Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Tending the Sick in Marburg, Death of St Elizabeth, inner right wing of an altarpiece made for the Grote Kerk in Dordrecht

Master of the St Elizabeth Panels, c. 1490 - c. 1495

Scènes uit het leven van de heilige Elisabeth van Hongarije (1207-31). Links op de achtergrond: Lodewijk vertrouwt voor zijn vertrek naar het Heilige Land Elisabeth toe aan zijn zwager. Links op de voorgrond: Elisabeth, na de dood van Lodewijk in 1227 uit de Wartburg verdreven, ontvangt in het door haar gestichte ziekenhuis te Marburg een gewonde man en verpleegt de zieken. Rechts Elisabeth op haar sterfbed bijgestaan door Meester Koenraad en een biddende non. Twee engelen dragen haar ziel naar de hemel. Boven wordt de heilige door twee Franciscaner monniken begraven. Binnenzijde van het rechterpaneel, maakt deel uit van twee panelen, aan weerszijden beschilderd met voorstellingen uit het leven van de heilige Elisabeth van Hongarije (1207-31) en de Sint Elisabethsvloed 18-19 november 1421 (SK-A-3145/46 en SK-A-3147A/B).

  • Artwork typepainting
  • Object numberSK-A-3146
  • Dimensionssupport: height 127.5 cm x width 109.5 cm x height 125.5 cm (painted surface) x width 108.3 cm (painted surface)
  • Physical characteristicsoil on panel

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The Saint Elizabeth’s Day Flood

Master of the St Elizabeth Panels, c. 1490 - c. 1495

The Saint Elizabeth’s Day Flood

The Saint Elizabeth’s Day Flood

Master of the St Elizabeth Panels, c. 1490 - c. 1495

The Saint Elizabeth’s Day Flood

Wedding Feast of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary and Louis of Thuringia in the Wartburg, inner left wing of an altarpiece made for the Grote Kerk in Dordrecht

Master of the St Elizabeth Panels, c. 1490 - c. 1495

Wedding Feast of Saint Elizabeth of Hungary and Louis of Thuringia in the Wartburg, inner left wing of an altarpiece made for the Grote Kerk in Dordrecht

Identification

  • Title(s)

    Saint Elizabeth of Hungary Tending the Sick in Marburg, Death of St Elizabeth, inner right wing of an altarpiece made for the Grote Kerk in Dordrecht

  • Object type

  • Object number

    SK-A-3146

  • Description

    Scènes uit het leven van de heilige Elisabeth van Hongarije (1207-31). Links op de achtergrond: Lodewijk vertrouwt voor zijn vertrek naar het Heilige Land Elisabeth toe aan zijn zwager. Links op de voorgrond: Elisabeth, na de dood van Lodewijk in 1227 uit de Wartburg verdreven, ontvangt in het door haar gestichte ziekenhuis te Marburg een gewonde man en verpleegt de zieken. Rechts Elisabeth op haar sterfbed bijgestaan door Meester Koenraad en een biddende non. Twee engelen dragen haar ziel naar de hemel. Boven wordt de heilige door twee Franciscaner monniken begraven. Binnenzijde van het rechterpaneel, maakt deel uit van twee panelen, aan weerszijden beschilderd met voorstellingen uit het leven van de heilige Elisabeth van Hongarije (1207-31) en de Sint Elisabethsvloed 18-19 november 1421 (SK-A-3145/46 en SK-A-3147A/B).

  • Part of catalogue

Creation

  • Creation

    painter: Master of the St Elizabeth Panels

  • Dating

    c. 1490 - c. 1495

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Material and technique

  • Physical description

    oil on panel

  • Dimensions

    support: height 127.5 cm x width 109.5 cm x height 125.5 cm (painted surface) x width 108.3 cm (painted surface)

This work is about

  • Person

  • Subject

  • Place

Acquisition and rights

  • Credit line

    Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt

  • Acquisition

    purchase 1933-12

  • Copyright

    Public domain

  • Provenance

    See the provenance for SK-A-3145.

  • Remarks

    Please note that this provenance was formulated with a special focus on provenance research for the years 1933-45 and could therefore be incomplete. There may be more (mostly earlier) provenance information known in the museum. In case this item has an uncertain or incomplete provenance for the years 1933-45, the Rijksmuseum welcomes information and assistance in the investigation and clarification of the provenance of all works during that era.

Documentation

  • Liesbeth M. Helmus, Schilderen in opdracht : Noord-Nederlandse contracten voor altaarstukken 1485-1570, Utrecht 2009, p. 49

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Master of the St Elizabeth Panels

Inner Right Wing of an Altarpiece with St Elizabeth Tending the Sick in Marburg and the Death of St Elizabeth

c. 1490 - c. 1495

Technical notes

The original support, which has been sawn through crosswise, consists of four vertically grained oak planks (27.2, 29.3, 24 and 28.6 cm). It has been planed down to approx. 0.1 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 on all sides, and the barely visible remains of a barbe (painted surface: 125.5 x 108.3 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 drawn composition and forms in the painted surface, in both the foreground and background. The figure of St Elizabeth in the left foreground, for instance, was drawn upright but now leans forwards. There was also a radical shift of the burial scene, which was planned much lower down in the underdrawing. The two angels bearing Elizabeth’s soul were added to the composition at a later stage. 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 juni 1990
  • dendrochronology: P. Klein, RMA, oktober 1995
  • condition report: B. Schoonhoven / Z. Benders [2], RMA, 29 maart 2006
  • infrared reflectography: M. Wolters / M. Leeflang [2], RKD/RMA, no. RKDG369, 10 april 2006
  • dendrochronology: P. Klein, RMA, 27 september 2006

Literature scientific examination and reports

Helmus 1991, pp. 133-34

Condition

Poor. There are discoloured retouchings along the joins and a heavily discoloured varnish, which is matte in the retouchings.

Conservation

  • conservator unknown, 1934: cradling treated
  • W. Hesterman, 22 juni 1977: general restoration

Provenance

See the provenance for SK-A-3145.

Object number: SK-A-3146

Credit line: Purchased with the support of the Vereniging Rembrandt

The artist

Biography

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.

Download Bibliography (PDF)

Collection catalogues

See SK-A-3145.

Citation

M. Wolters, 2010, 'Meester van de Heilige Elisabeth-Panelen, Inner Right Wing of an Altarpiece with St Elizabeth Tending the Sick in Marburg and the Death of St Elizabeth, c. 1490 - c. 1495', in J.P. Filedt Kok (ed.), Early Netherlandish Paintings, online coll. cat. Amsterdam: https://data.rijksmuseum.nl/200109489

(accessed 1 February 2026 19:11:24).