Rembrandt was only twenty-five years old when he was asked to paint the portraits of the Amsterdam surgeons. The painting was commissioned for the anatomy lesson given by Dr. Nicolaes Tulp in January 1632. In this painting, Rembrandt portrayed the surgeons in action, but with the difference that all the characters in the scene are looking at different things. The dynamism is added to the scene by the great contrasts between light and dark. In this group portrait, the young painter displayed his already legendary technique and his great talent for painting realistic portraits.