Taylor's brief but densely composed study of Rembrandt's portraits focuses on details viewers may have missed, particularly the artist's depictions of noses. In what he acknowledges as a debt to Simon Schama's masterly Rembrandt's Eyes (1999), Taylor posits the nose as the unacknowledged focus of several Rembrandt masterpieces. The nose functions variously as a sculptural mass, a receptor of light, and often a key component of the artist's famously dramatic chiaroscuro. When light sweeps laterally across the sitter's face, as it often does, the nose is the fence that separates bright illumination and shadow. Sometimes you feel Taylor chafing at the minimalist parameters within which he works, fighting, then, sometimes, giving in to the temptation to delve into other aspects of Rembrandt's work. Nance, Kevin
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