Rembrandt's group portraits are often characterized by their dynamic energy and the way they capture the event in mid-action. In this work, Rembrandt innovatively transformed group portraiture by dramatically focusing on the event in mid-action, rather than merely presenting a posed scene. As a result the work becomes a mise-en-scene, a kind of graphic documentary, and a masterful portrait.
This is a painting of Dr. Tulp, who is providing a lesson in anatomy. He holds a forceps in his right hand and lifts a tendon from the partially dissected arm of a man who had been executed for armed robbery earlier that morning. Tulp looks toward the seven men gathered around the corpse as his left hand gestures to explain an anatomical point. The men, their white collars and fine clothes indicating their wealth, look in various directions. The three closest to the center lean forward as if watching Tulp's hands, while the two in the back look out toward the viewer. The two on the far left, depicted in profile, face toward Tulp but seem to be looking beyond him, outside the picture frame. A sense of dynamic movement and psychological complexity resultsāno one returns Tulp's gaze or looks directly at the pale corpse. The umbra mortisāor shadow of deathāfills the center of the canvas. The man's body evokes Christ's iconography: his genitals covered with a piece of white linen, which was used to wrap corpses during burial rituals at this time period (1632). Yet here, he is forgotten as his dissected arm grimly conveys death's reality
