Capital Portraits: Treasures from Washington Private Collections presents little-known artistic treasures from important Washington area private collections. These portraits by major artists date from the mid-eighteenth century to the present, and they speak to the many reasons that paintings and sculpture continue to represent and capture human likenesses and personalities. Privately collected, commissioned, or inherited, they have seldom, if ever, been seen in a public setting. The catalogue, which accompanies an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery from April 1 through September 5, 2011, illustrates the portraits and recounts their histories, including comments by living sitters about having their portraits made.