RAFAEL TROYA (1845-1920)
El Cotacachi (4,944 m-16,220 ft)
Ecuador
In El Cotacache.Vista tomada de Chorlaví (Pva. de Imbabura), 1913 ,
Archivo Histórico del Banco Central del Ecuador, Quito. Colección Bertha Troya de Pazmiño, Quito
The mountain
Cotacachi (4,944 m-16,220 ft) is a dormant volcano in the Western Cordillera of the northern Ecuadorian Andes, in the west of Imbabura Province, above the city of Cotacachi. It has a summit elevation of 4,944 m (16,220 ft) above sea level and its highest elevations are capped with snow.
The summit of Cotacachi is located within the Cotacachi Cayapas Ecological Reserve. It was first climbed on 24 April 1880 by Edward Whymper, Jean-Antoine Carrel and Louis Carrel.[2]
The painter
Rafael Troya (1845-1920) was an Ecuadorian painter born, the son of the painter Vicente Troya. Being a teenager, he is taken to the Colegio de la Compañia de Jesus in Quito, but he soon abandons the clerical career to dedicate himself to what was his true vocation: painting. With the painter Luis Cadena, he learns the technique of colors. In 1872, he definitely choose the landscape and accompanied Reis and Stübel on their study trips in Ecuador on Nature and Archeology. Troya becomes the portraitist of nature, painting compositions full of color and life. In 1890 he came back in the capital of Imbabureña, and decided to be completely dedicated to his art. There he made several masterpieces, such as the paintings on the Apostles, which today are admired in the Ibarra Cathedral, the Ibarra Foundation, preserved in the Hall of the city of Ibarra; Allegory of love, panoramic view of Ibarra; The earthquake of Imbabura, and several religious canvases that are conserved in some churches of Quito, in the church of Caranqui and in the Museum of the Central Bank of Quito. In his paintings, green and bluish tones predominate, characteristic of his native land. He painted a lot of mountains of the Andes and the most famous volcanoes of the Cordillera.
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2018 - Wandering Vertexes...
by Francis Rousseau