Former Advance Auto Chairman Nicholas Taubman and his wife, Jenny, have pledged $15 million to the new Art Museum of Western Virginia, museum officials confirmed Monday, making them the largest single donors to the $66 million project.

The Taubmans are considering additional funding for the museum as well, museum Executive Director Georganne Bingham said. Asked if their gift is the largest made to the museum project to date, Bingham said, "Oh, yes. By far."

The confirmation came in the wake of a Saturday story in The New York Times that said the Taubmans are $25 million donors to the project. Although Nicholas Taubman was quoted in the article, the figure itself was not attributed. Bingham said Monday that the Taubmans have committed $15 million at the present time.

Jenny Taubman is co-chairwoman of the museum's capital gifts committee, though she has been less in evidence here since her husband was named ambassador to Romania in 2005. The Taubmans could not be reached for comment Monday.

Warner Dalhouse, who heads the museum's development committee, said they are hoping others will step up so the Taubmans won't have to donate any more.

"The Taubmans, the Fralin Trust and some other deep pockets have put a lot of money in it," Dalhouse said of the museum project. "I think the Taubmans have done their part."

The Taubmans contributed more then $5 million to the museum between 2003 and 2005, according to museum tax returns, but the total amount of their pledge has not been made public until now. In fact, the Taubmans' $15 million pledge was made four years ago, Bingham said, and is being delivered in increments, with one year yet to go.

According to tax records, other major contributors to the museum in recent years include the Horace G. Fralin Charitable Trust and the Mary Thomas Trust. Phone calls to Fralin trust administrator Heywood Fralin on Monday were not immediately returned. Mary Thomas bequeathed her inherited collection of art and memorabilia from American realist painter Thomas Eakins and his circle to the museum upon her death in 2001. Her gift was a catalyst for the new museum building, set to open in the fall.

The confirmation of $15 million from the Taubmans dwarfs all previously known contributions and is bound to fuel speculation that the museum will ultimately be named for them. "You can speculate all you want," Bingham said, laughing.

Overall, the museum's capital campaign is going "swimmingly," Dalhouse said. About $52 million has been raised to date, he said, from fewer than 200 donors.

"We've had a really good three weeks in December," Bingham said.