Rembrandt's Nose: Of Flesh and Spirit in the Master's Portraits

The year 2006 marked the 400th anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest portrait painters that ever lived, the Dutch seventeenth-century master, Rembrandt. Although Rembrandt is among the most important artists in western history, and perhaps our greatest draftsman, no one has ever, until now, been able to pinpoint exactly how it was that he so precisely and effortlessly captured the spiritual essence of his subjects. This insightful, sophisticated and yet accessible illustrated reading-format study, written by the preeminent scholar and translator Michael Taylor, will be as enlightening and delightful to Rembrandt scholars as to lay readers. Taylor looks at Rembrandt's self-portraits, his society portraits, historical paintings and biblical scenes, and identifies how it was that the artist rendered his subjects so alive, so full of earthy, flesh-and-blood vitality--which all boils down to his treatment of the nose. Rembrandt's Nose is a gem of a book, an intimate, candid and extremely entertaining engagement with the works of art themselves, interwoven with racy historical snippets that contextualize the artist's breakthroughs and techniques. It includes some 49 reproductions, as well as a complete chronology of Rembrandt's life.

Michael Taylor creates a series of portraits that are as full of ingenuity, passion, and attention to quirky detail as Rembrandt's paintings themselves. Art history has seldom been so entertaining and enlightening. --Ross King, author of Brunelleschi's Dome, The Judgment of Paris, and Michelangelo & the Pope's Ceiling.

Michael Taylor's starting point for this enchanting essay is a feature that is as plain as could be, and is central to the destiny and the mortal features and aspirations of his great subject, the painter. Taylor's meditation unfolds with grace of language and insight, and a familiar use of what can be known now of Rembrandt and the world he revealed. --W.S. Merwin, former Chancellor of The Academy of American Poets and recipient of the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

Zooming in on the center of Rembrandt's faces, Michael Taylor finds meanings we all have missed. What appeals to me most in his lyrical appreciation is that he writes not only about what Rembrandt's noses look like, but also how they smell and breathe. --Gary Schwartz, author of The Rembrandt Book.

This is the best kind of criticism: informed without being pedantic, passionate but elegant, witty and earnest at the same time It is worth a whole stack of weighty tomes on the master. --Mark Polizzotti, Publisher, The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and author of Revolution of the Mind: The Life of Andre Breton.

"'Last year marked the 400th anniversary of Rembrandt's birth, and in this slim, intensely focused volume, Paris-based scholar Taylor (translator of Pierre Schneider's seminal work, Matisse) presents an unusual and carefully researched study that stands alone while acknowledging the author's debt to Simon Schama's Rembrandt's Eyes. 'If the sitter is the lead actor of a performance... then the nose is his understudy on the stage of the face,' Taylor writes with characteristic verve, underscoring a major theme: the drama of physiognomy and how Rembrandt engaged it in innovative ways and with emotive depth. For Rembrandt, Taylor argues, the nose is a sensual, sexual, vital and often definitive element in his portraits and self-portraits. Taylor's study presents a broader chronological exploration of the painter's portrayal of the human form and the self-portraits he obsessively created throughout his life. Several of Taylor's themes are familiar, such as Rembrandt's interest in the body's physical decline. Yet his perspective is often fresh and probing; the discussion of moral blindness and 'seeing-in-blindness' in Rembrandt's Tobit series is particularly illuminating. Taylor's prose is elegant and his interpretations show engagement with Rembrandt scholarship, making this book appealing. to those with a general interest in Rembrandt as well as to scholars of the painter and period. 49 illus. (July 1)' Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)" Publishers Weekly (Copyright Reed Business Information, Inc.)

Taylor analyzes the work of Rembrandt, looking specifically at how he painted noses in his portraits and how they work with other features to add life to the paintings. He examines paintings from the artist's early to late years: the 1620s to the 1660s. All paintings and drawings are shown in b&w. No index is provided. Taylor, a translator and author, teaches at Parsons School of Design in Paris. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

The year 2006 marked the 400th anniversary of the birth of one of the greatest portrait painters that ever lived, the Dutch seventeenth-century master, Rembrandt. Although Rembrandt is among the most important artists in western history, and perhaps our greatest draftsman, no one has ever, until now, been able to pinpoint exactly how it was that he so precisely and effortlessly captured the spiritual essence of his subjects. This insightful, sophisticated and yet accessible illustrated reading-format study, written by the preeminent scholar and translator Michael Taylor, will be as enlightening and delightful to Rembrandt scholars as to lay readers. Taylor looks at Rembrandt's self-portraits, his society portraits, historical paintings and biblical scenes, and identifies how it was that the artist rendered his subjects so alive, so full of earthy, flesh-and-blood vitality--which all boils down to his treatment of the nose. Rembrandt's Nose is a gem of a book, an intimate, candid and extremely entertaining engagement with the works of art themselves, interwoven with racy historical snippets that contextualize the artist's breakthroughs and techniques. It includes some 49 reproductions, as well as a complete chronology of Rembrandt's life.

"Michael Taylor creates a series of portraits that are as full of ingenuity, passion, and attention to quirky detail as Rembrandt's paintings themselves. Art history has seldom been so entertaining and enlightening." --Ross King, author of "Brunelleschi's Dome, The Judgment of Paris," and "Michelangelo & the Pope's Ceiling."Distributed Art Publishers, Inc.