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Oil on canvas Signed, dated 1855. Provenance: Newhouse Galleries The Jockey Club Illustrated: pg. 101. Alexander Mackay-Smith, The Race Horses of America, 1832-1872, Portraits and Other Paintings by Edward Troye, 1981. Exhibited: "Sport in American Art" Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. October 10 - December 10, 1944. Fashion was the undisputed Queen of the Turf in the 1840s. Game, sturdy, and long-running, she was the celebrated winner of one of the most important races held in 19th-century America: a four-mile match against the famous Boston. The match was held May 10, 1841, at Union Course on Long Island, New York, and was attended by an estimated 70,000 race fans. Fashion set a new record of 7:321‚ÅÑ2 for the distance and in the process became the adored banner-carrier for the northern states in this most famous of the North-South sectional matches held in the years prior to the Civil War. The New York Express published an account of the race in an article titled: "GREAT MATCH RACE BETWEEN FASHION AND BOSTON-THE NORTH AGAINST THE SOUTH" The great contest between the North and South, so far as horse power or speed is concerned, was yesterday settled on the Union Race Course. The noble animals chosen to decide this grave question were Fashion and Boston. At the tap of the drum both were off like rockets. The exciting moment had at length arrived, and all that immense concourse of spectators were in breathless anxiety. The heat was closely contested for the first three miles-Boston kept about a length ahead, but Fashion passed him on the fourth and came in about her length ahead, making the heat in 7 minutes and 32-1/2 seconds. After a lapse of 30 minutes the bugle again sounded, and they were off for the second heat- Fashion took the lead the first two miles, and Boston came in ahead the third mile, but was passed again by Fashion on the fourth, winning the second heat by about 50 yards. The purse was $20,000 a side, which was put up on Monday and the preliminaries settled. Some few small bets were made on the ground but not to any extent. The weather although cloudy in the morning, boding a stormy day, turned out one of the very best for the occasion. Everything came off to the entire satisfaction of all, except perhaps the losing party, and even they submitted with Christian fortitude. Henri Delattre (French, 1801-1876)