CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA.-Fifty major works of American fine and decorative art will be exhibited at the University of Virginia Art Museum. “A Jefferson Ideal: Selections from the Dr. and Mrs. Henry C. Landon III Collection of American Fine and Decorative Arts” marks the first exhibition of the Landons’ nationally recognized collection. The collection focuses on American paintings and decorative arts from the late 17th through the 19th centuries.

Henry C. (“Hank”) Landon III, a University of Virginia alumnus (BA ’44, MD ’47), is a member of the Museum’s Advisory Board. He and his wife, Barbara, have been collecting fine and decorative arts since 1961.

This special exhibition features major examples of 18th- and 19th-century American painting and furniture, including works by Albert Bierstadt, John Singleton Copley, Childe Hassam, Winslow Homer, Thomas Moran, John Singer Sargent, Gilbert Stuart and Benjamin West, as well as high chests, desks, chairs and tables that represent such important centers of manufacture as Philadelphia, New York, Boston and Newport, R.I..

“The University of Virginia — Thomas Jefferson’s University — has long focused on American art with a particular emphasis on the period of Jefferson’s life and legacy,” said Jill Hartz, director of the museum. “The exhibition strengthens the University’s commitment to its heritage and Jefferson’s philosophy.”

The full-color catalogue, “A Jeffersonian Ideal,” ($35 for museum members, $40 for non-members) includes essays by the collectors, Hartz, and Richard Guy Wilson, U.Va. Commonwealth Professor of Architectural History, and entries on individual pieces by Andrea Douglas, curator of collections and exhibitions; Maurie McInnis, associate professor in the McIntire Department of Art; Roger Stein, emeritus professor in the McIntire Department of Art; and students in McInnis’s spring 2004 material culture seminar.

The exhibition is made possible with the generous support of the Museum’s Volunteer Board and members, the Oakwood Foundation, and the Arts Enhancement Fund of the Provost’s Office.