Edward Troye

Major Barak G. Thomas, Kentucky
Acquired by The Jockey Club, 1907

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Sport and the horse, catalogue of the exhibition of paintings assembled at the museum in Richmond from April 1 through May 15, 1960, no. 68, illustrated.
Alexander Mackay-Smith, The Race Horses of America, 1832-1872, Portraits and Other Paintings by Edward Troye, 1981, p. 332, illustrated, 333, 434.
Genevieve Baird Lacer, Edward Troye: Painter of Thoroughbred Stores. Prospect, Kentucky: Harmony House Publishers, 2006, p. 221.
National Sporting Library & Museum, Coming Home Series: Edward Troye (1808-1974), Virginia, 2014, pl. 39, pp. 45, 126, illustrated, 127, 140.
Speed Art Museum, Tales from the Turf: the Kentucky Horse, 1825-1950, 2019.

Dixie was a bay mare, foaled in 1859, bred by J. G. Boswell, by imported Sovereign out of St. Mary by Hamlet. This portrait was commissioned by Major Barak G Thomas, who commissioned several other portraits by Troye. Signed and dated July 19, 1871, this portrait along with others from the Thomas collection were almost immediately put on public exhibition at John S. Wilson's Drug Store, a gathering place for artists and writers in Cheapside, Kentucky and occasional exhibition space, as announced by the The Lexington Daily Press on October 9:

FINE PAINTINGS
The lovers of fine art and admirers of the turf should not fail to call at Mr. Wilson's Drug Store and inspect the paintings by Mr. Troye of the celebrated racers DIXIE and AUREOLA, the property of Maj. B. G. Thomas. These pictures will remain at Mr. Wilson's but for a few days, and should be seen by everyone.