FAIRHOPE, Ala. — Artwork by Edward Troye will open during First Friday ArtWalk, April 2, from 6-8 p.m., at the Eastern Shore Art Center.

Troye’s career preceded the age of photography. His paintings are perhaps the only visual record of our early sires and mares whose names fill the pedigrees of our more familiar champions.

Many of Troye’s subjects were early Kentucky Derby winners.

Troye (1831-1874), a young Swiss immigrant, stepped onto American soil bringing a talent that would impact the world of the American thoroughbred. For 40 years, he painted America’s mort distinguished horses beginning with Medley, Sir Archy and Trifle, and finishing with such notables as Kentucky, Lexington and Longellow.

His commitment to authentic detail in his paintings has created a vital historical record of thoroughbreds in America.

Troye’s career began in a day preceding the age of photography so now his paintings allow us perhaps the only visual record of our early foundation sires and mares, those legends whose names fill the pedigrees of our more familiar champions.

Troye came to Mobile in 1839 and spent six years in the city. He taught French and drawing at Spring Hill College. While in Mobile, Troye painted a number of portraits and many racehorses that belonged to Mobile families.

Mobile also turned out to be convenient for the extensive traveling Troye did for his art. While based in the Port City, Troye had relatively easy access to the cultural and commercial hub of New Orleans as well as its racetracks, and he was close to the prominent Alabama racetracks of the day in or near Huntsville, Montgomery, Selma, Mt. Meigs, Hayneville, Livingston and Greensboro.

In 1855, Troye left his professorship at Spring Hill College to embark on a trip to Syria and present-day Israel.

Keene Richards, a prominent Kentucky breeder of the day wanted Troye to accompany him on the trek as an appraiser. This trip — and the Arabian horses that Keene Richards brought back — became very well known in America.

While performing his duties as an appraiser of horses, Troye found time to paint as well. He completed paintings throughout the course of the expedition, which were shown in both the United States and Canada upon his return.

While Troye traveled to such varied locations as the banks of the Dead Sea and the city of Constantinople, his wife and daughter continued to live in Alabama. When he returned to the United States in 1857, Troye and his family left Mobile for Kentucky.

The artist made his home in the Bluegrass State throughout much of the 1860s.

When the Civil War erupted, the horse racing business suffered. Troye had to transport many of his paintings from Kentucky to England to prevent their destruction.

He persevered in spite of the country’s upheaval and continued to paint prolifically. A few years after the end of the war, the family returned to Alabama, this time buying farmland in Madison County.

He continued to paint during his years there. In 1869 Troye completed 14 paintings. The following three years, however, showed the waning production of an aging artist.

In an 1870 letter to a friend, Troye indicated that he “sought retirement in the quiet of his country home.”

On July 25, 1874, Troye contracted pneumonia and died while visiting his friend Keene Richards in Georgetown, Kent. Because he was so far away from Madison County at the time of his death, Troye was buried in Georgetown.

Although buried in Kentucky, a case can be made that Alabama was home to Edward Troye. He traveled widely and lived in many places, but when it came time to put down roots, he staked his claim in Madison County.

With his paintings from the Middle East, Troye made important contributions to the Orientalist style. His works — subjects as varied as landscapes, people, horses and other animals — now reside in university collections, museum and private collections around the world.

At auction, a Troye painting can sell for as much as $300,000. In Alabama you can still find Troye treasures here and there — a remnant of what he created here.

Included in the exhibit:

•1855 print of Lexington (grandfather of seven of the first 10 Kentucky winners) on loan from private collection of Charles Corte.

•“Gamma,” on loan from Belle Meade Plantation, Nashville, Tenn.

•“Leviathan,” 1932 hand-colored print.

•“Old Reality,” on loan from Jack Warner, Westervelt Warner Museum of American Art, Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Also on display in April is “The Courtyard and Beyond.”

It is an exhibit by 15 artists, which gives visitors an opportunity to experience the pleasure of functional and sculptural works of art in an outdoor setting.

For more information, call (251) 928-2228.