Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp is a well-known painting of the Dutch artist Rembrandt van Rijn. The original, dating from 1632, is in the museum Mauritshuis in The Hague, The Netherlands. The painting depicts a lecture in anatomy delivered by Dr. Nicolaes Tulp to a group of surgeons. The public lecture took place in De Waag (weighing house) in Amsterdam, that time De Waag possessed an anatomic theater. It is the first group portrait by the then 26-year old Rembrandt. Depicted are the surgeons: Jacob Blok, Hartman Hartmansz., Adraen Slabran, Jacob de Witt, Mathijs Kalkoen, Jacob Koolvelt and Frans van Loenen, and of course, the lecturer Dr. Tulp.

The dissected body is that of Adriaan Adriaansz. (alias Aris ’t Kint), who had been hanged earlier that day (January, 1632) because of theft. The Amsterdam Surgeon Guild allowed one public dissection per year and the body that was dissected had to be the remains of an executed criminal.

In 1828, when the painting was in the possession of the widow fund of the Surgeon Guild (the Guild itself had been dissolved 1798), it was decided to auction it to support the widow fund with its proceeds. However, the Dutch King Willem I prohibited the auction of the painting and ordered to buy it for his Koninklijk Kabinet van Schilderijen (Royal Gallery of Paintings), that was open to the public and had moved a few years earlier (1822) to the Mauritshuis. It was bought for 32,000 dfl.

In 2006 the left lower arm of a cadaver of a 41-year white male was dissected and photographs were made of the different stages of the the dissection and compared with the painting. It was found that the anatomical characteristics of the painting could not be reproduced.

External link
http://www.mauritshuis.nl/index.aspx?siteid=40