Engaging history with Portraits

I followed up on a Syracuse Stage postcard I received; leading me to Robert Shetterly's portrait project, Americans Who tell the Truth. Although he is basically looking to sell us something, the concept of rendering a portrait, that close reading, as a first step in discovering and investigating an "historic" person holds real promise for a classroom project. I see there are some lesson plans posted. I look forward to brainstorming on this a bit more, maybe even doing some of our own "historic" students, alumni, etc.