With Observation and Imagination

A richly illustrated volume presenting outstanding Old Master paintings from the 17th and 18th Centuries from the Saunders Collection at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts. This elegant volume presents 44 outstanding Old Master paintings, primarily from the 17th and 18th centuries, that Jordan and Thomas Saunders III collected over the past 25 years. Included in the Saunders Collection are works by renowned Dutch, Flemish, French, Italian, and English masters, among them Frans Hals, Jan Davidsz de Heem, Jan Brueghel, Peter Paul Rubens, Nicolas de Largillière, Canaletto, Francesco Guardi, and Thomas Lawrence. This richly illustrated catalogue was written by a team of specialists under the guidance of Arthur K. Wheelock Jr, former curator at the National Gallery of Art. The introductory essay discusses the principles that guided the Saunders in forming their collection, and the individual entries examine how artists fused careful observation with the imagination to create beautiful and thought-provoking paintings. These texts also examine the social, economic, and political realities that had an impact on these artistic creations.