Dr.Tulp indicates with his forceps one of the tendons of the subject's left arm, and appears to be addressing the students, or practitioners, for these seven bearded men have long passed the age of studentship.

This picture made Rembrandt's reputation.

He was but twenty-six; the world seemed to be at his feet; in the two following years he painted forty portraits.
It was not easy for our enthusiast to explain to the ladies of the Dorcas meeting that the dissection of a body was a suitable subject for the brush of a painter.

The Dutchmen of Rembrandt's day were not so squeamish as we have become since.

They had a passion for the literal painting of literal things, and this picture was destined not for a Tate Gallery, but for the wall of an operating theatre.