DUTCH ART OF the seventeenth century encompassed an explosion of genres concerned with everyday life, with the theme of life and death consistently running through it. The image of a living body (human or animal) that has become dead addressed the balance between this life and the promise of the next under the complex power structures of the Dutch society driven by religion, politics, and progress. Under the doctrine of Protestant Reformation, concerned with “God made flesh,” the focus on the body as a transformative tool, connecting man with the higher power of God, appropriately took centre stage. Fulfilling more than a narrative function, or an interest in purely physiological approach for educational purposes, the image of a dead body in Dutch art was used to imagine and describe transformations of the larger world. The imagery went beyond Christian iconography, and extended to still-life, dead game and hunting trophies, market scenes portraying meat stalls and bleeding carcasses, and narrative depictions commemorating important events. Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn, as one of the leading Dutch artists of the century, considered the fluidity of contemporary Dutch society by blending genres of art and engaging the viewer with dramatic compositions.

Genre Painting: Group Portraiture and the Anatomy Lesson

The growth of the painting market in Holland in the seventeenth century sparked increased interest in and accessibility of art. In the first half of the century the number of painters rose dramatically, doubling in its peak between 1619 and 1639. As art was in demand among the middle classes who wanted to decorate their homes with pictures, artists developed strategies for increased productivity. The striving for stylistic techniques to distinguish themselves from others instigated developments in both portraiture and genre paintings. When Rembrandt arrived in Amsterdam in 1631, his reputation had already been established in his home town of Leiden. Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (figure 17) was his first group portrait commission in Amsterdam, and intended to commemorate the members of the surgeons’ guild.

A painting of an anatomy lesson portrayed a once-a-year event, the public dissection of a criminal, conducted by the Praelector (the Head Surgeon) for that year. The painting was intended to depict the guild members in the context of their profession.