to his niece and her husband.

The self-portrait is another iconic work completed during his time in Alabama. The forty-four year old artist is shown dapperly dressed and sits atop a carriage pulled by a gray, contrasted against a lush green tree line. The horse is presented in a foreshortened perspective, showing the artist’s mastery in portraying depth. The composition is anchored at right with the vertical line of the building impeding the eye from leaving the canvas with a glance. The boy at left holds the reins of a bay with a saddle and blanket on the ground. Buildings are seen in the distance.

92

Coming Home Series: Edward Troye

Faithfulness to Nature

93

Plate 26

A Bazaar in Damascus, 1856 oil on canvas 84 x 64 inches Collection of Bethany College, Bethany, WV In July 1856 Keene Richards wrote a letter to the Spirit of the Times describing the figures in the Bazaar in Damascus: In this painting all of the Eastern costumes are introduced; Bedouins, with graceful abbas [long garment] and rich keffiahs [head scarves], the Turk and Turkish soldier, a Syrian Priest, the veiled women with their everlasting white gowns and yellow morocco boots, the magnificently dressed Albanian [sic] officer on horseback, and lastly the merchants sitting in theirs stalls in various attitudes‌ These, with other figures, make up a picture without confusion, and so true to nature that I shall never behold it without feeling myself transported to the spot.75

100

Coming Home Series: Edward Troye

Faithfulness to Nature

101

132

Coming Home Series: Edward Troye

Plate 38

Waverly, 1872 oil on canvas 25 x 30 inches Collection of Lawrence and Rene Kurzius The last known painting by Troye was completed in September 1872, two years before he died. The portrait of the brown stallion Waverly, by imported Australian, out of imported Cicily Jopson, was commissioned by owner James A. Grimstead of “Walnut Hill Stud” in Lexington, Kentucky. Depicted in a landscape that is much more fully defined than many of Troye’s compositions, to one side of Waverly is a group of horses, two frolicking; to the right are a stable and tree balancing the composition. Mackay-Smith wrote, “It was characteristic of the artist that only after the completion of a masterpiece was he content to put down his palette and brushes and to end his career as an artist.”97

Faithfulness to Nature

133