Thomas James Scott (American/Pennsylvania/Kentucky, 1824-1888) oil on canvas portrait painting of a brown horse in profile standing in a landscape with trees and rolling hills in the background. Signed "T.J. Scott" lower left. Housed in a stained wood frame with gadroon-molded edge. Sight: 17 1/2" H x 23 1/2" W. Framed: 21" H x 27" W. Biography: Thomas J. Scott had the good fortune to attend Central High School in Philadelphia, where his Graphics Professor was the noted portraitist Rembrandt Peale. Scott graduated with a degree in Pharmacy in 1846 but moved to Kentucky by 1856, where he studied with Edward Troye, one of the first American painters to specialize in animal subjects. Scott painted horses for the most important early turfmen in Kentucky including Dr. Elisha Warfield, John M. Clay, James Grinstead, and Major B.G. Thomas, as well as for clients around the United States. The Civil War disrupted Scott's animal portrait commissions. During the war he served as a Union Hospital Steward with the 21st Kentucky Infantry Regiment. After the war ended, he moved to Pennsylvania and became a writer and correspondent for the sporting journal, "Turf, Field, and Farm". He eventually returned to Kentucky where he died in 1888. Scott is buried in Lexington, Kentucky at the Military Cemetery. (Sources: AskArt: The Artists' Bluebook and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art).

CONDITION: Eight wax-patched holes visible en verso with associated retouching in the upper right quadrant, center, and lower left corner, all visible under UV light inspection. Craquelure throughout with associated areas of flaking and flea bite losses. Indention on the right side along the stretcher. Flaking along the right edge. Possible areas where work has been heavily cleaned.