In his more than 40 years as a scholar and teacher of American art, John Wilmerding assembled a collection of 51 exceptional paintings and drawings by 19th-century American artists who have been of particular scholarly interest to him. American Masters, which accompanied an exhibition at the National Gallery of Art, is the first book to present and document this important collection. In addition to paintings by Fitz Hugh Lane and George Caleb Bingham, the collection includes superb examples by Martin Johnson Heade, Frederic Edwin Church, John F. Peto, Winslow Homer, Andrew Wyeth, Thomas Eakins, and others. Following a general essay on Wilmerding as scholar, teacher, and collector, the book features a comprehensive catalog of the collection with detailed descriptions of each work, information on provenance and exhibition history, and large-format illustrations.