Dutch Golden Age painting Drapers' Guild" is a subtle treatment of a group round a table. Scientists often posed with instruments and objects of their study around them. Physicians sometimes posed together around a cadaver, a so-called 'Anatomical Lesson', the most famous one being Rembrandt's "Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp" (1632, Mauritshuis, The Hague). Boards of trustees in their "regentenstuk" portraits preferred an image of austerity and humility, posing in dark clothing (which by its refinement testified to their prominent standing in society), often seated around a table, with solemn expressions on their faces. Most militia group portraits were commissioned in Haarlem and
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,