Lot 60: Attributed to Adam van Noort , Antwerp 1561 - 1641 head of a bearded man, three quarters profile oiled black chalk, heightened with white chalk, on light brown paper; bears inscription in brown ink, lower left: Van Oort

oiled black chalk, heightened with white chalk, on light brown paper; bears inscription in brown ink, lower left: Van Oort

measurements note 307 by 236 mm

Laren, Singer Museum, Oude Tekeningen uit de Nederlanden, verzameling Prof. E. Perman, Stockholm, 1962, cat. no. 140 (as Flemish School, early 17th Century)

Arthur Feldmann, by whom offered for sale, Lucerne, Gilhofer & Ranschburg, 28 June 1934, lot 91 (as Anton van Dyck), unsold;
looted by the Gestapo;
sale, London, Sotheby's, 16 October 1946, lot 48 (as J. Jordaens), to Stenman;
Prof Dr. Einar Perman, Stockholm;
sale, Amsterdam, Sotheby's, 14 November 2006, lot 26 (withdrawn)

The name of Rubens' teacher Adam van Noort was also sometimes written van Oort. Although the majority of the artist's known studies are rather smaller in scale and more precise, perhaps this is a drawing dating from later in his career, demonstrating the influence of his illustrious former pupil. Another suggestion, made in the Laren exhibition catalogue, was that this might be a portrait of Van Noort, but comparison with the accepted portraits of the artist by his son-in-law Jacob Jordaens do not seem to support this suggestion (see, for example, the drawing sold, London, Sotheby's, 5 July 2006, lot 104).