This collection can be used online or printed out so that each student receives a portrait to examine. In looking closely at their assigned portraits, students might ask questions, such as: Can a portrait be of a character vs. a real person? Does a portrait have to include a person's face? Does the sitter have to know the portrait is being created? What forms can a portrait take? These questions might help them in creating a list of attributes of portraiture. Students can then compare with their classmates and compare and contrast how their lists of characteristics might differ. By first examining one of the portraits in depth and then examining a breadth of portraits together, the class might work together to create a common definition for "portraiture". Students may be interested in comparing their common definition with a National Portrait Gallery curator's take on "Defining Portraiture: How are portraits both fact and fiction?" in the video included at the end of this collection https://learninglab.si.edu/resources/view/60783#more-info

This activity works equally well online or using printed flashcards (see the resource tile).