This collection presents highlights of the National Portrait Gallery with an emphasis on the schools of art and media, as well as styles and techniques used by artists to portray their subjects and capture their essence.  Since the mission of the Gallery is to tell the American story through the lives of people who made significant contributions, all of the sitters are American, and the vast majority of the artists are as well.   First we will look at some traditional portraits and then take a look at how portraiture has evolved in the U.S. over the last two centuries.