The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp central figures (in this case, Dr. Tulp) probably paid more, even twice as much. Rembrandt's anatomical portrait radically altered the conventions of the genre, by including a full length corpse in the center of the image (using Christ-like iconography) and creating not just a portrait but a dramatic Mise-en-scène. Rembrandt's image is a fiction; in a typical anatomy lesson, the surgeon would begin by opening the chest cavity and thorax because the internal organs there decay most rapidly. One person is missing: the Preparator, whose task was to prepare the body for the lesson. In the 17th century an important
The Dance Lesson The Dance Lesson The Dance Lesson (sometimes known as The Dancing Lesson) is an oil on canvas painting by the French artist Edgar Degas created around 1879. It is currently kept at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. There is at least one other work by Degas by this title, also made in about 1879, which is a pastel. The painting is the first of a series of about 40 pictures that Degas painted in this horizontal, frieze-like format. It measures . To the far left is a double bass with an exhausted dancer wearing a bright orange