The Moral Dissection

Image: Johannes de Frey, The anatomy lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp, after Rembrandt, (1798), reg. no. 1959.4361, etching, gift of Dr J. Orde Poynton, 1959, Baillieu Library Print Collection, University of Melbourne.

Johannes de Frey’s print is after Rembrandt’s painting The anatomy lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp which he created in 1632 for the Guild of Surgeons in Amsterdam. There is some thought that the book seen in the lower right of the image is Andreas Vesalius’ De Humani Corpois Fabrica (The fabric of the human body) of 1543. Vesalius (1514-1564) is regarded as the founder of anatomy. The surgeons in the image are fascinated by the book rather than the cadaver. In Vesalius and Rembrandt’s time both public and private dissections were performed. The cadavers were criminals or vulnerable members of society such as paupers. Public dissection was intended to be a dreadful punishment following the execution of criminals, and also a deterrent to any prospective felons. Dissection prevented a person from a consecrated burial and their body parts could not be reassembled in the afterlife. The cadaver in the image is Aris Kindt (Adriaen Adriaenszoon) who was executed for stealing a coat. So the lesson presented is both a scientific and a moral one.