Object Record
Images
Metadata
Object |
Painting |
Title |
Great Fire (The Burning of Troy in 1862) |
Artist/Creator |
Moses, Anna Mary Robertson (Grandma) |
Date |
1959 |
Description |
Great Fire (The Burning of Troy in 1862), 1959. Oil on pressed wood painting by Anna Mary Robertson "Grandma" Moses (1860-1961). Covered bridge on fire with orange flames. Men with red buckets nearby running toward fire, one figure in yellow on a ladder. Black horse and buggy in center foreground and man in black suit and top hat standing nearby. Man with rowboat by edge of water. Glitter lightly scattered around painting. Title written in black in lower right, signed lower left. |
Width (inches) |
16.500 |
Height (inches) |
12.250 |
Information |
On May 10, 1862 a massive fire destroyed 500 buildings and claimed 5 lives in Troy, New York, less than 30 miles southwest of Moses' childhood home. Over a period of twenty years beginning in 1939, Moses created a half-dozen versions of this scene depicting a covered bridge engulfed in flames, which was believed to be the origin of the conflagration. Her paintings were all based upon an image of the Troy fire that appeared in an ad for a local bank, which she had clipped for reference. Her earliest version of the scene followed the somber black and white illustration source quite closely, while this last version is filled with vibrant color and the activity of figures carrying buckets of water in an unsuccessful attempt to douse the fire before it spread. |
Related People |
Moses, Anna Mary Robertson (Grandma) |
Credit line |
Museum purchase, funds provided by Lyman Orton and by exchange from Mr. and Mrs. James A. Warren, the Gertrude D. Webster Collection, and Mr. and Mrs. Stanley B. Ineson |
Copyright owner |
Copyright © Grandma Moses Properties, New York |
Catalog Number |
2024.3 |