Hl. Elisabeth

Sebald Bopp's Hl. Elisabeth, in the Bavarian State Painting Collections, depicts Elizabeth of Hungary — the thirteenth-century queen who renounced worldly wealth and devoted herself to caring for the poor and sick, becoming one of the most beloved female saints of the late medieval church. Elizabeth's cult was particularly strong in Germany, where she lived and died, and where Franciscan spirituality of poverty and charity had its deepest roots. Bopp, a Bavarian painter of the late fifteenth century, produced devotional panels for Bavarian church patrons in a style reflecting the Munich area's synthesis of Flemish influence and local late Gothic tradition.

Elizabeth appears in noble or royal dress, her crown and attributes — the roses associated with her miracle — identifying her. Bopp's Flemish-influenced technique renders her elaborate costume with textile precision. The figure is placed in a simple spatial setting that focuses attention on her dignified presence.