The Anatomy Lesson.—First, let us look at the most important work of Rembrandt in this gallery, The Anatomy Lesson by Dr. Tulp (1632), which made Rembrandt the most sought-after painter of his time.
Rembrandt was barely settled in Amsterdam and had painted only a few pictures there when the famous Amsterdam surgeon, Dr. Nicholaes Tulp, gave him the order to represent him with his students at an operation for the Amsterdam Guild of Surgeons, to be hung on the walls of their dissecting room with other works of a similar nature, such as the great anatomy pictures by Aert Pietersz (1603), by Thomas de Keijser (1618), by Claes Elias (1625), two by Mierevelt (1617), and one by Vosmaer. Rembrandt's work overshadowed them all. There is a resemblance to Vosmaer's picture and also to that of De Keijser too striking to be accidental; but Rembrandt's work shows the master's genius in the style, the arrangement of the figures, and the illumination. Bode says:
"Instead of an accidental arrangement of single persons, a masterly rounded-out composition has been created, in the happiest way, and at the most important moment, when at a point in the lecture to the learned anatomists the interest is concentrated on the body. The circumstances and the way it is painted deprive the picture of all disgust. In contrast with his predecessors, Rembrandt has painted his doctors, not as if they were having their photographs taken and gazing at the spectator, but in the most natural way—some looking at the body and some at the lecturing Dr. Tulp, Tulp himself quiet, and explaining his subject with the greatest authority. The body is painted in a masterly manner and the portraits are beyond all praise."
Physicians portrayed in the Anatomy Lesson.—On a paper held by Hartman Harmansz, the names of the physicians are inscribed: his own; Matthijs Kalkoen, who is leaning forward; Jakob de Wit, almost in profile, with extended neck, looking with extreme attention, with his collar almost touching the head of the corpse; below him, Jakob Blok, with fixed glance and furrowed brow; above Blok, Frans van Loenen, the only one present not a Master of the Guild; and, finally, lower down in the foreground, Adriaan Slabbraan, with his back turned to the spectator, but his head in profile; and Jakob Koolveld, entirely in profile, the last on the left. All are bareheaded, robed in black with plated ruffs, with the exception of Harmansz, who wears an old-fashioned ruff.
This work remained in the Surgeons' Hall in Amsterdam until 1828, when King William I. bought it for 32,000 florins.
Sir Joshua Reynolds saw it in Amsterdam in 1781, and thus described it:
"To avoid making it an object disagreeable to look at, the figure is but just cut at the wrist. There are seven other portraits colored like nature itself, fresh and highly finished. One of the figures behind has a paper in his hand, on which are written the names of the rest; Rembrandt has also added his own name with the date, 1672. The dead body is perfectly well drawn (a little foreshortened), and seems to have been just washed. Nothing can be more truly the color of dead flesh. The legs and feet, which are nearest the eye, are in shadow; the principal light, which is on the body, is by that means preserved of a compact form. All these figures are dressed in black.
"Above stairs is another Rembrandt of the same kind of subject; Professor Deeman[1] standing by a dead body, which is so much foreshortened that the hands and the feet almost touch each other; the dead man lies on his back with his feet toward the spectator. There is something sublime in the character of the head, which reminds one of Michael Angelo; the whole is finely painted, the coloring much like Titian."
Rembrandt's first Important Work.—Critics are uncertain as to whether the Presentation in the Temple, also called Simeon in the Temple, was painted in Leyden or in Amsterdam, to which city Rembrandt removed in 1631, the date of this picture; but all agree that it is his first important work, far exceeding in certainty of composition and treatment the Simeon of 1628, Peter's Denial of 1628, and the Good Samaritan of 1631.