Rembrandt, Unconscious Patient (Allegory of Smell), 1624-1625. Oil on panel, inset into an 18th-century panel, 12 1/2 x 10 in. Courtesy the Nortom Museum of Art and the Leiden Collection, New York

Rembrandt’s ability to see into a person and express the stories of their lives is extraordinary. He approaches his subjects with wonder, using the brush to lead him into each subject’s soul. Just look at his early series of the five senses, the “Allegory of the Senses” paintings: character studies of quack doctors in the act of examining their patients. Painted when he was only 18, the works not only display his luscious, controlled ability with paint and color but his people are each strikingly individual, their facial expressions intricate, humorous and storied. In Unconscious Patient (Allegory of Smell), each of the characters tells a rich and detailed story. The patient has fainted, an old nurse tries to revive him with smelling salts, while the barber-surgeon looks on, wearing gold chains and a richly adorned coat with pearl buttons. His cheeks and nose are ruddy as if he loves his drink. It is an astounding painting, as are the other two, Allegory of Touch and Allegory of Hearing, currently on view at the Norton Museum.

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The three paintings are privately owned by Dr. Thomas S. Kaplan and his wife Daphne as part of the Leiden Collection, named after Rembrandt’s........

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