Rembrandt’s work is one of the most famous in the history of art. Dr. Nicolaes Tulp is depicting and explaining the musculature of the arm to medical professionals through the body of the deceased criminal Aris Kindt, 41 years old and hanged that same day for armed robbery. However, some of those depicted were simply curators who paid a series of commissions to be included in the works. The event was dated 16 January 1632 when the Amsterdam guild of surgeons, to which Tulp belonged and of which he was the official anatomist, allowed one public dissection a year, preferably in winter for the better preservation of the body. Such events were therefore rare and spectacular to the point of becoming social events. They were accessible even after payment of an entrance fee and required clothing appropriate to the solemnity of the event.
Collection: Images
Project: 11. Science and culture as representation in Europe.
Chronology: XVII
Scope: Secondary education, Baccalaureate, University
Resource type: Image
Format: Oil on canvas (169,5 x 216,5 cm)
Source: Mauritshuis (La Haya)
Language: English
Date: 1632
Owner: Álvaro Romero González (Modernalia)
Identifier: 146
Copyright: Mauritshuis (La Haya)
Abstract: Anatomy lesson where Dr. Nicolaes Tulp dissects different parts of the human body in front of the audience
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