Robert Noortman; influential art dealer
Hyfler/Rosner
March 5, 1946 - January 14, 2007
Times (UK)
Influential art dealer who supplied the world's galleries
with Old Masters and French Impressionist paintings
Robert Noortman was a powerful figure in the European art
market, with galleries in London and New York for a number
of years, as well as in his native Netherlands. His origins
were far from the art world, but he became one of the world's
most successful art dealers, and his gallery in a townhouse
on the Vrijthof in Maastricht was the obvious port of call
for any institution or billionaire in search of a
significant Rembrandt. Indeed, at one point he may well have
had the only Rembrandt paintings on sale anywhere in the
world. He was also a notable benefactor of the National
Gallery in London.
The son of a policeman, Robert Christiaan Noortman was born
at Heemstede, near Haarlem, in 1946, and he left school at
the age of 16 with no academic qualifications. Nevertheless,
he came to be a fluent speaker of English, French and German
as well as his native Dutch.
He began as a jack of all trades, in the Dutch phrase,
having "12 jobs and 13 accidents", and proved to be a
natural salesman, shifting anything from fridges to cars. He
then took a job with a carpet dealer near Maastricht, with
whom he further honed his wheeling and dealing skills.
In 1968 he set up his own gallery at Hulsberg, a few
kilometres to the east of Maastricht, and in 1974 he
established a presence in London. In the following year,
with a few others including Evert Douwes, then one of the
most important Amsterdam dealers, he was instrumental in the
launch of Pictura 75, a modest fair that was to grow into
the most important event in the art market calendar, the
annual European Fine Art Fair at Maastricht.
Originally, Pictura was a biennial event for fine art only,
alternating with Antiquairs for furniture and works of art,
and it had a difficult genesis, as the organisers of the
established Delft fair threatened to ban any of their
exhibitors who showed Old Masters at the new venture. Thus
Dutch participants were restricted to 19th and 20th-century
works, and it was left to French and British galleries to
champion the earlier Dutch and Flemish Schools. At the
opening, Noortman revealed he had taken over the H.
Terry-Engell Gallery in Bury Street, St James's, thus
placing himself at the heart of the London market. He later
moved to Bond Street, and he also opened on Madison Avenue.
Delft was soon eclipsed. In 1985 the alternating fairs
merged, and four years later the organisation was taken over
by the European Fine Art Foundation. As a founding member
Noortman remained a driving force, serving as chairman for
ten years and president for two. The change from the early
days had been dramatic. As Noortman put it: "In the
beginning the English dealers used to play golf in the
gangways throughout the week; now I haven't even time to go
to the lavatory."
In 1980 he moved into Maastricht itself, establishing his
headquarters in a handsome townhouse on the Vrijthof, the
grander of the town's two main squares. Although best known
for his stock of highly important Dutch Old Masters, he also
dealt in Impressionist and post-Impressionist paintings.
His business brought him into contact with many of the
richest individuals and institutions around the world,
advising many private collectors and leading museums
including the Getty, the National Galleries in Washington
and London, the Metropolitan, Rijksmuseum, Mauritshuis and
the Israel Museum, as well as selling to them. Thus the
movement of currencies came to be another field of
expertise. In this context he became a partner in
CommonWealth Investments, an important Dutch private equity
firm in The Hague.
Over the years he was a benefactor of the Rijksmuseum and
the Mauritshuis, and also the National Gallery, London,
where the Noortman Room of Dutch cabinet paintings was named
in his honour. In 2002 he was made a Chevalier de l'Ordre
des Arts et des Lettres by the French Government.
While it is not easy to buy a multimillion-pound painting by
Rembrandt, it can be even more difficult to sell one on
again with the necessary profit.For a while Noortman
evenfound himself overstocked with Rembrandts.
In 2006 it was announced that his whole business, including
premises and stock, had been acquired by Sotheby's. The
assumption in the market was that the auction house was
foreclosing on the terms it had negotiated with him when he
had bought the second Rembrandt in its New York sale.
According to the announcement, "Sotheby's will acquire 100
per cent of Noortman's outstanding shares in exchange for
Sotheby's shares with an initial consideration worth
approximately $56.5 million (? 44 million) or 1.95 million
shares at a price of $29.01 per share, as well as the
assumption of approximately $26 million in debt. If certain
performance criteria are met over the five-year term of Mr
Noortman's employment agreement, an additional
0.5 million shares will be released from escrow as
additional consideration. The purchase price is also subject
to reduction if certain performance criteria are not met."
With this transaction, Noortman became a significant
shareholder in Sotheby's with about 3.2 per cent of the
auction house's shares. He also joined Sotheby's
international advisory board.
When, towards the end of 2006, Noortman went into hospital,
company regulations dictated that Sotheby's issue a
statement about his health. The resultant speculation hit
its shares markedly. However, by December he was once again
seen bidding in the London Old Master sales.
A large, powerful man with considerable energy, he had wide
interests beyond the art world. He qualified as a commercial
pilot, and in 1989 he won a place in The Guinness Book of
Records for flying into and out of what were then 12
European Community countries in one day in a commercial jet.
In the following year he ran the New York Marathon, and
other outdoor interests included classic cars and racing,
sailing and wine making.
Like most good dealers he was himself a collector, although
not in his own field. A possible exception was his liking
for all sorts of "vanitas" art, often a strong element in
Dutch still-life painting. Otherwise, his enthusiasms
included ethnographica, old cars, Chinese ceramics, silver
frames, carpets and artists' lay figures.
He was the founder and sponsor of the Michelle Foundation,
an endowment fund for the research into the genetic illness
tuberous sclerosis complex, a fundraiser and founding friend
of the United World College, and a sponsor of the Christian
Children's Fund.
He was also a generous host, organising memorable parties
during the run of the Maastricht fairs in the castle at
Borgloon, tax-efficiently across the Belgian border, where
he had made his family home.
He is survived by his third wife, Angelique, and seven
children, including the Michelle of the foundation.
Robert Noortman, art dealer, was born on March 5, 1946. He
died of a heart attack on January 14, 2007, aged 60