The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Deijman The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Deijman The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Deijman (alternative spelling Deyman) is a 1656, fragmentary painting by Rembrandt, now in Amsterdam Museum. It is a group portrait showing a brain dissection by Dr. Jan Deijman (161966). Much of the canvas was destroyed in a fire in 1723 and the painting was subsequently recut to its present dimensions, though a preparatory sketch shows the full group. The painting shows Dr. Deijman performing a brain dissection on the cadaver of an executed criminal, the Flemish tailor Joris "Black Jack" Fonteijn (1633/3456). Dr. Deijman's assistant, the surgeon Gijsbert Calkoen
Dirck Tulp had been used for dying silk since 1603. The silk was imported from Persia, and shipped, either through Archangelsk or the Strait of Gibraltar. A pair of fashionable Flemish ladies had headed it, its activities occurring in its light and airy attics. Over the years, the operation was largely moved to the Jordaan. When Tulp and his wife began building-work in 1652, they had the building embellished with stucco and the floor laid with marble. The Kloveniersburgwal was an attractive site for the rich, being close to the nerve center of the VOC, in which Tulp was appointed as delegate.