Richard Taylor's Tender Only to One is best interpreted within the framework of five questions and answers which provide five different explorations of the relationships between painting and writing. First, does the form of the novel lend itself to a comparison with some characteristics of painting? Second, in those sections of the book establishing a link with the visual arts by reference to well-known painters, is the writing to be construed as biographical or fictional? The next question is: why did Taylor choose these particular painters and not others? The penultimate question is: what do these painters and the novel's own characters share? Finally, is there any kind of reference to particular pictures in the novel, and, if so, what is their function?
