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William B. T. Trego

William B. T. Trego
William T Trego studio 1893.png
William B. T. Trego in his studio in 1893
Born September 15, 1858 (1858-09-15)
Yardley, Pennsylvania
Died June 24, 1909 (1909-06-25)
North Wales,
Pennsylvania
Nationality American
Education Jonathan K. Trego,
Thomas Eakins,
Tony Robert-Fleury,
William-Adolphe Bouguereau
Known for Painting

William Brooke Thomas Trego (15 September, 1858 – 24 June, 1909) was an American painter best known for his historical military subjects, in particular scenes of the American Revolution and Civil War.

William B. T. Trego was born in Yardley, Bucks County, Pennsylvania in 1858, the son of the artist Jonathan Kirkbridge Trego. At the age of two William's hands and feet became nearly paralyzed, either from polio, or from a doctor administering a dose of calomel (mercurous chloride). Trego's family moved to Detroit in 1874 where William was enrolled in the local school, but an incident where 16-year-old William burned off all his hair with a gas jet made his father decide to teach William in his studio from then on. Despite his crippled hands, young William showed an aptitude for art, learning to paint with a brush jammed in his right hand while he guided it with his left. William Trego first received public attention when he exhibited a painting titled The Charge of Custer at Winchester in 1879 at the Michigan State Fair. His depiction of George Armstrong Custer's charge at the Third Battle of Winchester was described by the Cleveland Press as "one of the best historical paintings of the kind that has ever been produced by an American artist."

Later that year, Trego used the proceeds from the sale of The Charge of Custer at Winchester to enroll himself at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He studied at PAFA for three years under Thomas Eakins, in courses that included instruction on aspects of the human figure, including anatomical study of the human and animal body and surgical dissection. Trego did not appreciate Eakins' rigorous, terse teaching style, and would later remark:


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