Art Collections: Paintings

Swiss-born artist Edward Troye painted portraits of race horses in America throughout the middle of the 19th century. This painting of a bay colored mare ("bay" means brown coat with black mane and tail) and her foal was commissioned by William Ransom Johnson (1782-1849). Johnson was a leading owner of Thoroughbreds and earned the nick-name of “Napoleon of the Turf,” due to his many champion horses. Troye traveled to his farm, called “Oaklands,” in Chesterfield County, Virginia, to paint this and several other paintings in 1833.