Nicolaes Tulp depicted in the painting can be dated to 16 January 1632; the Amsterdam Guild of Surgeons, of which Tulp was official City Anatomist, permitted only one public dissection a year and the body would have to be that of an executed criminal. The criminal is identified as the robber Aris Kindt. Rembrandt would later make a painting of Tulp's successor in 1656 "The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Jan Deijman". Since the painting of Tulp's predecessor in 1619, "The Osteology Lesson of Dr Sebastiaen Egbertsz" was a group portrait around a skeleton, it is clear that the subject of a dead
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