The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp

Rembrandt painted this anatomy lesson in 1632, in Amsterdam. He was 26, recently arrived from Leiden, and this was the painting that established his reputation in the city. The Amsterdam Guild of Surgeons commissioned it as a group portrait of its members, and Rembrandt delivered something no one had seen before: a group portrait that was also a dramatic scene. Dr. Nicolaes Tulp stands at the right side of the painting, wearing a black coat and a white collar. He is dissecting the left arm of a corpse that lies on the table at the center. The corpse is a criminal, executed by hanging earlier that day. Seven surgeons surround the table, watching Tulp work. Each surgeon is painted as an individual, with a specific face and expression, but they are also arranged as a group, their heads rising and falling in a wave across the canvas. The painting broke the conventions of Dutch group portraiture. Before Rembrandt, guild portraits were static arrangements of figures lined up in a row. Rembrandt arranged the surgeons around a central event, the dissection, so that each figure is reacting to the same thing. Some lean forward to see the arm, some look at Tulp, some look at the open anatomy book at the lower right. The book is a copy of De humani corporis fabrica by Vesalius, the 1543 anatomy text that founded modern anatomy. Rembrandt had been in Amsterdam since 1631, working as a portrait painter. He had trained in Leiden under Jacob van Swanenburgh and then in Amsterdam under Pieter Lastman. The Anatomy Lesson was his first major commission in Amsterdam, and it made him famous. Within a year he was the most sought-after portrait painter in the city, with more commissions than he could handle. Oil on canvas, 170 by 217 centimeters, roughly 67 by 85 inches. Rembrandt painted with a controlled surface, building the faces in thin layers of warm color over a dark ground. The light comes from the upper right, falling on the faces and the corpse in a sharp diagonal. The background is dark, almost black, with the figures emerging from the shadow. The corpse is painted with unusual realism, the skin grey-green, the muscles of the arm exposed and separated. The horizontal format and dark subject make this print work well in a study, office, or living room with traditional furniture. The medical subject suits a doctor's office or a university setting. A dark wood frame matches the painting's tonal range. The 18x24 size gives the faces and the dissection enough detail to appreciate up close. The painting is in the Mauritshuis in The Hague, where it has been since 1828. This is a public domain artwork. We print it on archival matte paper at sizes from 8x10 to 18x24 inches, framed or unframed. The image is printed at full resolution with no cropping.