Aan de slag met de collectie:
Master of the St Elizabeth Panels
Outer Right Wing of an Altarpiece with the St Elizabeth’s Day Flood, 18-19 November 1421, with the Broken Dike at Wieldrecht
Northern Netherlands, ? Dordrecht, c. 1490 - c. 1495
Inscriptions
- inscription, inscribed throughout the painting:drijmelen (Drimmelen) // int moer[?] // almonde // de swalu (Zwaluwe) // munster kerc // dubbelmond (Dubbelmonde) // wieldrecht // maes (Maas) // almcvoet (Almsvoet) // strien (Strijen) // cillershoec (Cillaarshoek) // de dubbel (the river Dubbel) // alloeissen (Alloysen) // maesdam (Maasdam) // de we (de Wey) // de hoec (Puttershoek) // de mijl (de Mijl) // soeneken…er[?]
Technical notes
The original support, which has been sawn through crosswise, consists of four vertically grained oak planks (29, 24.5, 29.4 and 27.5 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: 126 x 109 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. It can clearly be seen in the foreground that the figures and animals were only added later, for they were not prepared in the underdrawing and the landscape runs beneath them. The breached dike at top right was originally planned differently, being underdrawn further to the right. 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
- 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 are discoloured retouchings 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.
ObjectNumber: SK-A-3147-B
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.
Collection catalogues
See SK-A-3145.
Citation
M. Wolters, 2010, 'Meester van de Heilige Elisabeth-Panelen, Outer Right Wing of an Altarpiece with the St Elizabeth’s Day Flood, 18-19 November 1421, with the Broken Dike at Wieldrecht, 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.9132
(accessed 11 May 2025 17:33:27).