Little biographical information is known about the painter and draftsman Lambert van Noort. His birth year is estimated to be around 1520, based on the fact that he was registered as a fully trained master in the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1549/1550. His place of birth was recorded when he became a citizen of Antwerp a year later, a detail the artist also often added to his signature. Little is known about his training. He likely attended the academy of Lambert Lombard in Liège during the 1540s, possibly after an initial apprenticeship with Jan van Scorel in Utrecht. In 1558-1559, Van Noort traveled to Italy—evidence for this is a signed altarpiece in the Santa Maria di Mortara in Ferrara. He married Katelijne van Broekhuysen from Zwolle, and they had five children. His son Adam van Noort (1561–1641) followed in his footsteps and also became a painter and draftsman.

 

Lambert van Noort is mentioned by Guicciardini as a skilled painter and architect, indicating that he achieved a certain level of renown. He was likely active primarily as a supplier of design drawings for stained-glass painters, tapestry makers, engravers, and goldsmiths. Additionally, he provided decorations for the Joyous Entry of Philip II into Antwerp in 1549 and competed in the contest for the design of the new Antwerp City Hall. Approximately sixty drawings from the years 1553–1568 form the core of his oeuvre, more than half of which are designs for stained glass. Van Noort supplied both the designs and the cartoons for three stained-glass windows in the choir of St. John’s Church in Gouda (1560–1562). Stained-glass windows based on his designs can also be found in the Oude Kerk in Amsterdam and in the Antwerp Cathedral. Furthermore, twenty of his paintings have been preserved, fourteen of which (dated 1565) form a series depicting sibyls and scenes from the Passion. These works were possibly commissioned by the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke.

 

 The present large design for a stained-glass window is a relatively late drawing, from the artist’s mature period. Depicting a saint (possibly Saint Paul?) on his deathbed, surrounded by followers - to whom he continues to preach - as well as a faithful dog, it is stylistically very close to the artist’s Judgment of Salomon which is also dated 1568 (see illustration). Other comparatives are the St. George and the Sorcerer of Dacian, now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (obj. no. 1995.44) and The Attempted Breaking of Saint George on a Wheel, now in the V&A Museum, London (acc. no. DYCE.498), both from an earlier series of designs for stained-glass windows dated 1555.