MASTERPIECE

Although Van Noort did not sign the drawing, we can attribute it to him based on the drawing style. Like several of his monogrammed or signed works, Van Noort drew the composition with long, unbroken lines in brown ink. The washed shading is also characteristic. In this preparatory drawing he applies the shading in blue. The sober colours in the design give no indication of how colourful the finished stained-glass window might be. The structure of the composition confirms the attribution to Van Noort. Van Noort places the figures in pairs at the bottom. On the left, you see Mary. Exhausted by sorrow, she sits on the ground and is being consoled. On the right is Longinus, the Roman soldier who stabbed Christ in the side with a lance. Mary Magdalene is at the centre of the composition. Kneeling on the ground, she embraces Christ’s cross.