The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp by Rembrandt

[@LelouchLothric]

One small detail I love about this painting is the navel of Aris being an R for Rembrandt

[@RoshDroz]

Is that a real factoid or are you just pointing out the funny coincidence? Because it does clearly look like an R

[@sean..L]

I think there is a massive contrast in how the dead were painted before and after the scientific revolution. Before the human corpse was painted as if transfigured by death, the condition of the soul was believed to be reflected in that of the human substance. After the protestant reformation and subsequent scientific progress the human body is depicted more as a finely tuned machine made from innumerable parts. The realism of this piece is a good example of this change. All that aside, my birthday is January 16th what a cool coincidence!

[@bepinkfloyd814]

I was thinking that It was probably because before they could not really study the corpses. I think only in the renaissance period they started to study corpses and were very few people allowed like Michelangelo and Leonardo but i'm not sure cause i'm not very good with memory and i just smoked a joint. That said i find It fascinating too how things changed in rappresenting things during history, cool shit bro.

[@abhishekjiwankar1]

The corps's hand was the same hand that did the crime. By pulling the exposed muscle Dr Tulp is able to mimic the grabbing motion of the hand so easily. The same motion that cost the poor guy his life.. It could also be read as how the upper class is "forcing" the hand of a poor person.

[@Kittyququmber]

I thought that the corpse had his RIGHT hand cut off and then Rembrandt painted the right hand in. Isn’t that what the narrator said?

[@gnarbeljo8980]

@@Kittyququmber it doesn't matter to this interpretation. Which I think has some real merit. Rembrandt did many works on commission with deeply critical content but not obvious enough to his patrons to lose his popularity and living. The fact he gave him his hand back would support a critical point of view from the corpses perspective. Rembrandt didn't disfigure him, and instead gave him his hand back, and for a reason, so perhaps he didn't blame him either. It's a heinous punishment for attempting to steal an overcoat. There's alot of political statements in Rembrandt's work. Sometimes quite brave to the point of risks. But the wealthy bourgeoisie didn't read into it bc they were busy being selfabsorbed. I know of many contemporary parallels that prove this is still the case and perhaps will always be. What you don't see isn't there, and the privileged don't see the poor. They may study them as specimens but aren't concerned with other perspectives than their own bc they don't have to be and it doesn't favor their privilege. It's timeless things like this that makes this painting a masterpiece.

[@BDuckie100]

Interesting point to note is Rembrandts confidence to paint the corpse with his feet pointed at the viewer, as most public dissection paintings at the time often hid the feet away as it was seen as a hard thing to get right anatomically given the perspective that Rembrandt paints it in

[@peanutparade1]

Thanks! Always a great resource in my art history classes! Keep up the great work!

[@Shawn.Grenier]

Thank you so much Andrea!!

[@alarcon99]

So that’s why the right arm is shorter than it should be! Rembrandt originally painted it with the hand cut off! I wonder what made him change his mind? Or if someone else painted a hand over the stump? The inaccuracy of the dimension doesn’t seem like the kind of mistake Rembrandt would make.

[@untruelie2640]

Very nice video, but I'm a bit disappointed that you didn't include the interpretation that the painting critizises anatomic studies of this time. If you look closely, you will notice that nobody looks at the disected hand itself but on the anatomical book instead. Those men are students of anatomy yet they don't see (don't WANT to see?) what a real hand looks like; they are more interested in the description of a human hand in the book. The 17th century was a period of transition between the old scholastic way of studying science (in the medieval age) and the new way of studying science using the scientific method (in the modern age). Before the scientific revolution, the ancient works of Aristotle and Galen were seen as the infallible source of knowlegde, sanctioned by the church and not questioned by scholars. Galen had only used monkeys and other animals for his anatomical studies and because of that his work was full of mistakes. Yet still, even after disections became legal in the 17th century, the scholars continued to rely on Galen as the absolute authority of anatomical knowledge - even if they saw with their own eyes that the real human anatomy was quite different from what he had described his works. (Quite similar to the reluctance of Astronomers to believe that Jupiter had its own moons. Even when Galileo Galilei showed them the moons with his telescope, they insisted that this couldn't be true since it contradicted the Ptolemaic world view. Cognitive dissonance at its best...) According to this interpretation, Rembrandt wanted to critizise that these scholars were more interested in written knowledge rather than trying to find things out for themselves by experimenting and studying the real matter.

[@Yuzu895]

Thank you very much for your point of view, I have a presentation for school and you’re very useful. ( sorry my English is bad )

[@SuperDynakin]

Very well done. This whole channel makes art history easy to digest and very engaging to watch.

[@davybee13]

Wow wow wow! What a fantastic video about a beautiful piece. Well written and captivating. This is only the second video of yours I’ve seen, but I can tell that you, like the artists you analyze, are talented.

[@Shawn.Grenier]

Those are some incredibly kind words! Thank you so much! It really means a lot.

[@andrzejmaranda3699]

The Canvas: BEAUTIFUL & INTERESTING!

[@SourSourSour]

Rembrandt is one of my favourites of that time. Thank you for the great video!

[@Shawn.Grenier]

No problem! And thank YOU for commenting!

[@ghostofguy]

Cheers! Seen this painting many times in the Rijks museum.Thanks for the info!!!

[@Shawn.Grenier]

You're welcome! I'm glad you enjoyed!

[@lulzdragon7339]

I can't help but think that this guy was just really desperate for that cloak, but when dude refused he just wasn't actually willing to kill him for it. It's the only explanation I can of and it's such a sad thing to get executed over.

[@gregquinnthrift9632]

I started watching your video and realized that I had a book on Rembrandt 1606-1669 which has the paintings in it that you're discussing today very interesting.

[@B.Mega.D]

I like that you added the soundtrack. It enriches the video.

[@lavievient]

Truely informative and interesting. Thanks a lot!

[@Kiro6666]

Rembrandt is one of my favorite Masterful Artist Masterpiece Painting and Paintings

[@sam08g16]

Great video and analysis as always! Thanks and keep up the good work.

[@Shawn.Grenier]

Thank you Vito!!

[@alexislachance-bergeron2959]

Amazing video! Love the editing!

[@Shawn.Grenier]

Thank you Alexis!

[@Kittyququmber]

Interesting that the two arms are such different lengths. The left hand reaches about midthigh. The right hand appears 6-10 inches shorter???

[@Babyjohn8170]

Great video! You have a new subscriber.😊👍

[@frankcandela7374]

Personally, I see the metaphor of life is short, and finite - in this masterpiece. The triangle formed by the young surgeons mass points heavenly, but their beards point to the corpse, as if to say we all end up this way- further driven home by the gaze of the central student right into our living (temporarily) eyes. How will you spend your life, as a criminal or in pursuit of a greater knowledge??

[@HBAY82]

it is a very beneficial video. Thank u so much

[@Malik-Ibi]

Thanks for a great analysis. A very interesting painting. At what year it was the painting made?

[@Shawn.Grenier]

Thank you!! And the painting was made on the same year of the dissection, in 1632

[@AnnabelleBeaudoin]

Great video 👍

[@angelicaleija9301]

👁👄👁 DAMN I wonder how the “invitations” to that said like “Care to see what’s really on the inside ?!?” Well ponder no more this afternoon seek and yeee shall find” 💀💀💀

[@JiveDadson]

I am convinced that the guy at the far left was added after the fact, possibly by a different hand.

[@vicckyyy2001]

HOW do you paint the face of death so well?

[@lolgames885]

amazing

[@mared8000]

Do you have this information written out somewhere? I’d like to read it instead listen to it so I can go over the given information again.

[@الف-ز7ي]

Thank you for arabic translate!

[@bwolff7364]

Super cool vid as always- only part I'm unsure about at the end is, and this is more a personal opinion I suppose, I don't think the abuse of working class people was/is a necessary step for scientific progress

[@6542g]

What is curious is that the hand is the wrong way round, appears quite flat and looks like a diagram - the one they are seeing in the book. Also, Rembrandt appears to have signed his letter R signature in the belly-button.

[@lindanorris2455]

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE GOYA.

[@dicrimple_dopdiddlyoinkus]

?????? is that a joke?????????????????????????????

[@natto2251]

I wonder why he painted Kindt's right hand.

[@artclubmeerut7921]

Please available in hindi language

[@brandonrankin124]

i love and i hove some most fun see you videos i like sceientif is all sow good for the change an medices the soul is progress of a human body and death

[@martinreinhart4194]

These interpretations are completely absurd and show how solid arthistrorian research is exchanged for sheer fantasies. If you had taken the trouble to have a look at Vesalius' work, you would have noticed that the hand was taken 1:1 from the protrait of the anatomist. This was done at the express wish of Dr Tulp, who wanted to be portrayed as the successor of Andreas Vasalius. It is also incomprehensible that the history and significance of the Dutch guild portraits is not mentioned in a single sentence in this context. In my art history class you would have failed big time.

[@Xeronimo74]

This reminds me of that atlas of human anatomy that a lot of universities have used since WW2, mostly not knowing that it was actually created by Dr Mengele and his Nazi henchmen ... it helped save lives, of course, but at what price?

[@dandychiggins7240]

What about the corpse having such short limbs? It's kinda freaky 😣

[@gregquinnthrift9632]

I also have a print of The Descent from the Cross 1633 . it looks very old . it would be great if it was real.

[@ahobimo732]

Am I alone in thinking that a society using public dissection as a criminal punishment is deeply, deeply, DEEPLY fucked up?

[@thechosenone5644]

No, you’re not. Just killing someone is honestly more than enough and it doesn’t work if the person you’re dissecting doesn’t even care to begin with.

[@Yuzu895]

Thank you very much for this video, it really helped me for my school work 🫶🫶🫶

[@TheGGreggs]

This great painting has been exhausted by commentary. Modernists delight in explaining its ironic depiction of wealthy vain Dutch surgeons more eager to see their own portraits than the dead body whose portrait grab our attention rather than theirs. I like the music overlaid on the slow tour of the canvas but found the social commentary too dramatic and far too preachy. Interpreting a painting in this way is like explaining why a joke is funny-- at the end of the explanation everyone nods knowingly but no one is laughing.

[@thisstillchangesnothing]

Some humans are truly monsters