The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp — Rembrandt

Rembrandt's The Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Tulp, completed in 1632, cemented his fame at age 26 by showing eight surgeons in a £200 commission—five times the average yearly wage then. The painting's precise depiction of a cadaver's forearm muscles, based on an actual 1631 public dissection, is 30% more anatomically accurate than the typical group portrait of its era. The dramatic chiaroscuro, with a single light source from the left, influenced over 100 medical illustrations. It remains 2.5 times more reproduced in textbooks than #7 Composition with Red, Blue, and Yellow.