Object data
oil on panel
support: height 127.3 cm × width 109.5 cm × height 125.4 cm × width 108.6 cm
Master of the St Elizabeth Panels
Outer Left Wing of an Altarpiece with the St Elizabeth’s Day flood, 18-19 November 1421, with the City of Dordrecht in the Background
Northern Netherlands, ? Dordrecht, c. 1490 - c. 1495
Inscriptions
- inscription, throughout the painting: gorcum// wo[a?]ricum (Workum) // almskerc (Almkerk) // [illegible] // cappel (Capelle) // waspic (Waspik) // [onleesbaar] // raemsdo. (Raamsdonk) // gheertrud de[n] berch (Geertruidenberg) // herdicvelt (Hardinxveld) // giesse[n]?da[m] // wercke[n] da[m] (Werkendam) // slierecht (Sliedrecht) // craeistein (Crayesteyn) // houwenig[en?] (Houweningen) // herdzwerd (Harradeswerde) // heisterbac (heysterbach) // pape[n]drecht // merwen (Huis te Merwede) // huesde[n] (Heusden)
Technical notes
The original support, which has been sawn through crosswise, consists of four vertically grained oak planks (29, 30.7, 25.1 and 31 cm). It has been planed down to approx. 0.1-0.2 cm and transferred to a new panel, which is covered by a zinc plate. The white ground must have been applied in the frame. There are unpainted edges approx. 0.5-1 cm wide and remains of a barbe on all sides (painted surface: 125.4 x 108.6 cm). The underdrawing was made with a brush. It is a line drawing only, and some of the lines are remarkably thick. There is no hatching. The underdrawing was made rapidly, but not all the forms were prepared. There are considerable departures from the underdrawing in the painted landscape. The positions of towns and clumps of trees were often altered, and the shapes of church towers were changed. The roof of Dordrecht church was altered and the flèche moved. The paint layers were applied rather thickly. Most of the figures were not reserved, but were painted on top of the underlying paint layers. The rather rough painting technique can be described as primitive.
Scientific examination and reports
- infrared reflectography: J.R.J. van Asperen de Boer, RKD, nos. AB 1167:3-1170:18, 18 June 1990
- infrared reflectography: M. Wolters / M. Leeflang [2], RKD/RMA, no. RKDG369, 10 April 2006
- condition report: W. de Ridder, RMA, 19 April 2006
- dendrochronology: P. Klein, RMA, 27 September 2006
Literature scientific examination and reports
Helmus 1991, pp. 133-34
Condition
Poor. There is discoloured retouching along the joins and a heavily discoloured varnish, which is matte in the retouchings.
Conservation
- See SK-A-3145.
Provenance
See the provenance for SK-A-3145.
Object number: SK-A-3147-A
Credit line: Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt
Copyright: Public domain
The artist
Master of the St Elizabeth Panels (active 1490-1510)
The Master of the St Elizabeth Panels is an anonymous artist who owes his name to four panels in the Rijksmuseum, including scenes of the St Elizabeth’s Day flood of 18-19 November 1421 (SK-A-3145, SK-A-3146, SK-A-3147-A, SK-A-3147-B). Although they were once attributed to the Master of Rhenen, so called after The Conquest of Rhenen by John II of Cleves in 1499 (SK-A-1727), Buijsen convincingly demonstrated in 1988 that there were in fact two separate artists at work. Since the flood panels were made for the Grote Kerk in Dordrecht, this painter may have lived there. Nothing is known about the St Elizabeth Master, and no other paintings can be attributed to him.
References
Hoogewerff I, 1936, pp. 498-509, V, 1947, p. 116; Buijsen 1988; Helmus 1991; Van der Sterre in Turner 1996, XX, pp. 754-55, 760
(M. Wolters)
Entry
See SK-A-3145.
Literature
See SK-A-3145.
Collection catalogues
See SK-A-3145.
Citation
M. Wolters, 2010, 'Meester van de Heilige Elisabeth-Panelen, Outer Left Wing of an Altarpiece with the St Elizabeth’s Day flood, 18-19 November 1421, with the City of Dordrecht in the Background, Northern Netherlands, c. 1490 - c. 1495', in J.P. Filedt Kok (ed.), Early Netherlandish Paintings, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.9131
(accessed 20 September 2024 02:16:25).