747

Edward Troye (Swiss/American, 1808-1874), "Lady Ridley Held by 'Picayune', a Black Boy of about Fifteen Dressed in a Top Hat and Eton Jacket," 1836, oil on canvas, signed "E. Troye" and dated "Nov. 1836" lower right, 19-3/4" x 24-1/4". Presented in a contemporary giltwood frame. Provenance: Painted for Ambrose Lecomte (1807-1883), "Magnolia Plantation", Natchitoches, Louisiana; thence by descent to Lecomte's granddaughter Mrs. L. A. Cockfield (1883-1978), Natchitoches, Louisiana, 1939; Robert De Blieux (1933-2010), Natchitoches, Louisiana; Felix Kuntz (1890-1971), New Orleans, Louisiana, thence by descent to his niece Karolyn Kunst Westervelt (1939-2015), New Orleans, Louisiana. Illustrated: Mackay-Smith, Alexander. The Race Horses of America, 1832-1872: Portraits and Others by Edward Troye. Saratoga Springs: National Museum of Racing, 1981. p. 86 and index.

Edward Troye, the preeminent equestrian artist of 19th-century America, depicted hundreds of race horses, chronicling some of the only visual records of the antebellum sport and its breed pedigree. Though born in Lausanne, Switzerland to French Protestant parents, Troye grew up in England and was reared in the traditions of the British sporting societies. Following a short jaunt in Jamaica as a sugar plantation manager, Troye immigrated to America, finding work as an animal illustrator in Philadelphia. These early forays led to the submission of three paintings to the annual exhibition at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, which attracted the attention of horse enthusiasts, including his first patron John Charles Craig, the thoroughbred breeding magnate from Carlton Farm in Pennsylvania. Craig was pivotal in launching Troye's career in the industry; his connections led to many commissions, including illustrations for The American Turf Register and Sporting Magazine - the nation's first sporting periodical. All together the periodical features twenty-one of Troye's paintings as its frontispieces. Troye's work greatly appealed to his affluent patrons because it emulated the stylistic conventions of British sporting depictions, particularly that of George Stubbs (1724-1806) and elevated flat and harness racing to an industry of gentry reflective of the purebreds it produced.

By 1833, Troye had left Philadelphia, pursuing commission across the country that took him from major racetracks and races to wealthy breeders and owners. After an eight-month sojourn in Alabama, where he painted six horses belonging to Colonel Crowell at Fort Mitchell, Troye arrived in the late fall of 1836 at Magnolia Plantation in Natchitoches, Louisiana - a setting for this painting. At the behest of Ambrose Lecomte II, the plantation owner, turfman and race horse aficionado, whose stables also produced the famed "Flying Dutchman", "Lecomte" and "Lady Brown", Troye was commissioned to paint his champion mare "Lady Ridley." True to his characteristic style, Troye composed the painting horizontally with the animal centrally framed against a backdrop of foliage and flanked by a jockey/groom or trainer. Troye's uncluttered, stylized approach enabled him to focus on the horse's physique from its withers to its hocks and tendons in its forearms and gaskins.

Lavish attention was equally paid to the groom called "Picayune" - another name for trivial or insignificant, which is an oxymoron given his fine dress, expression, and relative position to the horse. According to Jessica Dallow in her pivotal essay on Troye and antebellum sports illustrated, African-American men in the racing industry occupied an ambivalent place between cherished chattel and revered athletes. Boys born of both free-men and slaves from the age of ten to fourteen years of age were handpicked for their physique, agility and acuity to train as grooms. They were rigorously instructed for seven years as apprentices in the art of training and riding horses for the turf before they were able to matriculate to jockey or trainer, and it was not uncommon for owners to handsomely pay for their grooms' education in the field. After the abolition of slavery, African-American men excelled as athletes in horse racing; they won all the early runnings of the Kentucky Derby. "Picayune's" Eaton jacket, stripped English waist coat and what Harry Worcester Smith described when he saw the painting in 1939, as a "black beaver top hat" further sanction the burgeoning wealth of the racing industry. In the words of Dallow, "the sartorial splendor, specifically the top hats and tails worn by trainers...evidences its (the industry's) desire to perpetuate its noble lineage...that necessitated greater, more specialized, more stratified staff.

This painting's provenance is no less illustrious and intriguing than the picture it depicts. Magnolia plantation, the setting that inspired the 1989 movie "Steel Magnolias" is nationally recognized as one of the South's historic treasures. It was built by Lecomte in 1830, and then rebuilt in 1889 by his son-in-law Matthew Herzog after Federal troops burned it in 1864 while retreating from the battle at Mansfield. From Lecomte, the Troye painting passed to his youngest daughter Eliza Prudhomme (1840-1923) and her daughter Noelie Cockfield (1883-1978). Shortly after the death of Mrs.Cockfield's husband Dr. Leroy Akron in 1947, the work was acquired by the DeBlieux family, also related to the Prudhommes through Robert DeBlieux's maternal grandmother (Ophelia Prudhomme Roubieu). Robert DeBlieux, an ardent historian and preservationist, served as the mayor of Natchitoches from 1976-1980, and was instrumental in founding of the Natchitoches Historic District. From DeBlieux, the Troye painting entered the esteemed art collection of Felix Kuntz, much of which is now conserved in the New Orleans Museum of Art.

References: Mackay-Smith, Alexander. The Race Horses of America, 1832-1872: Portraits and Other Paintings by Edward Troye. Saratoga Springs: National Museum of Racing, 1981. Dallow, Jessica. “Antebellum Sports Illustrated: Representing African Americans in Edward Troye's Equine Paintings.” Nineteenth-Century Art Worldwide 12:2 (2013); Gould, Philip, Richard Seale and Robert DeBlieux. Natchitoches and Louisiana's Timeless Cane River. Baton Rouge: LSU Press, 2002.


  • Condition: In generally good condition. Evidence of past restoration: scattered inpainting along upper right edge and corner extending down to lower right corner, along lower edge, a rectangular area at tip of tail, small scattered areas across canvas. Most inpainting done to fill in separation due to craquelure. Scattered small areas of craquelure, including area of radiating craquelure with some separation in upper left corner. Layer of surface soiling and dulling of varnish layer. The painting has been relined. Stretcher marks along all four edges of canvas. In overall good, professionally restored condition.

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