John Martin Tracy (1843-1893)
Leicester
signed "J.M. Tracy" lower right
oil on board, 10 1/2 by 14 in.
Newhouse Galleries labels on back with title, artist

John Martin Tracy was born in Rochester, Ohio. His father was an abolitionist preacher who was killed in an anti-slavery demonstration. His mother, Maria Conant Tracy, was a journalist who covered the Crystal Palace Explosion in London. Tracy attended Oberlin College and Northwestern University. He enlisted in the 19th Illinois Infantry in 1861. After the Civil War, he husbanded his resources from teaching and farming to attend the Ecole de Beaux Arts in Paris. He studied there for a year, after which he traveled extensively throughout the United States. He returned to Paris in 1874 for further study and exhibited at the Paris Salon that year. In 1881 he settled in Greenwich, Connecticut, where his paintings were esteemed for being exceptionally accurate.

This portrait of "Leicester" captures the likeness of one of the pioneering English setters. After Leicester won the Westminster Kennel Club Champion English Setter Dog category in 1881, it was reported, "Leicester never looked better, and as Mr. Moore states this is his last exhibition, we were glad to see the old dog retire a champion." The dog won an award at the Philadelphia International Exhibition in 1876, and in 1883, at the seventh Westminster Kennel Club dog show, "Mr. Moore's famous setter, Leicester, valued at $10,000, [was] also exhibited, but not for competition." A.H. Moore managed Cloverdale stock farm near Philadelphia, and made the news in 1892 and 1893 for buying race horses for top prices. His father, Andrew M. Moore, was partner in Moore & Sinnott, the largest whisky distiller in the world. He died at age 84 with "a fortune estimated at $5,000,000," according to his death notice.

Provenance: Private Collection, Florida

Literature: "Forest and Stream," April 28, 1881, p. 254.
"Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper," May 12, 1883, p. 185.

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15.25 x 18.5 in