The anatomy lesson taught by Dr. Tulp, painted by Rembrandt in 1623, was a public performance open to the citizens of Amsterdam. The art historians and Dutch painting admirers were not the only ones to go through the Rembrandt’s painting with a fine-tooth comb. Experts in the physiology of the human body have pointed out, that the tendons held by the instructor’s silver forceps correspond to the gesture of his left hand. Thus, the great master made an homage to an important motor function of the human body – grasping.

The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp by Rembrandt van Rijn. Courtesy of Mauritshuis, Den Haag) and the artificial hand made by Grzegorz Sobolewski for the “Do robota” workshop (project implemented as part of the Laboratory of Ideas by the Association of Creative Initiatives “ę”).