Saint Elizabeth
Historical Context
The Master of the Deichsler Altarpiece is named for an altarpiece commissioned by the Deichsler family of Nuremberg, and his Saint Elizabeth panel belongs to the tradition of Nuremberg altarpiece wing paintings depicting female saints as stately, individualised figures. Saint Elizabeth of Hungary, the thirteenth-century princess who devoted her life to the poor after her husband's death, was among the most popular female saints in late medieval Germany, associated with charitable works and royal virtue. The Nuremberg context places this panel within the sophisticated workshop tradition that would eventually produce Dürer.
Technical Analysis
The Master of the Deichsler Altarpiece employs the Nuremberg oil-tempera technique with careful attention to the attributes identifying Elizabeth — the crown of a princess, the roses or bread associated with the miracle of the roses. The figure is solid and three-dimensional, reflecting the South German Gothic tradition's engagement with Flemish volumetric modelling. Background architecture or landscape opens behind the saint's figure.
