A professor in the Fine Arts Department has gathered portrait, ranging from death masks to oils, for a show opening tonight at the Arthur M. Sackler Museum that will be used to teach his core course this spring.

To supplement the usual reading, writing, and sections for Literature and Arts B-31, "The Portrait," Professor of Fine Arts Henri T. Zerner has gathered more than 100 works of art at the one-year-old Sackler. Zerner will open the show at 5:30 p.m. with a required lecture and tour of the exhibit.

Zerner, who is also curator of prints of Harvard's art museums, said he planned the art show to teach his students that "portraits are not simple things." A portrait is more than just a reflection of the subject's physical features, he said.

Students taking Zerner's course will attend sections at the exhibit and will have assignments pertaining to the exhibit, he said.

Art courses in the past have also incorporated exhibits at Harvard museums, Zerner said, adding that the fall course Literature and Arts B-25, "Rembrandt and his Contemporaries," also puts together a show to supplement reading and lectures.

The exhibit, which opens to the public Saturday, features portraits from 3000 B.C. to the 1980s by artists from Sumeria to Renaissance Europe to modern America. Zerner said he plans to use examples from the portraits on display to demonstrate the development of the portrait from the stereotypical style of the ancient Egyptians to the detail of Rembrandt.

The class is also intended to demonstrate that portraits are not limited to paintings alone, he said. In addition to the standard oil paintings, the exhibit features sculptures, coins, drawings, prints, and photographs. The works include a 12th century B.C. gold death mask, Andy Warhol's "Marilyn," Walt Whitman's death mask, and a Kennedy half dollar.

Other works on display include Francois Boucher's "Mme. de Pompadour and her Toilet," Kirchner's "Self-Portrait with a Cat," the Egyptian "Stele of Ramses II," and the likenesses of such historical figures as Julius Caesar, Sophocles, Louis XIV, Nero, and Oliver Wendall Holmes.

The various works come from collections in Harvard's art museums as well as Houghton Library, the Semitic Museum, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Krakow Gallery in Boston.

The exhibit will run February 7 through April 26. General admission to the exhibit costs $3 and $1.50 for senior citizens and students. Harvard students, children and Saturday morning visitors, however, can get into the exhibit for free.