Rembrandt’ s extraordinary paintings of female nudes— "Andromeda," "Susanna," "Diana and her Nymphs," "Danaë , Bathsheba"— as well as his etchings of nude women, have fascinated many generations of art lovers and art historians. But they also elicited vehement criticism when first shown, described as against-the-grain, anticlassical— even ugly and unpleasant. However, Rembrandt chose conventional subjects, kept close to time-honored pictorial schemes, and was well aware of the high prestige accorded to the depiction of the naked female body. Why, then, do these...