The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp

The Dutch anatomy lessons

March 31, 2020

JMS Pearce Hull, England, United Kingdom Fig 1. The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp. 1632. Rembrandt van Rijn. Mauritshuis. The Hellenistic anatomist Herophilus (c. 330- c. 260 BC) and the physiologist Erasistratus (c. 325– c. 250 BC) were granted limited permission to dissect executed criminals with consent of the first Ptolemaic Pharaohs. This practice, […]

Art and Medicine

January 24, 2017

JMS Pearce East Yorks, England Art has been said to deepen compassion for suffering.1 Paintings have been interpreted as “metaphors for human feelings . . . they are nonliteral symbols of the inner life.”2 Paintings trigger emotions and insights, “generating associations and tapping new, different, or deeper levels of meaning.”3 It is inherent in all […]

Rembrandt—The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp

January 22, 2017

Tan Chen Grand Rapids, Michigan, United States The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, 1632 Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn Rembrandt’s The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp depicts a rare occasion of a public dissection in Amsterdam in 1632. This painting was commissioned by the Amsterdam Guild of Surgeons during the time Dr. Tulp […]

As I lay dead

January 22, 2017

James Nie California, United States The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, 1632 Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn Mauritshuis, The Hague Death came out of the blue. I spent my last night with a glass of Jameson, grading biology tests and half watching a Matlock Marathon with my wife. We were happy: our daughter was […]