The anatomy of Dr Willem Roell

There was a tradition in the Netherlands, from around 1600, of commissioning group portraits of the senior members of a guild, which were displayed in the guild's hall. Officers of the surgeons guilds in Delft and Amsterdam were portrayed from time to time performing one of the guild's duties, for instance carrying out an annual anatomical dissection. The occasion gave a wonderful opportunity for the many talented portrait-painters in those cities to display their skill.

This painting shows the officers of the Amsterdam guild of surgeons in 1728, with their anatomy lecturer, Willem Röell, dissecting the knee-joint. On the left is the guild assistant ready to hand a sharp knife to the anatomist. The three senior surgeons on the right were sacked in 1732 for embezzlement of the guild's funds and for fraud in connection with the granting of certificates. This painting is a reduced copy of the original painting by Cornelis Troost (1696-1750) that is in the Amsterdams Historisch Museum.