The Anatomy Lesson Of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, a famous painting of Rembrandt, was created in 1632. At that time, "Group picture" was a miracle in the painting art of Holland. And this painting is an important milestone in the "Group picture" history.
There were a lot of associations, mass organizations and corporations inviting the artists to picture all their members at that time. And Rembrandt made the conception of "Group picture" totally different. In his new conception, the "Group picture" is not an artificial portrait of listing many people in the same way, but a stage scene full of story and each character is an actor of that stage.
In The Anatomy Lesson Of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, Rembrandt arranges eight characters. Each plays a role respectively and has special place and guidance function, meanwhile, the emotional tone is quite harmonious and united.
Dr Nicolaes Tulp puts a pair of scissors into the upper limb of a dead body with students around him. The students are either interested in watching the operation demonstration or looking at the anatomy book of Vesalius.
This painting made Rembrandt famous when he was 26 years old. Rembrandt was invited by the surgery guild of Amsterdam to picture their guild members as a group portrait.
The characters in the picture are all real. The speaker is Dr Nicolaes Tulp. As the main character, he is in the main place of the picture, the other characters are arranged in different planes for their different expressions. This kind of arrangement makes everybody visible in his place and not affected by perspective. They are the same size, or the guild would not accept it.
We can see the ideality of Rembrandt from this painting. Dr Nicolaes Tulp is talking about the methods of anatomy theory and operation practice. He looks quite experienced; the 7 students are looking at the teacher and listening to his speech carefully. Among the seven students, some can' t help coming forward to where the teacher is pointing at and are astonished by what they see; some are thinking about the lesson with the book in hands; some seem to be suddenly enlightened ; some seem like wakening from a dream. They are all full of different expressions and unique characteristics. The light comes from the left side, it lies on the dead body and the faces of all the people and makes the characters' expressions more lifelike. And these expressions are reflected extremely vivid. Meanwhile, the painter draws a very big anatomy book in the right corner. From the aspect of composition, the book, as a tool, is really a brilliant painting skill.
