Binnenzijde van de rechtervleugel van een altaarstuk met de heilige Elisabeth die de zieken in Marburg verzorgt en de dood van de heilige Elisabeth

Meester van de Heilige Elisabeth-Panelen, ca. 1490 - ca. 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).

  • Soort kunstwerkschilderij
  • ObjectnummerSK-A-3146
  • Afmetingendrager: hoogte 127,5 cm x breedte 109,5 cm x hoogte 125,5 cm (geschilderd opppervlak) x breedte 108,3 cm (geschilderd oppervlak)
  • Fysieke kenmerkenolieverf op paneel

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



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 30 November 2025 00:52:33).