(Antwerp 1561–1641)
Madonna and Child with Saint Joseph,
oil on panel, 80.3 x 57.2 cm, framed

The present painting is listed in the database of the RKD, The Hague, under no. 6599.

Adam van Noort received his training as a painter from his father Lambert. After the latter’s premature death (circa 1570/71) he seems to have switched to the workshop of Jacob de Backer. In 1587 he was registered as a master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke. He played a prominent role as the guild’s dean and master of 32 apprentices, including Peter Paul Rubens and Jacob Jordaens. There is a certain discrepancy between the high renown the painter enjoyed in his native town of Antwerp and the scarcity of information about his work, which has only been insufficiently explored in the present day.

Only a few paintings are accepted as uncontested works by the artist, and dating his paintings poses a further problem. It is known that in 1594 he collaborated with Marten de Vos and Ambrosius Francken on the now-lost decorations for the entry of governor Archduke Ernest of Austria in Antwerp. In its moderate Mannerism, his earliest painting, The Sermon of Saint John the Baptist of 1601 now in the Rubenshuis in Antwerp, exemplarily represents his first period, which is characterised by elongated figures, expressive gestures, and subdued colours. Under the impact of Rubens and Jordaens, Van Noort came to embrace a more monumental style and more vibrant colours in the 1620s. Only religious works by this artist are documented, although contemporary inventories occasionally also mention portraits by his hand. Van Noort’s drawn and printed oeuvres are clearly more extensive, as he worked, among others, for the Collaert family and the Plantin printing press in Antwerp.