The Saint Elizabeth’s Day Flood
Historical Context
This painting depicts the catastrophic Saint Elizabeth's Day Flood of November 1421, which devastated the Grote Waard region of Holland and created the Biesbosch wetlands. Painted around 1490-1495 by an anonymous Netherlandish artist, it is one of the earliest known disaster paintings in European art. The work served as a memorial to the thousands who perished and documented the destruction of villages across South Holland.
Technical Analysis
Oil on panel depicting the flood from an elevated perspective, showing submerged villages and struggling figures. The panoramic composition anticipates the landscape traditions that would flourish in the sixteenth-century Netherlands.
See It In Person
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Inner right wing of an altarpiece with St Elizabeth tending the sick in Marburg and the death of St Elizabeth
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Inner left wing of an altarpiece with the wedding feast of St Elizabeth and Louis of Thuringia in the Wartburg
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St. Elizabeth Flood
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Binnenzijde van de linkervleugel van een altaarstuk met het huwelijksfeest van de Heilige Elisabeth en Lodewijk van Thüringen op de Wartburg
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