Sale 6384
| Philadelphia
| Philadelphia
Estimate$12,000 – $18,000
Provenance:
Alexander Campbell, founder of Bethany College, and Alexander Keene Richards.
A gift from the above.
Exhibited:
Middleburg, The National Sporting Library & Museum, "Faithfulness to Nature: Paintings by Edward Troye," October 26, 2014 – March 29, 2015.
Lot Note:
While Troye was the premier American thoroughbred horse painter of his day, the present painting was a result of his trip to the Middle East accompanied by the wealthy Kentucky horseman, Alexander Keene Richards. Troye travelled there in search of Arabian horses. During this sojourn from 1855-1856, "Troy would execute some of his most famous works, careful renditions of some of the sites in the Holy Land most sacred to Christianity, thereby departing from his usual practice of animal portraits in favor of landscapes." (Gary A. O'Dell, "Artist in the Holy Land: The Pilgrimage of Edward Troye," Cheiron: The International Journal of Equine and Equestrian History, vol. 5, no. 1, 2025, p. 88). The present painting, and another mural-sized canvas, Syrian Ploughman (1856), comprise Troye's foray into Orientalism. Here we see a bazaar in Damascus before the entrance to the Great Mosque, centered by an Albanian officer astride a white mare called "Lulie" (O'Dell, ibid., p. 94). As Claudia Pfeiffer notes in describing this painting, "It is easy to get lost in the rich colors, vibrant details, and the individual animal and figurative portraits in the highly-detailed composition."
Framed: 98 x 81 in.
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Adam Veil
VP, Head of Department, American Art and Pennsylvania Impressionists