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The Battle of Alexander at Issus
Albrecht Altdorfer · Renaissance & Mannerism
- Artist
- Albrecht Altdorfer (c. 1480–1538)
- Date
- 1529
- Dimensions
- 158.4 x 120.3 cm
- Medium
- Oil on lime panel
- Location
- Alte Pinakothek, Munich, Germany
This painting depicts the battle of Issus in 333 BC, when Alexander the Great defeated the Persian king Darius III. But Altdorfer turned the historical event into a vast cosmic vision seen from an impossibly high viewpoint.
A closer look
Thousands of tiny soldiers in 16th-century armour clash in a forest of lances below, in the centre of which Alexander on horseback pursues the fleeing Darius in his chariot. Above, the landscape curves away to reveal the Mediterranean, Cyprus, the Nile delta and the Red Sea, as if seen from space. In the sky, a setting sun breaks through swirling clouds while a pale moon sinks on the other side: the light of the West conquers the East. A tablet hanging from the sky records the casualties. The painting was commissioned by Duke William IV of Bavaria.