Flemish painter, draughtsman, engraver, architect, and antiquarian, active mainly in his native Liège. He was probably a pupil of Gossaert and was influenced by Jan van Scorel. A man of scholarly inclinations, Lombard visited Rome in 1537 (he also travelled in France and Germany) and made drawings of the antique, some of which were engraved in the workshop of Jerome Cock. He corresponded with Vasari, providing him with information about Netherlandish artists, and Vasari said of him: 'Of all the Flemish artists I have named none is superior to Lambert Lombard of Liège, a man well versed in letters, a painter of judgment, a learned architect - by no means his least title to merit - the master of Frans Floris and Willem Key.' This opinion was confirmed by van Mander who wrote in 1604: 'One can confidently rank him among the best Netherlandish painters, past and present.'
Unfortunately, very few paintings that can certainly be assigned to him survive to bear witness to high contemporary reputation, and his work is known from drawings, copies, and engravings. A formidable Portrait of the Artist in the Musée de l'Art Wallon, Liège (another version is in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Kassel) is among the best works given to him, but some critics think it is by his pupil Frans Floris. The portraits associated with Lombard - lively and strongly characterized - generally appeal more to modern taste than his somewhat academic religious paintings.

Works