The Anatomy Lesson (Morley novel) The Anatomy Lesson (Morley novel) The Anatomy Lesson (1995) is a novel by John David Morley, inspired by Rembrandt’s painting "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp". In Amsterdam, the streetwise, drug-addled, Dutch-American teenager Kiddo lives in the shadow of his hero-worshipped older brother, Morton, a brilliant science student who, having completed his physics and engineering Ph.D., is to take up a fellowship at M.I.T.. But, after Morton’s premature death from a virulent strain of cancer, Kiddo begins to uncover a shadow-side to his brother’s existence, even as he wrestles with the anguished question of Morton’s dying wish: that he
The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp copy of "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp" by an unknown artist hangs in Edinburgh as part of The University of Edinburgh Fine Art Collection. "The Gross Clinic" of 1875 and "The Agnew Clinic" of 1889 are paintings by the American artist Thomas Eakins which treat a similar subject, operations on live patients in the presence of medical students. In 2010, Yiull Damaso created a parody of the painting depicting prominent South Africans. Nelson Mandela was the cadaver, Nkosi Johnson was the instructor, and the students were Desmond Tutu, F. W. de Klerk, Thabo Mbeki, Jacob Zuma, Cyril Ramaphosa,