The anatomy lesson of Dr Tulp - De anatomische les van Dr Nicolaes Tulp

I wrote this ages ago but for some reason never published it.  But here it is!This painting by Rembrandt is in the Mauritshuis in Den Haag.  Last year on holiday I visited the gallery to see The Girl with the Pearl Earring (who in Dutch is just " The girl with the pearl " , although it doesn ' t rhyme in Dutch), butDe anatomische les van Dr Nicolaes Tulp is there too.  This was Rembrandt ' s first commission on moving to Amsterdam, commissioned by the Surgeon ' s Guild.Tulp gave annual anatomy lectures, open to the public (on payment).   The paper being held by one of the surgeons present at one point had the names of the sitters on it, now painted out.   I wonder who he is, and what the paper is (or is it a book - I had wondered, with no evidence, if it was an anatomy atlas, and the man holding it was comparing it with the dissection, or guiding it?).  Perhaps we can see that man as a prototype health librarian, there in the background of a procedure or intervention.  Perhaps he even was the guild ' s librarian, but that may be going a fanciful step too far!As the information from the Mauritshuis points out, Tulp looks like he is seated on a throne, and is also the only one present who is wearing a hat, although originally one of the others wore one, till Rembrandt painted it out.  The man who had the hat painted out is Frans van Loenen, who is the man in the top left who is looking at us and pointing at t...
Source: Browsing - Category: Databases & Libraries Tags: medical history Rembrandt Source Type: blogs