Nicolaes Tulp attended by prominent learned men, who exchanged ideas about anatomy and the chemical processes of the human body. As befits a new praelector, the Guild commissioned a new group portrait of the prominent councilmen and guildmasters. Rembrandt, himself a young man of 26 and new to the city, won this commission and made a famous painting of him: "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp". This painting, which now hangs in the Mauritshuis museum of the Hague, depicts Tulp dissecting such a criminal's forearm. There has been much speculation as to why the dissection began on the forearm. Rembrandt's event
Dirck Tulp engagement with Johan de Witt, one of the most influential Dutch politicians of that time, and married Jan Six instead. Dirck and Anna (also painted by the German, Jurriaen Ovens) moved to Kloveniersburgwal 47 in 1669. Dirck's wife died in 1672 and Tulp left for England, visiting his wife's cousin, the diplomat Coenraad van Beuningen. Despite his many contacts, Dirck Tulp never became mayor. Tulp was named by mayor Gillis Valckenier "an ignorant vain man", after his two year stay out of the country, during which he sent back no letters. In 1675 Tulp was to be dismissed, but he