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Robert Noortman was an outstanding figure on the European art market, with galleries in London and New York for a number of years, as well as in his native Netherlands. The son of a policeman and therefore far away from the art world at the beginning, he became one of the world's most successful art dealers, and his gallery in a townhouse on the Vrijthof in Maastricht was an obligatory meeting point for any institution or rich collector in search of a significant Rembrandt or any other masterpiece. Indeed, at one point he had the only Rembrandt paintings available on the market in the world. He was also a notable benefactor of the National Gallery in London.

Robert Christiaan Noortman was born in March 1946 at Heemstede, near Haarlem, and he left school at the age of 16 with no academic qualifications whatsoever, which nevertheless, did not prevent him from becoming a fluent speaker of English, French and German as well as his native Dutch.

He began tackling several activities and finally 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 developed his dealing skills.

In 1968 he set up his own gallery at Hulsberg, a few kilometres 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 launched 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.

Pictura was originally a biennial event for fine art only, alternating with exhibitions for furniture and works of art, and it had a difficult start, as the organisers of the established Delft fair threatened to ban any of their exhibitors who showed Old Masters at this new venture. Thus Dutch participants were restricted to 19th and 20th-century works, and it was left to French and British galleries to sell the earlier Dutch and Flemish Schools. At the opening, Noortman caused a certain sensation in revealing that he had taken over the H. Terry-Engell Gallery in Bury Street, St James's, thus marking his presence at the heart of the London market. He later moved to Bond Street, and he also opened on Madison Avenue in New York.

In 1980 he moved into Maastricht itself, establishing his headquarters in a plush townhouse on the Vrijthof, the bigger 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.

The Delft art fair rapidly lost of its aura as 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 was naturally chosen as its chairman, serving for ten years before becoming president for two. The change from the early days had been quite spectacular as Noortman's main motive was based on business while most dealers had previously associated fairs mainly with leisure. 

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 works to them. 

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.

Nooortman took considerable risks in buying masterpieces at high prices and often managing to resell them with a notable profit. Rembrandt was surely his favourite painter and for a while Noortman even found himself overstocked with works by this great master.

In 2006 it was announced that his whole business, including premises and stock, had been acquired by Sotheby's. According to the announcement, Sotheby's was to 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. In case certain performance criteria were met over the five-year term of Mr Noortman's employment agreement, an additional 0.5 million shares would be released from escrow as additional consideration. The purchase price was also subject to reduction if projected results were not met. Via this transaction, Noortman became an important shareholder in Sotheby's with about 3.2 per cent of the auction house's shares. He also joined Sotheby's international advisory board.

At the end of 2006, Noortman went into hospital, a fact that had a negative impact over Sotheby's shares. However, by December he was once again seen bidding in the London Old Master sales.