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

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 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 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.

ObjectNumber: SK-A-3147-A

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, 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 15 January 2025 22:31:10).