Lot 24: Lambert van Noort (Amersfoort c. 1520-c. 1571 Antwerp)

The Nativity oil on panel 61 5/8 x 453/4 in. (156.5 x 116.2 cm.) NOTES We are grateful to Nicole Dacos for proposing the attribution on the basis of photographs. She points out that the figure on the right appears to be a portrait, possibly of a donor. Lambert van Noort was most likely apprenticed in the studios of Jan van Scorel in Utrecht and Lambert Lombard in LiŠge. By 1549 he was listed as a master in the Guild of Saint Luke in Antwerp, where he remained for the rest of his life, apart from a visit to Italy in 1558-9. He was particularly involved with drawing designs for stained glass windows and decorative objects and his paintings consequently rarely appear on the market - although the last example, a Saint Jerome was sold, Sotheby's, London, 13 December 2001, lot 112 (œ130,000). In both that work and the present the Italianizing influence of Van Scorel (as well perhaps as that of his own travels) is clearly evident, particularly in the landscape backgrounds.