{{Short description|Swiss-American painter (1808–1874)}} {{Infobox artist | name = Edward Troye | image = Edward Troye retouch.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Edward Troye | native_name = | native_name_lang = | birth_name = | birth_date = 12 July 1808 | birth_place = Lausanne, Switzerland | death_date = 25 July 1874 | death_place = Georgetown, Kentucky, US | resting_place = Georgetown Cemetery (Georgetown, KY) | education = | alma_mater = | known_for = Painter, teacher | notable_works = | style = | movement = Realism | spouse = Corneila Van de Graff | partner = | awards = | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website = | module = }}

'''Edward Troye''' (12 July 1808 – 25 July 1874) was a Swiss-born American painter best known for his portraits of Thoroughbred horses.<ref name="Historic Kentucky">{{cite book|last=Coleman|first=J. Winston|title=Historic Kentucky|publisher=Henry Clay Press|location=Lexington, Kentucky|year=1968|edition=Second|pages=62}}</ref>

==Early life and background== Troye was born on July 12, 1808, in Lausanne, Switzerland.<ref name="Historic Kentucky" />

==Travels== At age 20 he emigrated to the West Indies, and later on to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where he was an employed artist of ''Sartain's Magazine''.<ref name="American Biography">{{cite book|title=Dictionary of American Biography|editor=Dumas Malone|publisher=Charles Scribner's Sons|location=New York|year=1964|volume=X|chapter=Part 1}}</ref>

==Career as painter==

===Life in Kentucky=== On July 16, 1839, Troye married Corneila Van de Graff of Scott County, Kentucky, and settled in Central Kentucky where he lived for the next 35 years.<ref name="Historic Kentucky" />

While living in Kentucky, Troye painted portraits and race horses for the local families in Georgetown, Kentucky. He worked primarily for the Steele and Alexander families, and Alexander "Keene" Richards.<ref name="American Biography" />

Troye taught French and drawing at Spring Hill College, 1849–1855.<ref name="American Biography" />

===Later travels and move to Alabama=== Later he and Richards traveled to the Holy Land where he painted horses, Damascus, Syria cattle, the Dead Sea and the bazaar of Damascus while Richards bought Arabian horses. Bethany College, West Virginia, retains copies of some of these paintings.<ref name="American Biography" />

In 1869, Troye moved his family to a {{convert|700|acre|km2|adj=on}} cotton plantation in Madison County, Alabama. Troye returned to Kentucky and resided at the home of longtime friend Keen Richards until his death from pneumonia on July 25, 1874.<ref name="Historic Kentucky" />

==Death and legacy== Troye's best works, between the years 1835 and 1874 (prior to the birth of photography), are true-to-life delineations of historical American Great Plains horses. He painted Southern United States pre-American Civil War thoroughbreds. Little was known of Troye's work in the eastern United States until 1912. Since then, more than 300 of his paintings have been found, of which three-fourths have been photographed since 1912. In addition, he is the author of ''The Race Horses of America (1867)''.<ref name="American Biography" />

Troye is buried in Georgetown Cemetery with his wife and grandson, Clarence D. Johnson.<ref name="Historic Kentucky" />

==Notable horse paintings== [[File:Self Portrait in a Carriage Edward Troye.jpeg|thumb|right|300px|''Self Portrait in a Carriage'', oil on canvas, 1852, Yale University Art Gallery]] *American Eclipse and Sir Henry *Bertrand *Black Maria *Boston and his son, Lexington *Glencoe I *Kentucky *Lecomte *Leviathan *Longfellow *Ophelia - dam of Gray Eagle *Reality *Reel *Revenue *Richard Singleton *Ruthless<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/lot.73.html/2004/the-collection-of-mr-and-mrs-walter-m-jeffords-n08016 |title=The Collection of Mr. and Mrs. Walter M. Jeffords |publisher=Sotheby's |date=2004-10-29 |accessdate=2019-09-30}}</ref> *Wagner *West Australian

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== {{Commons category|Edward Troye}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Troye, Edward}} Category:1808 births Category:1874 deaths Category:Artists from Geneva Category:Painters from Philadelphia Category:People from Scott County, Kentucky Category:19th-century American painters Category:American male painters Category:19th-century Swiss painters Category:Swiss male painters Category:Painters from Kentucky Category:Spring Hill College alumni Category:Swiss emigrants to the United States Category:19th-century American male artists Category:19th-century Swiss male artists Category:Burials at Georgetown Cemetery (Georgetown, Kentucky) Category:Spring Hill College faculty