"The Adoration of the Shepherds"

In this painting Van Noort utilized his considerable skills to bring to life the Adoration of the shepherds theme simply the depiction of shepherds paying homage to the newborn Christ, an event described in The Gospel According to Luke.

The powerful use of color and detailed facial features were hallmarks of this master.

The theme is related to the older but less frequently represented annunciation to the shepherds, which shows the same shepherds in the fields receiving from an angel news of the miraculous birth.

The adoration of the shepherds was never treated as a separate theme in the East and not until the 15th century in the West. At first, in Early Christian art in the 4th century, one or more shepherds were included in scenes of the adoration of the Magi, the Three Wise Men who came from the East to worship the Christ Child.

They were depicted in such scenes because, as the first local people to worship Christ, they symbolize the spreading of Christianity among the Jews, just as the Magi, the first of the Gentiles to see and worship the Christ Child, symbolize the spread of Christianity throughout the pagan world.

Because of the simple piety illustrated by the event, the adoration of the shepherds was a popular subject for altarpieces and other devotional paintings in both the Northern and the Italian schools in the Renaissance and Baroque periods. In many of these paintings the shepherds bring humble gifts, symbolic counterparts of the magnificent ones brought by the Magi; the most frequent gift is a lamb with tied feet, perhaps also symbolizing Christ’s sacrifice. At the end of the 16th century the theme of the adoration of the shepherds provided inspiration for genre painting, and the taste for pastoral subjects contributed to its popularity throughout the 16th and 17th centuries.

Adam van Noort (1561/62 – 1641) was a Flemish painter and draughtsman and one of the teachers of Peter Paul Rubens, and the only teacher of Jacob Jordaens. Adam van Noort was mainly known for his history paintings but he also created some portraits.

He was a designer for engravings for the Collaert family of printmakers and publishers.

Adam van Noort was born and died in Antwerp. He was the son of Lambert van Noort from Amersfoort and Katelijne van Broeckhuysen from Zwolle. His parents had established themselves in Antwerp where Lambert became a member of the local Guild of Saint Luke in 1549. His father was active primarily as a designer of stained-glass windows and engravings, an architect and, to a lesser extent, a painter. The family lived in poverty.

Adam van Noort is believed to have initially trained with his father but must have had other teachers since his father died when he was still young. He was not registered with any other teacher in the records of the Guild of Saint Luke.

He became a master of the Guild of Saint Luke in 1587. He married Elisabeth Nuyts, with whom he had five children.

Van Noort served as dean of the Guild of Saint Luke from 1597 until 1602. During his tenure Van Noort had problems with the Guild, which accused him of poor management of the accounts and misappropriation of materials of the Guild.

The first conflict arose when van Noort used some unpainted panels in the Painter's Chamber of the Guild to create a composition he wanted to give as a present to the Guild in remembrance of his service as a deacon. Some other guild members objected to his actions and he was forced to substitute the panels and to ensure that they were painted within a year with a design approved by the Guild.

The commission to paint the substituted panels did not go to van Noort but to Maerten de Vos. A second conflict with the Guild arose from the fact that he did not settle his accounts in time after he ceased being a deacon of the Guild.

Adam's present-day fame largely rests on the fact that he was the teacher of two of the leading Flemish Baroque painters Peter Paul Rubens and Jacob Jordaens. Rubens only stayed for a little over a year and is not believed to have been influenced much by van Noort's training. Jordaens married van Noort's daughter Elisabeth and would influence the style of his teacher and father-in-law.

The total number of pupils of van Noort was around 35. This attests to the fact that in his time he was a very respected artist. He was also financially successful and was able to acquire several properties in Antwerp.

The other pupils of Adam van Noort include Hendrick van Balen, Ferdinand van Apshoven the Elder, Artus de Bruyn, Hendrik van der Eedt, Remoldus Eynhoudt and Hendrick van Herp.

Van Noort lived to an old age but likely ceased practicing as an artist around 1630.