BMJ 2008;336:1075 (10 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.39559.677708.3A
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The Anatomy Lesson
Munier Hossain, staff grade surgeon, Ysbyty Gwynedd, North Wales
munierh@doctors.org.uk
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
Rembrandt’s famous painting The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Pulp (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Rembrandt_Harmensz._van_Rijn_007.jpg) was a group portrait commissioned by the Guild of Surgeons of Amsterdam. Rembrandt was only 26 at the time he painted it. The itinerant painter had travelled from his native Leiden to Amsterdam. Luck readily smiled on him.
Dr Tulp—the newly appointed reader of the Guild of Surgeons—needed a portrait to befit his new status. Rembrandt’s genius was in transcending the limited appeal of a group portrait to become a chronicler of anatomy dissection of his time. What is the story behind this autopsy? Where did the body come from? As a surgeon I get easily drawn to the subject matter.
Rembrandt leaves us various clues to the life and times of his contemporary anatomist. The body looks too healthy for him to have died a natural death. Only corpses of executed murderers were allowed for dissection
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