Truchas, 1972 12" x 16" Oil Painting (with frame *need to measure* by Jan Worsoe

Truchas began as the Nuestra Señora del Rosario, San Fernando y Santiago del Rio de las Truchas Grant, a Spanish land grant in 1754 and remained a relatively unchanged outpost over the centuries. The courageous and hardy settlers of Truchas hand-dug miles of acequias (irrigation ditches) to bring water from the trout-filled river which gave the town its name (Río de las Truchas is Spanish for river of trout).  A paved road did not enter the community till the early 1970s. Robert Redford's The Milagro Beanfield War (1988) was filmed there. 

Because the community had remained unchanged for so long, it still operates under many of the original Spanish land grant bylaws; for example, cars must share the roads with livestock.

Jan Worsøe is a listed artist born in Norway, died in Newport Beach in 2002. In the 50's he lived and worked in Chicago. In the 70's he lived in Long Beach California where most of his art concentration was on ships and galleons. Prior to that, he lived in Santa Fe-Taos where he began to do western and Indian Art. His work was on exhibition at Andazola Gallery and many others in Southern California, including private showings in Beverly Hills, where many of his paintings were purchased.