Don Troiani (born 1949) is an American painter whose work focuses on his native country's military heritage, mostly from the

American Revolution The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in British America between 1765 and 1791. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British in the American Revoluti ...

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States, United States of America and its Indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom ...

and

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. His highly realistic and historically accurate oil and watercolor works are most well known in the form of marketed

mass-produced Mass production, also known as flow production or continuous production, is the production of substantial amounts of standardized products in a constant flow, including and especially on assembly lines. Together with job production and ba ...

printed Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The e ...

limited-edition reproductions, illustrated books, book compilations, museum and government collections. He is also a

militaria Militaria, also known as military memorabilia, are military equipment which are collected for their historical significance. Such items include firearms, swords, sabres, knives, bayonets, helmets and other equipment such as uniforms, military ...

collector.

Biography

Troiani was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and studied at the

Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Pennsylvania (; (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appa ...

and New York City's

Art Students League The Art Students League of New York is an art school at 215 West 57th Street in Manhattan, New York City, New York. The League has historically been known for its broad appeal to both amateurs and professional artists. Although artists may stu ...

between 1967 and 1971.

Artistic style and historical accuracy

Don Troiani's paintings are realistic and academic in style, mostly oil on canvas or Gouache on paper. He uses posed models with clothing and equipment from his collection of original uniforms, equipage, insignia and weapons. Troiani also studies battlefields, weather conditions, and structures depicted in his paintings firsthand. In 1995, he designed the three Civil War battlefield commemorative coins for the

United States Mint The United States Mint is a bureau of the Department of the Treasury responsible for producing coinage for the United States to conduct its trade and commerce, as well as controlling the movement of bullion. It does not produce paper money; tha ...

. His work has also appeared on a U.S.

postal card Postal cards are postal stationery with an imprinted stamp or indicium signifying the prepayment of postage. They are sold by postal authorities. On January 26, 1869, Dr. Emanuel Herrmann of Austria described the advantages of a ''Correspo ...

commemorating the anniversary of the U.S.

National Guard National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards. Nat ...

. Troiani is also a recipient of the Meritorious Service Award of the United States National Guard. Forty of his original paintings have been in a special exhibition at the "Museum of the American Revolution " in Philadelphia from October 2021 until September 2022. Troiani's artwork has appeared on various media, including: * NBC/Universal * FOX NEWS * CPTV * CNN * NPR (National Public Radio) * America Online * ''The O'Reilly Factor'' * '' Colbert Report" * ''Madam Secretary '', TV series * A&E Military and Discovery channels * U.S. Department of State * ''The Washington Post'' * "American Revolution Center'' * ''The New York Times'' * ''PBS News Hour'' * ''Los Angeles Times'' * ''U.S. News & World Report'' * ''The Washington Times'' * ''National Geographic'' * ''USA Today'' * ''American Heritage''* * "FOX Nation" * ''American Rifleman'' * ''American Indian Magazine'' * ''Civil War Times'' * ''The Arizona Republic'' * ''America's Civil War'' * ''The Hartford Courant'' * ''Southwest Art'' * ''Southern Accents'' * ''The Boston Globe'' * ''Connecticut Magazine'' * ''Smithsonian'' * ''Antiques and Arts Weekly'' * ''Litchfield County Times'' * ''Coin World'' * ''Waterbury Republican American'' * ''Civil War News'' * ''Danbury News Times'' * ''VFW Magazine'' * ''The Courier News'' * ''Barnes and Noble Books'' * ''Sterling Publishing'' * ''The Gettysburg Times'' * ''America's Civil War'' * ''The Bridgeport Post'' * ''Military History'' * ''Man at Arms'' * ''Numismatist'' * ''The Quarterly Journal of Military History'' * ''Pallasch Magazine'' (Austria) * ''P.M. Magazine'' (Germany) * ''Publicat'' (Poland) * ''International Churchill Society'' * ''Militerhistorie'' (Norway) * ''Confederate Veteran'' * ''Art Business News'' * ''Fine Art Connoisseur'' * ''Civil War Preservation Trust'' * ''The Times Picayune'' * ''Warner Brothers Productions'' * both publications of the ''Daughters/Sons of the American Revolution'' * ''Antiques Roadshow FYI Magazine'' * ''Scholastic Inc'' * ''Philadelphia Inquirer'' * ''Ct Insider'' * ''Broad Street Review'' * ''Metro-Philly'' * ''Trenton Times'' * ''The Norwalk Hour'' * "Dorling Kindersley " * "Stride" * "Houghton Mifflin Harcourt" * "Stackpole Books" * "The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc." * " Bonnier Publications" * " America's Civil War Magazine" * " Morningside Press" * " Knox Press" * " World History Group" * " South Carolina Educational Television" * " WCTV"

Militaria collector

Troiani has an extensive collection of

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, Revolutionary War, and

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

uniforms, equipage, insignia and weapons. He also consults and appraises for museums and collectors on the subject of military artifacts. Items from his militaria collection have appeared in the Time-Life "Echoes Of Glory" series on the Civil War. Other artifacts of his have been loaned for exhibition at the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums and education and research centers, the largest such complex in the world, created by the U.S. government "for the increase and diffusion of knowledge". Founded ...

Delaware Historical Society The Delaware Historical Society began in 1864 as an effort to preserve documents from the Civil War. Since then, it has expanded into a statewide historical institution with several buildings, including Old Town Hall and the Delaware History Muse ...

, Connecticut Museum of History, Museum of the American Revolution, Pamplin Park, The

West Point Museum The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...

Virginia Historical Society The Virginia Museum of History and Culture founded in 1831 as the Virginia Historical and Philosophical Society and headquartered in Richmond, Virginia, is a major repository, research, and teaching center for Virginia history. It is a private, n ...

, Museum of the American Revolution, and the National Park Service Visitors Center in

Gettysburg, Pennsylvania Gettysburg (; non-locally ) is a borough and the county seat of Adams County in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg (1863) and President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address are named for this town. Gettysburg is home to th ...

Historical consultant

Troiani has been a consultant on Civil War uniforms and equipage for the feature film, '' Cold Mountain'',"Daily Press Article.
/ref> 52 episodes of History Channel's ''Civil War Journal'', and the 1994 A&E miniseries ''The American Revolution''.

Institutions holding or displaying his work

* United States State Department * Wisconsin Military Academy * The Booth Museum of Western Art, Cartersville, GA. * Smithsonian's Museum of History and Technology * The Washington Monument * Gettysburg National Historical Park * National Museum of the United States Army, Fort Belvoir, Va. *

U.S. Army War College The United States Army War College (USAWC) is a U.S. Army educational institution in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, on the 500-acre (2 km2) campus of the historic Carlisle Barracks. It provides graduate-level instruction to senior military officer ...

* U.S. Marine Corps Museum * Museum of the American Revolution, Philadelphia, PA. * National Civil War Museum, Harrisburg, PA. * Parks of Canada * United States Mint * West Point Museum * The Pentagon, Washington, D.C. * National Museum of African American History and Culture *

North Carolina Museum of History The North Carolina Museum of History is a history museum located in downtown Raleigh, North Carolina. It is an affiliate through the Smithsonian Affiliations program. The museum is a part of the Division of State History Museums, Office of Archives ...

* Pamplin Park * Heritage Plantation, Sandwich, MA. * National Civil War Museum, Harrisburg, PA * Minuteman National Historical Park * Boston Tea Party Ships and Museum, Boston, MA. * Cowpens National Historical Park, * Fort Stanwix National Historical Park, Rome, N.Y. * U.S. Cavalry Museum, Fort Riley, Kansas * U.S. Army Center of Military History * Pennsylvania Historical & Museum Commission * Boston National Historical Park * Oneida Indian Nation * Saratoga National Historical Park * Morristown National Historical Park * U.S. Army National Guard Bureau * Greensboro Historical Museum * Fort Ticonderoga * Guilford Court House National Park * Virginia Museum of the Civil War, New Market VA * Pritzker Military Museum & Library *

Union League of Philadelphia The Union League of Philadelphia is a private club founded in 1862 by the Old Philadelphians as a patriotic society to support the policies of Abraham Lincoln. As of 2022, the club has over 4,000 members. Its main building was built in 1865 and ...

* The African American Museum ,Philadelphia, Pa. * National Museum of Military Vehicles

Books

Books authored and co-authored by Don Troiani: * ''Don Troiani's Civil War'' (1995) * ''Soldiers in America 1754-1865'' (1998) * ''Military Buttons of the American Revolution'' (2001) * ''Don Troiani's Soldiers of the American Revolution'' (2007) * ''Don Troiani's Regiments and Uniforms of the Civil War'' (2002) * ''Don Troiani's American Battles: the art of the nation at war, 1754-1865'' (2006) * ''Insignia of Independence - Military Buttons and Accoutrement Plates of the American Revolution (2012) * ''Don Troiani's Civil War Soldiers'' (2017) * ''Don Troiani's Campaign to Saratoga-1777'' (2019) * ''Don Troiani's Gettysburg: 36 Masterful Paintings and Riveting History of the Civil War's Epic Battle'' (2019) * ''Liberty'' Don Troiani's Paintings of the Revolutionary War (2021)

Notes

References

"Artist Marches to Own (Military) Beat — Don Troiani," ''New York Times'' (November 17, 2002.)

"An Armchair Commander," ''Los Angeles Times'' (January 2, 2004.)

''Hartford Courant''

"Washington Times"

"American Rifleman" "The Arms Of April 19th 1775"
* "Fine Art Connoisseur" June 20, 2022, Vol. 19, Issue 3, pages 098-105

External links

Official Don Troiani Website

Photograph of Don Troiani, 2011

Photographs of Don Troiani

"Cleveland Banner"

"The Daily Press"

"L'Idea Magazine"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Troiani, Don American war artists 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters Academic art Living people Military art Painters from New York (state) 1949 births 20th-century American male artists