A Capital Collection: Virginia's Artistic Inheritance

For more than two hundred years the Commonwealth of Virginia has commemorated its history, culture, and notable citizens by commissioning and collecting art. Internationally important works, such as Houdon's Washington, have been on public view in the State Capitol, but the vast majority of the commonwealth's treasures reside outside the public eye, in buildings in Richmond's Capitol Square and at the Library of Virginia. A Capital Collection features this remarkable collection, highlighting thirty-one works. The book presents full-color images of portraits, sculpture, and historical paintings ranging from Hiram Powers's bust of Daniel Webster to Eugene Louis Lami's monumental painting Storming of a Redoubt at Yorktown by American Troops. Each work is supported by descriptive text with biographical sketches of the artists, chronicling major figures of American and European art such as Joel Tanner Hart, Francis Legatt Chantrey, William Couper, John Adams Elder, John Frazee, Alexander Galt, Louis Mathieu Didier Guillaume, Harriet Goodhue Hosmer, Attilio Piccirilli, William Thompson Russell Smith and Edward Virginius Valentine. A Capital Collection documents for the first time a significant yet little known public collection and is a must for readers interested in the rich artistic and cultural history of the commonwealth and the United States.