How Does Rembrandt Use A Pyramidal Form?

At first, Rembrandt’s painting, Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp, appears to be a simple commissioned group portrait of the Surgeon Guild. However, there is much more to this painting than meets the eye. In reality, this portrait has an underlining motif about God and one’s self. Rembrandt sees death as something beautiful rather than a topic to avoid because man is the product of God’s greatness.
Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp uses a strong composition, and focal point, and variation in figures. The composition is tight and dramatic thanks to Rembrandt’s use of a pyramidal form. Five of the members of the guild and the corpse make up the base of the pyramid, two members above them make up the middle, and a single member completes
Nicolaes Tulp is heightened by Rembrandt’s use of striking chiaroscuro, contrast of the figures, and movement of the figures. The use of chiaroscuro in this group portrait is admirable. Dr. Tulp is painted in such a realistic manner that his hands appear to move when stared at for a brief moment. The chiaroscuro covers the entire painting, highlighting the center of it, and gives the figures a sense of warmth. The feeling of warmth helps contrasts and gives a boundary with the cold cavernous deadness of the room around them and the stiff pale corpse between them. Light along with color also contrasts the two groups, the corpse having an unnaturally bright coloration and the guild members having a very dark one. The color of the room is almost monochrome, which helps soften the outlines around the figures. The men range with tones that vary from grey, brown, black, and white. The corpse has a greenish tone to it while its arm complements it in color with a bright contrast of red. This portrait shares the two colors of death, pallor, paleness of the skin, and red. The lighting in this painting is not sunlight, but instead is a probably a chandelier hanging above the corpse. Rembrandt was able to represent unity and drama in of Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp because he changed the original formula for anatomy group portraits. He limited the members to only a few in this portrait and made the corpse much more important using contrast. These changes lead to Rembrandt’s overall success as a painter in