The Battle of Alexander at Issus

Prompt: In The Battle of Alexander at Issus, how is the Influences and commission of the Background explained?

Altdorfer's most significant contemporary influence was Matthias Grünewald (c. 1470–1528). Art historian Horst W. Janson remarked that their paintings "show the same 'unruly' imagination". Elements of The Battle of Alexander at Issus – particularly the sky – have been compared to Grünewald's Heavenly Host above the Virgin and Child, which forms part of his masterpiece, the Isenheim Altarpiece. Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), also associated with the Danube school, was another important influence for Altdorfer. According to Roskill, works by Cranach from about 1500 "give a prominent role to landscape settings, using them as mood-enhancing backgrounds for portraits, and for images of hermits and visionary saints", and seem to play a "preparatory role" for the onset of pure landscape. Altdorfer owed much of his style, particularly in his religious artwork, to Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528); Larry Silver writes that Altdorfer's "use of convincing German landscapes in combination with celestial phenomena for his religious narrative" is "firmly tied" to a tradition "modeled by Albrecht Dürer."William IV, Duke of Bavaria commissioned The Battle of Alexander at Issus in 1528. Altdorfer was approximately 50 at the time, and was living in the Free Imperial City of Regensburg. As a result of over a decade of involvement with the Regensburg city council, Altdorfer was offered the position of Burgomaster on 18 September 1528. He declined; the council annals reported his reasoning as such: "He much desires to execute a special work in Bavaria for my Serene Highness and gracious Lord, Duke [William]." William probably wanted the painting for his newly built summer Lusthaus ("pleasure house") in the grounds of his palace in Munich, approximately 60 miles (97 km) south of Regensburg. There, it was to hang alongside seven other paintings with a similar format and subject matter, including Ludwig Refinger's The Martyrdom of Marcus Curtius, Melchior Feselen's The Siege of Alesia by Caesar, and the painting of Battle of Cannae by Hans Burgkmair (1473–1531). Another eight, each portraying a famous woman from history, were later added to the set, probably at the behest of the Duke's wife, Jacobaea of Baden. Altdorfer's Susanna and the Elders (1526) was among these.

File:Battle of Issus - initial deployment.svg

alt=A painting showing an elaborate and fanciful palace set in a landscape of forest and mountains. The forecourt of the palace is bustling with people. Outside the palace, near a fountain sits Susannah attended by handmaids who wash her feet and comb her hair. Two old courtiers spy on her from the dense undergrowth.

Detail of the fictitious mountain in the painting's centre

Category:Collection of the Alte Pinakothek

Detail of Alexander the Great from the [[Alexander Mosaic

commons:File:Altdorfer, Albrecht - Donaulandschaft mit Schloß Wörth.jpg

alt=A panel from an altarpiece by Grünewald. On the right, the Virgin Mary gazes at the Christ Child while above her, in a sky blazing with light, God is seated on a throne surrounded by the Hosts of Heaven. To the left an orchestra of cherubim plays in a Gothic loggia.

The initial dispositions at the Battle of Issus. The Pinarus River separates the belligerents, and Issus is {{convert

alt=A military diagram. A river runs through the lower-left diagonal. On one side are the Persians, with the Orientals and Greek mercenaries, and on the other are the Macedonians, with Alexander and Parmenion. The gradient of the nearby mountains generally decreases from the top right, till the shores of the gulf in the bottom left.

alt=A large mosaic depicting an array of soldiers on horseback doing battle. Parts of it have been damaged or lost to time.

alt=Small figures of women on the battlefield, all with long red hair and all wearing feathered toques

''Susannah and the Elders'' (1526), the only other painting by Altdorfer in the [[Alte Pinakothek

Detail of soldiers from both armies. Reinhart Koselleck comments that the Persians resemble the 16th-century Turks "from their feet to their turbans."

Matthias Grünewald's ''The Virgin and Child with the Heavenly Host'' (c. 1515)

Alexander the Great#Death and succession

alt=A miniature painting showing four brightly clothed men carrying a large banner which is painted with a complex battle scene

alt=An island, and a cityscape featuring church towers

mi}} to the north. Cavalry is concentrated on the shores of the Gulf of İskenderun (or Gulf of Issus) on both sides. Alexander devotes himself to a right approach with his Companion cavalry, having unseated the Persian foothill defence.

alt=A steep mountain, upon which are built fortifications

alt= A painting of St George slaying the dragon set in a dense forest in which the figures are dwarfed by the trees. A distant landscape is seen through a break.

Detail of the oversized island of Cyprus and what is probably the city of Tarsus

A miniature from ''Triumphal Procession'' (1512–1516)

File:Horatius Cocles Stopping King Porsenna's Army outside Rome (Ludwig Refinger) - Nationalmuseum - 17244.tif

alt=A blazing sun above blue-tinged mountains and water

The Alexander Mosaic, as seen in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Category:Paintings by Albrecht Altdorfer

List of landscapes by Albrecht Altdorfer


The Battle of Alexander at Issus

Prompt: Describe the characteristics of the Influences and commission in The Battle of Alexander at Issus's Background.

Altdorfer's most significant contemporary influence was Matthias Grünewald (c. 1470–1528). Art historian Horst W. Janson remarked that their paintings "show the same 'unruly' imagination". Elements of The Battle of Alexander at Issus – particularly the sky – have been compared to Grünewald's Heavenly Host above the Virgin and Child, which forms part of his masterpiece, the Isenheim Altarpiece. Lucas Cranach the Elder (1472–1553), also associated with the Danube school, was another important influence for Altdorfer. According to Roskill, works by Cranach from about 1500 "give a prominent role to landscape settings, using them as mood-enhancing backgrounds for portraits, and for images of hermits and visionary saints", and seem to play a "preparatory role" for the onset of pure landscape. Altdorfer owed much of his style, particularly in his religious artwork, to Albrecht Dürer (1471–1528); Larry Silver writes that Altdorfer's "use of convincing German landscapes in combination with celestial phenomena for his religious narrative" is "firmly tied" to a tradition "modeled by Albrecht Dürer."William IV, Duke of Bavaria commissioned The Battle of Alexander at Issus in 1528. Altdorfer was approximately 50 at the time, and was living in the Free Imperial City of Regensburg. As a result of over a decade of involvement with the Regensburg city council, Altdorfer was offered the position of Burgomaster on 18 September 1528. He declined; the council annals reported his reasoning as such: "He much desires to execute a special work in Bavaria for my Serene Highness and gracious Lord, Duke [William]." William probably wanted the painting for his newly built summer Lusthaus ("pleasure house") in the grounds of his palace in Munich, approximately 60 miles (97 km) south of Regensburg. There, it was to hang alongside seven other paintings with a similar format and subject matter, including Ludwig Refinger's The Martyrdom of Marcus Curtius, Melchior Feselen's The Siege of Alesia by Caesar, and the painting of Battle of Cannae by Hans Burgkmair (1473–1531). Another eight, each portraying a famous woman from history, were later added to the set, probably at the behest of the Duke's wife, Jacobaea of Baden. Altdorfer's Susanna and the Elders (1526) was among these.

File:Battle of Issus - initial deployment.svg

alt=A painting showing an elaborate and fanciful palace set in a landscape of forest and mountains. The forecourt of the palace is bustling with people. Outside the palace, near a fountain sits Susannah attended by handmaids who wash her feet and comb her hair. Two old courtiers spy on her from the dense undergrowth.

Detail of the fictitious mountain in the painting's centre

Category:Collection of the Alte Pinakothek

Detail of Alexander the Great from the [[Alexander Mosaic

commons:File:Altdorfer, Albrecht - Donaulandschaft mit Schloß Wörth.jpg

alt=A panel from an altarpiece by Grünewald. On the right, the Virgin Mary gazes at the Christ Child while above her, in a sky blazing with light, God is seated on a throne surrounded by the Hosts of Heaven. To the left an orchestra of cherubim plays in a Gothic loggia.

The initial dispositions at the Battle of Issus. The Pinarus River separates the belligerents, and Issus is {{convert

alt=A military diagram. A river runs through the lower-left diagonal. On one side are the Persians, with the Orientals and Greek mercenaries, and on the other are the Macedonians, with Alexander and Parmenion. The gradient of the nearby mountains generally decreases from the top right, till the shores of the gulf in the bottom left.

alt=A large mosaic depicting an array of soldiers on horseback doing battle. Parts of it have been damaged or lost to time.

alt=Small figures of women on the battlefield, all with long red hair and all wearing feathered toques

''Susannah and the Elders'' (1526), the only other painting by Altdorfer in the [[Alte Pinakothek

Detail of soldiers from both armies. Reinhart Koselleck comments that the Persians resemble the 16th-century Turks "from their feet to their turbans."

Matthias Grünewald's ''The Virgin and Child with the Heavenly Host'' (c. 1515)

Alexander the Great#Death and succession

alt=A miniature painting showing four brightly clothed men carrying a large banner which is painted with a complex battle scene

alt=An island, and a cityscape featuring church towers

mi}} to the north. Cavalry is concentrated on the shores of the Gulf of İskenderun (or Gulf of Issus) on both sides. Alexander devotes himself to a right approach with his Companion cavalry, having unseated the Persian foothill defence.

alt=A steep mountain, upon which are built fortifications

alt= A painting of St George slaying the dragon set in a dense forest in which the figures are dwarfed by the trees. A distant landscape is seen through a break.

Detail of the oversized island of Cyprus and what is probably the city of Tarsus

A miniature from ''Triumphal Procession'' (1512–1516)

File:Horatius Cocles Stopping King Porsenna's Army outside Rome (Ludwig Refinger) - Nationalmuseum - 17244.tif

alt=A blazing sun above blue-tinged mountains and water

The Alexander Mosaic, as seen in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Category:Paintings by Albrecht Altdorfer

List of landscapes by Albrecht Altdorfer


The Battle of Alexander at Issus

Prompt: In the context of The Battle of Alexander at Issus, explain the Earlier depictions and the Background.

Earlier depictions of the Battle of Issus are few. Battle of Issus, a fresco by Philoxenus of Eretria, is probably the first such. It was painted sometime around 310 BC for Cassander (c. 350–297 BC), who was one of Alexander the Great's successors. Alexander and Darius – each within a lance's length of the other – are pictured among a wild fray of mounted and downed soldiers. While Alexander maintains an aura of unshaken confidence, fear is etched in Darius' face, and his charioteer has already turned to rein his horses and escape. Roman author and natural philosopher Pliny the Elder claimed that Philoxenus' portrayal of the battle was "inferior to none". Some modern critics posit that Battle of Issus might not have been the work of Philoxenus, but of Helena of Egypt. One of the few named women painters who might have worked in Ancient Greece, she was reputed to have produced a painting of the battle of Issus which hung in the Temple of Peace during the time of Vespasian.The Alexander Mosaic, a floor mosaic dating from c. 100 BC, is believed to be a "reasonably faithful" copy of Battle of Issus, though an alternative view holds it might instead be a copy of a work painted by Apelles of Kos, who produced several portraits of Alexander the Great. It measures 5.82 m × 3.13 m (19 ft 1 in × 10 ft 3 in), and consists of approximately 1.5 million tesserae (coloured tiles), each about 3 mm (0.12 in) square. The mosaicist is unknown. Since the mosaic was not rediscovered until 1831, during excavations of Pompeii's House of the Faun, Altdorfer could never have seen it. It was later moved to the Naples National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Italy, where it currently resides.

File:Battle of Issus - initial deployment.svg

alt=A painting showing an elaborate and fanciful palace set in a landscape of forest and mountains. The forecourt of the palace is bustling with people. Outside the palace, near a fountain sits Susannah attended by handmaids who wash her feet and comb her hair. Two old courtiers spy on her from the dense undergrowth.

Detail of the fictitious mountain in the painting's centre

Category:Collection of the Alte Pinakothek

Detail of Alexander the Great from the [[Alexander Mosaic

commons:File:Altdorfer, Albrecht - Donaulandschaft mit Schloß Wörth.jpg

alt=A panel from an altarpiece by Grünewald. On the right, the Virgin Mary gazes at the Christ Child while above her, in a sky blazing with light, God is seated on a throne surrounded by the Hosts of Heaven. To the left an orchestra of cherubim plays in a Gothic loggia.

The initial dispositions at the Battle of Issus. The Pinarus River separates the belligerents, and Issus is {{convert

alt=A military diagram. A river runs through the lower-left diagonal. On one side are the Persians, with the Orientals and Greek mercenaries, and on the other are the Macedonians, with Alexander and Parmenion. The gradient of the nearby mountains generally decreases from the top right, till the shores of the gulf in the bottom left.

alt=A large mosaic depicting an array of soldiers on horseback doing battle. Parts of it have been damaged or lost to time.

alt=Small figures of women on the battlefield, all with long red hair and all wearing feathered toques

''Susannah and the Elders'' (1526), the only other painting by Altdorfer in the [[Alte Pinakothek

Detail of soldiers from both armies. Reinhart Koselleck comments that the Persians resemble the 16th-century Turks "from their feet to their turbans."

Matthias Grünewald's ''The Virgin and Child with the Heavenly Host'' (c. 1515)

Alexander the Great#Death and succession

alt=A miniature painting showing four brightly clothed men carrying a large banner which is painted with a complex battle scene

alt=An island, and a cityscape featuring church towers

mi}} to the north. Cavalry is concentrated on the shores of the Gulf of İskenderun (or Gulf of Issus) on both sides. Alexander devotes himself to a right approach with his Companion cavalry, having unseated the Persian foothill defence.

alt=A steep mountain, upon which are built fortifications

alt= A painting of St George slaying the dragon set in a dense forest in which the figures are dwarfed by the trees. A distant landscape is seen through a break.

Detail of the oversized island of Cyprus and what is probably the city of Tarsus

A miniature from ''Triumphal Procession'' (1512–1516)

File:Horatius Cocles Stopping King Porsenna's Army outside Rome (Ludwig Refinger) - Nationalmuseum - 17244.tif

alt=A blazing sun above blue-tinged mountains and water

The Alexander Mosaic, as seen in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Category:Paintings by Albrecht Altdorfer

List of landscapes by Albrecht Altdorfer


The Battle of Alexander at Issus

Prompt: Explain the Earlier depictions about the Background of this artwork, The Battle of Alexander at Issus.

Earlier depictions of the Battle of Issus are few. Battle of Issus, a fresco by Philoxenus of Eretria, is probably the first such. It was painted sometime around 310 BC for Cassander (c. 350–297 BC), who was one of Alexander the Great's successors. Alexander and Darius – each within a lance's length of the other – are pictured among a wild fray of mounted and downed soldiers. While Alexander maintains an aura of unshaken confidence, fear is etched in Darius' face, and his charioteer has already turned to rein his horses and escape. Roman author and natural philosopher Pliny the Elder claimed that Philoxenus' portrayal of the battle was "inferior to none". Some modern critics posit that Battle of Issus might not have been the work of Philoxenus, but of Helena of Egypt. One of the few named women painters who might have worked in Ancient Greece, she was reputed to have produced a painting of the battle of Issus which hung in the Temple of Peace during the time of Vespasian.The Alexander Mosaic, a floor mosaic dating from c. 100 BC, is believed to be a "reasonably faithful" copy of Battle of Issus, though an alternative view holds it might instead be a copy of a work painted by Apelles of Kos, who produced several portraits of Alexander the Great. It measures 5.82 m × 3.13 m (19 ft 1 in × 10 ft 3 in), and consists of approximately 1.5 million tesserae (coloured tiles), each about 3 mm (0.12 in) square. The mosaicist is unknown. Since the mosaic was not rediscovered until 1831, during excavations of Pompeii's House of the Faun, Altdorfer could never have seen it. It was later moved to the Naples National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Italy, where it currently resides.

File:Battle of Issus - initial deployment.svg

alt=A painting showing an elaborate and fanciful palace set in a landscape of forest and mountains. The forecourt of the palace is bustling with people. Outside the palace, near a fountain sits Susannah attended by handmaids who wash her feet and comb her hair. Two old courtiers spy on her from the dense undergrowth.

Detail of the fictitious mountain in the painting's centre

Category:Collection of the Alte Pinakothek

Detail of Alexander the Great from the [[Alexander Mosaic

commons:File:Altdorfer, Albrecht - Donaulandschaft mit Schloß Wörth.jpg

alt=A panel from an altarpiece by Grünewald. On the right, the Virgin Mary gazes at the Christ Child while above her, in a sky blazing with light, God is seated on a throne surrounded by the Hosts of Heaven. To the left an orchestra of cherubim plays in a Gothic loggia.

The initial dispositions at the Battle of Issus. The Pinarus River separates the belligerents, and Issus is {{convert

alt=A military diagram. A river runs through the lower-left diagonal. On one side are the Persians, with the Orientals and Greek mercenaries, and on the other are the Macedonians, with Alexander and Parmenion. The gradient of the nearby mountains generally decreases from the top right, till the shores of the gulf in the bottom left.

alt=A large mosaic depicting an array of soldiers on horseback doing battle. Parts of it have been damaged or lost to time.

alt=Small figures of women on the battlefield, all with long red hair and all wearing feathered toques

''Susannah and the Elders'' (1526), the only other painting by Altdorfer in the [[Alte Pinakothek

Detail of soldiers from both armies. Reinhart Koselleck comments that the Persians resemble the 16th-century Turks "from their feet to their turbans."

Matthias Grünewald's ''The Virgin and Child with the Heavenly Host'' (c. 1515)

Alexander the Great#Death and succession

alt=A miniature painting showing four brightly clothed men carrying a large banner which is painted with a complex battle scene

alt=An island, and a cityscape featuring church towers

mi}} to the north. Cavalry is concentrated on the shores of the Gulf of İskenderun (or Gulf of Issus) on both sides. Alexander devotes himself to a right approach with his Companion cavalry, having unseated the Persian foothill defence.

alt=A steep mountain, upon which are built fortifications

alt= A painting of St George slaying the dragon set in a dense forest in which the figures are dwarfed by the trees. A distant landscape is seen through a break.

Detail of the oversized island of Cyprus and what is probably the city of Tarsus

A miniature from ''Triumphal Procession'' (1512–1516)

File:Horatius Cocles Stopping King Porsenna's Army outside Rome (Ludwig Refinger) - Nationalmuseum - 17244.tif

alt=A blazing sun above blue-tinged mountains and water

The Alexander Mosaic, as seen in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Category:Paintings by Albrecht Altdorfer

List of landscapes by Albrecht Altdorfer


The Battle of Alexander at Issus

Prompt: In The Battle of Alexander at Issus, how is the Earlier depictions of the Background explained?

Earlier depictions of the Battle of Issus are few. Battle of Issus, a fresco by Philoxenus of Eretria, is probably the first such. It was painted sometime around 310 BC for Cassander (c. 350–297 BC), who was one of Alexander the Great's successors. Alexander and Darius – each within a lance's length of the other – are pictured among a wild fray of mounted and downed soldiers. While Alexander maintains an aura of unshaken confidence, fear is etched in Darius' face, and his charioteer has already turned to rein his horses and escape. Roman author and natural philosopher Pliny the Elder claimed that Philoxenus' portrayal of the battle was "inferior to none". Some modern critics posit that Battle of Issus might not have been the work of Philoxenus, but of Helena of Egypt. One of the few named women painters who might have worked in Ancient Greece, she was reputed to have produced a painting of the battle of Issus which hung in the Temple of Peace during the time of Vespasian.The Alexander Mosaic, a floor mosaic dating from c. 100 BC, is believed to be a "reasonably faithful" copy of Battle of Issus, though an alternative view holds it might instead be a copy of a work painted by Apelles of Kos, who produced several portraits of Alexander the Great. It measures 5.82 m × 3.13 m (19 ft 1 in × 10 ft 3 in), and consists of approximately 1.5 million tesserae (coloured tiles), each about 3 mm (0.12 in) square. The mosaicist is unknown. Since the mosaic was not rediscovered until 1831, during excavations of Pompeii's House of the Faun, Altdorfer could never have seen it. It was later moved to the Naples National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Italy, where it currently resides.

File:Battle of Issus - initial deployment.svg

alt=A painting showing an elaborate and fanciful palace set in a landscape of forest and mountains. The forecourt of the palace is bustling with people. Outside the palace, near a fountain sits Susannah attended by handmaids who wash her feet and comb her hair. Two old courtiers spy on her from the dense undergrowth.

Detail of the fictitious mountain in the painting's centre

Category:Collection of the Alte Pinakothek

Detail of Alexander the Great from the [[Alexander Mosaic

commons:File:Altdorfer, Albrecht - Donaulandschaft mit Schloß Wörth.jpg

alt=A panel from an altarpiece by Grünewald. On the right, the Virgin Mary gazes at the Christ Child while above her, in a sky blazing with light, God is seated on a throne surrounded by the Hosts of Heaven. To the left an orchestra of cherubim plays in a Gothic loggia.

The initial dispositions at the Battle of Issus. The Pinarus River separates the belligerents, and Issus is {{convert

alt=A military diagram. A river runs through the lower-left diagonal. On one side are the Persians, with the Orientals and Greek mercenaries, and on the other are the Macedonians, with Alexander and Parmenion. The gradient of the nearby mountains generally decreases from the top right, till the shores of the gulf in the bottom left.

alt=A large mosaic depicting an array of soldiers on horseback doing battle. Parts of it have been damaged or lost to time.

alt=Small figures of women on the battlefield, all with long red hair and all wearing feathered toques

''Susannah and the Elders'' (1526), the only other painting by Altdorfer in the [[Alte Pinakothek

Detail of soldiers from both armies. Reinhart Koselleck comments that the Persians resemble the 16th-century Turks "from their feet to their turbans."

Matthias Grünewald's ''The Virgin and Child with the Heavenly Host'' (c. 1515)

Alexander the Great#Death and succession

alt=A miniature painting showing four brightly clothed men carrying a large banner which is painted with a complex battle scene

alt=An island, and a cityscape featuring church towers

mi}} to the north. Cavalry is concentrated on the shores of the Gulf of İskenderun (or Gulf of Issus) on both sides. Alexander devotes himself to a right approach with his Companion cavalry, having unseated the Persian foothill defence.

alt=A steep mountain, upon which are built fortifications

alt= A painting of St George slaying the dragon set in a dense forest in which the figures are dwarfed by the trees. A distant landscape is seen through a break.

Detail of the oversized island of Cyprus and what is probably the city of Tarsus

A miniature from ''Triumphal Procession'' (1512–1516)

File:Horatius Cocles Stopping King Porsenna's Army outside Rome (Ludwig Refinger) - Nationalmuseum - 17244.tif

alt=A blazing sun above blue-tinged mountains and water

The Alexander Mosaic, as seen in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Category:Paintings by Albrecht Altdorfer

List of landscapes by Albrecht Altdorfer


The Battle of Alexander at Issus

Prompt: Describe the characteristics of the Earlier depictions in The Battle of Alexander at Issus's Background.

Earlier depictions of the Battle of Issus are few. Battle of Issus, a fresco by Philoxenus of Eretria, is probably the first such. It was painted sometime around 310 BC for Cassander (c. 350–297 BC), who was one of Alexander the Great's successors. Alexander and Darius – each within a lance's length of the other – are pictured among a wild fray of mounted and downed soldiers. While Alexander maintains an aura of unshaken confidence, fear is etched in Darius' face, and his charioteer has already turned to rein his horses and escape. Roman author and natural philosopher Pliny the Elder claimed that Philoxenus' portrayal of the battle was "inferior to none". Some modern critics posit that Battle of Issus might not have been the work of Philoxenus, but of Helena of Egypt. One of the few named women painters who might have worked in Ancient Greece, she was reputed to have produced a painting of the battle of Issus which hung in the Temple of Peace during the time of Vespasian.The Alexander Mosaic, a floor mosaic dating from c. 100 BC, is believed to be a "reasonably faithful" copy of Battle of Issus, though an alternative view holds it might instead be a copy of a work painted by Apelles of Kos, who produced several portraits of Alexander the Great. It measures 5.82 m × 3.13 m (19 ft 1 in × 10 ft 3 in), and consists of approximately 1.5 million tesserae (coloured tiles), each about 3 mm (0.12 in) square. The mosaicist is unknown. Since the mosaic was not rediscovered until 1831, during excavations of Pompeii's House of the Faun, Altdorfer could never have seen it. It was later moved to the Naples National Archaeological Museum in Naples, Italy, where it currently resides.

File:Battle of Issus - initial deployment.svg

alt=A painting showing an elaborate and fanciful palace set in a landscape of forest and mountains. The forecourt of the palace is bustling with people. Outside the palace, near a fountain sits Susannah attended by handmaids who wash her feet and comb her hair. Two old courtiers spy on her from the dense undergrowth.

Detail of the fictitious mountain in the painting's centre

Category:Collection of the Alte Pinakothek

Detail of Alexander the Great from the [[Alexander Mosaic

commons:File:Altdorfer, Albrecht - Donaulandschaft mit Schloß Wörth.jpg

alt=A panel from an altarpiece by Grünewald. On the right, the Virgin Mary gazes at the Christ Child while above her, in a sky blazing with light, God is seated on a throne surrounded by the Hosts of Heaven. To the left an orchestra of cherubim plays in a Gothic loggia.

The initial dispositions at the Battle of Issus. The Pinarus River separates the belligerents, and Issus is {{convert

alt=A military diagram. A river runs through the lower-left diagonal. On one side are the Persians, with the Orientals and Greek mercenaries, and on the other are the Macedonians, with Alexander and Parmenion. The gradient of the nearby mountains generally decreases from the top right, till the shores of the gulf in the bottom left.

alt=A large mosaic depicting an array of soldiers on horseback doing battle. Parts of it have been damaged or lost to time.

alt=Small figures of women on the battlefield, all with long red hair and all wearing feathered toques

''Susannah and the Elders'' (1526), the only other painting by Altdorfer in the [[Alte Pinakothek

Detail of soldiers from both armies. Reinhart Koselleck comments that the Persians resemble the 16th-century Turks "from their feet to their turbans."

Matthias Grünewald's ''The Virgin and Child with the Heavenly Host'' (c. 1515)

Alexander the Great#Death and succession

alt=A miniature painting showing four brightly clothed men carrying a large banner which is painted with a complex battle scene

alt=An island, and a cityscape featuring church towers

mi}} to the north. Cavalry is concentrated on the shores of the Gulf of İskenderun (or Gulf of Issus) on both sides. Alexander devotes himself to a right approach with his Companion cavalry, having unseated the Persian foothill defence.

alt=A steep mountain, upon which are built fortifications

alt= A painting of St George slaying the dragon set in a dense forest in which the figures are dwarfed by the trees. A distant landscape is seen through a break.

Detail of the oversized island of Cyprus and what is probably the city of Tarsus

A miniature from ''Triumphal Procession'' (1512–1516)

File:Horatius Cocles Stopping King Porsenna's Army outside Rome (Ludwig Refinger) - Nationalmuseum - 17244.tif

alt=A blazing sun above blue-tinged mountains and water

The Alexander Mosaic, as seen in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Category:Paintings by Albrecht Altdorfer

List of landscapes by Albrecht Altdorfer


The Battle of Alexander at Issus

Prompt: In the context of The Battle of Alexander at Issus, explain the Description and the Painting.

The Battle of Alexander at Issus is painted on a limewood panel measuring 158.4 cm × 120.3 cm (62.4 in × 47.4 in), and portrays the moment of Alexander the Great's victory. The vertical format was dictated by the space available in the room for which the painting was commissioned – each in William's set of eight was made to be the same size. At an unknown date, the panel was cut down on all sides, particularly at the top, so the sky was originally larger and the moon further from the corner of the scene. The scene is approached from an impossible viewpoint – at first only feet from the fray, the perspective gradually ascends to encompass the seas and continents in the background and eventually the curvature of the Earth itself.Thousands of horse and foot soldiers immersed in a sea of spears and lances populate the foreground. The two armies are distinguished by their dress, anachronistic though it is: whereas Alexander's men clad themselves and their horses in full suits of heavy armour, many of Darius' wear turbans and ride naked mounts. The bodies of the many fallen soldiers lie underfoot. A front of Macedonian warriors in the centre pushes against the crumbling enemy force, who flee the battlefield on the far left. The Persian king joins his army on his chariot of three horses, and is narrowly pursued by Alexander and his uniformly attired Companion cavalry. The tract of soldiers continues down the gently sloped battlefield to the campsite and cityscape by the water, gravitating toward the mountainous rise at the scene's centre.Beyond is the Mediterranean Sea and the island of Cyprus. Here, a transition in hue is made, from the browns that prevail in the lower half of the painting to the aquas that saturate the upper half. The Nile River meanders in the far distance, emptying its seven arms into the Mediterranean at the Nile Delta. South of Cyprus is the Sinai Peninsula, which forms a land bridge between Africa and Southwest Asia. The Red Sea lies beyond, eventually merging – as the mountain ranges to its left and right do – with the curved horizon.A fierce sky caught in the dichotomy between the setting sun and the crescent moon dominates more than a third of the painting. The rain-heavy clouds swirling ominously around each celestial entity are separated by a gulf of calmness, intensifying the contrast and infusing the heavens with an unearthly glow. Light from the sky spills onto the landscape: while the western continent and the Nile are bathed in the sun's light, the east and the Tower of Babel are cloaked in shadow.The painting's subject is explained in the tablet suspended from the heavens. The wording, probably supplied by William's court historian Johannes Aventinus, was originally in German but was later replaced by a Latin inscription. It translates:Alexander the Great defeating the last Darius, after 100,000 infantry and more than 10,000 cavalrymen had been killed amongst the ranks of the Persians. Whilst King Darius was able to flee with no more than 1,000 horsemen, his mother, wife, and children were taken prisoner.No date is provided for the battle alongside these casualty figures. The lower left-hand corner features Altdorfer's monogram – an 'A' within an 'A' – and the lower edge of the tablet is inscribed with "ALBRECHT ALTORFER ZU REGENSPVRG FECIT" ("Albrecht Altdorfer from Regensburg made [this]"). Tiny inscriptions on their chariot and harness identify Darius and Alexander, respectively. Each army bears a banner that reports both its total strength and its future casualties.

File:Battle of Issus - initial deployment.svg

alt=A painting showing an elaborate and fanciful palace set in a landscape of forest and mountains. The forecourt of the palace is bustling with people. Outside the palace, near a fountain sits Susannah attended by handmaids who wash her feet and comb her hair. Two old courtiers spy on her from the dense undergrowth.

Detail of the fictitious mountain in the painting's centre

Category:Collection of the Alte Pinakothek

Detail of Alexander the Great from the [[Alexander Mosaic

commons:File:Altdorfer, Albrecht - Donaulandschaft mit Schloß Wörth.jpg

alt=A panel from an altarpiece by Grünewald. On the right, the Virgin Mary gazes at the Christ Child while above her, in a sky blazing with light, God is seated on a throne surrounded by the Hosts of Heaven. To the left an orchestra of cherubim plays in a Gothic loggia.

The initial dispositions at the Battle of Issus. The Pinarus River separates the belligerents, and Issus is {{convert

alt=A military diagram. A river runs through the lower-left diagonal. On one side are the Persians, with the Orientals and Greek mercenaries, and on the other are the Macedonians, with Alexander and Parmenion. The gradient of the nearby mountains generally decreases from the top right, till the shores of the gulf in the bottom left.

alt=A large mosaic depicting an array of soldiers on horseback doing battle. Parts of it have been damaged or lost to time.

alt=Small figures of women on the battlefield, all with long red hair and all wearing feathered toques

''Susannah and the Elders'' (1526), the only other painting by Altdorfer in the [[Alte Pinakothek

Detail of soldiers from both armies. Reinhart Koselleck comments that the Persians resemble the 16th-century Turks "from their feet to their turbans."

Matthias Grünewald's ''The Virgin and Child with the Heavenly Host'' (c. 1515)

Alexander the Great#Death and succession

alt=A miniature painting showing four brightly clothed men carrying a large banner which is painted with a complex battle scene

alt=An island, and a cityscape featuring church towers

mi}} to the north. Cavalry is concentrated on the shores of the Gulf of İskenderun (or Gulf of Issus) on both sides. Alexander devotes himself to a right approach with his Companion cavalry, having unseated the Persian foothill defence.

alt=A steep mountain, upon which are built fortifications

alt= A painting of St George slaying the dragon set in a dense forest in which the figures are dwarfed by the trees. A distant landscape is seen through a break.

Detail of the oversized island of Cyprus and what is probably the city of Tarsus

A miniature from ''Triumphal Procession'' (1512–1516)

File:Horatius Cocles Stopping King Porsenna's Army outside Rome (Ludwig Refinger) - Nationalmuseum - 17244.tif

alt=A blazing sun above blue-tinged mountains and water

The Alexander Mosaic, as seen in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Category:Paintings by Albrecht Altdorfer

List of landscapes by Albrecht Altdorfer


The Battle of Alexander at Issus

Prompt: Explain the Description about the Painting of this artwork, The Battle of Alexander at Issus.

The Battle of Alexander at Issus is painted on a limewood panel measuring 158.4 cm × 120.3 cm (62.4 in × 47.4 in), and portrays the moment of Alexander the Great's victory. The vertical format was dictated by the space available in the room for which the painting was commissioned – each in William's set of eight was made to be the same size. At an unknown date, the panel was cut down on all sides, particularly at the top, so the sky was originally larger and the moon further from the corner of the scene. The scene is approached from an impossible viewpoint – at first only feet from the fray, the perspective gradually ascends to encompass the seas and continents in the background and eventually the curvature of the Earth itself.Thousands of horse and foot soldiers immersed in a sea of spears and lances populate the foreground. The two armies are distinguished by their dress, anachronistic though it is: whereas Alexander's men clad themselves and their horses in full suits of heavy armour, many of Darius' wear turbans and ride naked mounts. The bodies of the many fallen soldiers lie underfoot. A front of Macedonian warriors in the centre pushes against the crumbling enemy force, who flee the battlefield on the far left. The Persian king joins his army on his chariot of three horses, and is narrowly pursued by Alexander and his uniformly attired Companion cavalry. The tract of soldiers continues down the gently sloped battlefield to the campsite and cityscape by the water, gravitating toward the mountainous rise at the scene's centre.Beyond is the Mediterranean Sea and the island of Cyprus. Here, a transition in hue is made, from the browns that prevail in the lower half of the painting to the aquas that saturate the upper half. The Nile River meanders in the far distance, emptying its seven arms into the Mediterranean at the Nile Delta. South of Cyprus is the Sinai Peninsula, which forms a land bridge between Africa and Southwest Asia. The Red Sea lies beyond, eventually merging – as the mountain ranges to its left and right do – with the curved horizon.A fierce sky caught in the dichotomy between the setting sun and the crescent moon dominates more than a third of the painting. The rain-heavy clouds swirling ominously around each celestial entity are separated by a gulf of calmness, intensifying the contrast and infusing the heavens with an unearthly glow. Light from the sky spills onto the landscape: while the western continent and the Nile are bathed in the sun's light, the east and the Tower of Babel are cloaked in shadow.The painting's subject is explained in the tablet suspended from the heavens. The wording, probably supplied by William's court historian Johannes Aventinus, was originally in German but was later replaced by a Latin inscription. It translates:Alexander the Great defeating the last Darius, after 100,000 infantry and more than 10,000 cavalrymen had been killed amongst the ranks of the Persians. Whilst King Darius was able to flee with no more than 1,000 horsemen, his mother, wife, and children were taken prisoner.No date is provided for the battle alongside these casualty figures. The lower left-hand corner features Altdorfer's monogram – an 'A' within an 'A' – and the lower edge of the tablet is inscribed with "ALBRECHT ALTORFER ZU REGENSPVRG FECIT" ("Albrecht Altdorfer from Regensburg made [this]"). Tiny inscriptions on their chariot and harness identify Darius and Alexander, respectively. Each army bears a banner that reports both its total strength and its future casualties.

File:Battle of Issus - initial deployment.svg

alt=A painting showing an elaborate and fanciful palace set in a landscape of forest and mountains. The forecourt of the palace is bustling with people. Outside the palace, near a fountain sits Susannah attended by handmaids who wash her feet and comb her hair. Two old courtiers spy on her from the dense undergrowth.

Detail of the fictitious mountain in the painting's centre

Category:Collection of the Alte Pinakothek

Detail of Alexander the Great from the [[Alexander Mosaic

commons:File:Altdorfer, Albrecht - Donaulandschaft mit Schloß Wörth.jpg

alt=A panel from an altarpiece by Grünewald. On the right, the Virgin Mary gazes at the Christ Child while above her, in a sky blazing with light, God is seated on a throne surrounded by the Hosts of Heaven. To the left an orchestra of cherubim plays in a Gothic loggia.

The initial dispositions at the Battle of Issus. The Pinarus River separates the belligerents, and Issus is {{convert

alt=A military diagram. A river runs through the lower-left diagonal. On one side are the Persians, with the Orientals and Greek mercenaries, and on the other are the Macedonians, with Alexander and Parmenion. The gradient of the nearby mountains generally decreases from the top right, till the shores of the gulf in the bottom left.

alt=A large mosaic depicting an array of soldiers on horseback doing battle. Parts of it have been damaged or lost to time.

alt=Small figures of women on the battlefield, all with long red hair and all wearing feathered toques

''Susannah and the Elders'' (1526), the only other painting by Altdorfer in the [[Alte Pinakothek

Detail of soldiers from both armies. Reinhart Koselleck comments that the Persians resemble the 16th-century Turks "from their feet to their turbans."

Matthias Grünewald's ''The Virgin and Child with the Heavenly Host'' (c. 1515)

Alexander the Great#Death and succession

alt=A miniature painting showing four brightly clothed men carrying a large banner which is painted with a complex battle scene

alt=An island, and a cityscape featuring church towers

mi}} to the north. Cavalry is concentrated on the shores of the Gulf of İskenderun (or Gulf of Issus) on both sides. Alexander devotes himself to a right approach with his Companion cavalry, having unseated the Persian foothill defence.

alt=A steep mountain, upon which are built fortifications

alt= A painting of St George slaying the dragon set in a dense forest in which the figures are dwarfed by the trees. A distant landscape is seen through a break.

Detail of the oversized island of Cyprus and what is probably the city of Tarsus

A miniature from ''Triumphal Procession'' (1512–1516)

File:Horatius Cocles Stopping King Porsenna's Army outside Rome (Ludwig Refinger) - Nationalmuseum - 17244.tif

alt=A blazing sun above blue-tinged mountains and water

The Alexander Mosaic, as seen in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Category:Paintings by Albrecht Altdorfer

List of landscapes by Albrecht Altdorfer


The Battle of Alexander at Issus

Prompt: In The Battle of Alexander at Issus, how is the Description of the Painting explained?

The Battle of Alexander at Issus is painted on a limewood panel measuring 158.4 cm × 120.3 cm (62.4 in × 47.4 in), and portrays the moment of Alexander the Great's victory. The vertical format was dictated by the space available in the room for which the painting was commissioned – each in William's set of eight was made to be the same size. At an unknown date, the panel was cut down on all sides, particularly at the top, so the sky was originally larger and the moon further from the corner of the scene. The scene is approached from an impossible viewpoint – at first only feet from the fray, the perspective gradually ascends to encompass the seas and continents in the background and eventually the curvature of the Earth itself.Thousands of horse and foot soldiers immersed in a sea of spears and lances populate the foreground. The two armies are distinguished by their dress, anachronistic though it is: whereas Alexander's men clad themselves and their horses in full suits of heavy armour, many of Darius' wear turbans and ride naked mounts. The bodies of the many fallen soldiers lie underfoot. A front of Macedonian warriors in the centre pushes against the crumbling enemy force, who flee the battlefield on the far left. The Persian king joins his army on his chariot of three horses, and is narrowly pursued by Alexander and his uniformly attired Companion cavalry. The tract of soldiers continues down the gently sloped battlefield to the campsite and cityscape by the water, gravitating toward the mountainous rise at the scene's centre.Beyond is the Mediterranean Sea and the island of Cyprus. Here, a transition in hue is made, from the browns that prevail in the lower half of the painting to the aquas that saturate the upper half. The Nile River meanders in the far distance, emptying its seven arms into the Mediterranean at the Nile Delta. South of Cyprus is the Sinai Peninsula, which forms a land bridge between Africa and Southwest Asia. The Red Sea lies beyond, eventually merging – as the mountain ranges to its left and right do – with the curved horizon.A fierce sky caught in the dichotomy between the setting sun and the crescent moon dominates more than a third of the painting. The rain-heavy clouds swirling ominously around each celestial entity are separated by a gulf of calmness, intensifying the contrast and infusing the heavens with an unearthly glow. Light from the sky spills onto the landscape: while the western continent and the Nile are bathed in the sun's light, the east and the Tower of Babel are cloaked in shadow.The painting's subject is explained in the tablet suspended from the heavens. The wording, probably supplied by William's court historian Johannes Aventinus, was originally in German but was later replaced by a Latin inscription. It translates:Alexander the Great defeating the last Darius, after 100,000 infantry and more than 10,000 cavalrymen had been killed amongst the ranks of the Persians. Whilst King Darius was able to flee with no more than 1,000 horsemen, his mother, wife, and children were taken prisoner.No date is provided for the battle alongside these casualty figures. The lower left-hand corner features Altdorfer's monogram – an 'A' within an 'A' – and the lower edge of the tablet is inscribed with "ALBRECHT ALTORFER ZU REGENSPVRG FECIT" ("Albrecht Altdorfer from Regensburg made [this]"). Tiny inscriptions on their chariot and harness identify Darius and Alexander, respectively. Each army bears a banner that reports both its total strength and its future casualties.

File:Battle of Issus - initial deployment.svg

alt=A painting showing an elaborate and fanciful palace set in a landscape of forest and mountains. The forecourt of the palace is bustling with people. Outside the palace, near a fountain sits Susannah attended by handmaids who wash her feet and comb her hair. Two old courtiers spy on her from the dense undergrowth.

Detail of the fictitious mountain in the painting's centre

Category:Collection of the Alte Pinakothek

Detail of Alexander the Great from the [[Alexander Mosaic

commons:File:Altdorfer, Albrecht - Donaulandschaft mit Schloß Wörth.jpg

alt=A panel from an altarpiece by Grünewald. On the right, the Virgin Mary gazes at the Christ Child while above her, in a sky blazing with light, God is seated on a throne surrounded by the Hosts of Heaven. To the left an orchestra of cherubim plays in a Gothic loggia.

The initial dispositions at the Battle of Issus. The Pinarus River separates the belligerents, and Issus is {{convert

alt=A military diagram. A river runs through the lower-left diagonal. On one side are the Persians, with the Orientals and Greek mercenaries, and on the other are the Macedonians, with Alexander and Parmenion. The gradient of the nearby mountains generally decreases from the top right, till the shores of the gulf in the bottom left.

alt=A large mosaic depicting an array of soldiers on horseback doing battle. Parts of it have been damaged or lost to time.

alt=Small figures of women on the battlefield, all with long red hair and all wearing feathered toques

''Susannah and the Elders'' (1526), the only other painting by Altdorfer in the [[Alte Pinakothek

Detail of soldiers from both armies. Reinhart Koselleck comments that the Persians resemble the 16th-century Turks "from their feet to their turbans."

Matthias Grünewald's ''The Virgin and Child with the Heavenly Host'' (c. 1515)

Alexander the Great#Death and succession

alt=A miniature painting showing four brightly clothed men carrying a large banner which is painted with a complex battle scene

alt=An island, and a cityscape featuring church towers

mi}} to the north. Cavalry is concentrated on the shores of the Gulf of İskenderun (or Gulf of Issus) on both sides. Alexander devotes himself to a right approach with his Companion cavalry, having unseated the Persian foothill defence.

alt=A steep mountain, upon which are built fortifications

alt= A painting of St George slaying the dragon set in a dense forest in which the figures are dwarfed by the trees. A distant landscape is seen through a break.

Detail of the oversized island of Cyprus and what is probably the city of Tarsus

A miniature from ''Triumphal Procession'' (1512–1516)

File:Horatius Cocles Stopping King Porsenna's Army outside Rome (Ludwig Refinger) - Nationalmuseum - 17244.tif

alt=A blazing sun above blue-tinged mountains and water

The Alexander Mosaic, as seen in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Category:Paintings by Albrecht Altdorfer

List of landscapes by Albrecht Altdorfer


The Battle of Alexander at Issus

Prompt: Describe the characteristics of the Description in The Battle of Alexander at Issus's Painting.

The Battle of Alexander at Issus is painted on a limewood panel measuring 158.4 cm × 120.3 cm (62.4 in × 47.4 in), and portrays the moment of Alexander the Great's victory. The vertical format was dictated by the space available in the room for which the painting was commissioned – each in William's set of eight was made to be the same size. At an unknown date, the panel was cut down on all sides, particularly at the top, so the sky was originally larger and the moon further from the corner of the scene. The scene is approached from an impossible viewpoint – at first only feet from the fray, the perspective gradually ascends to encompass the seas and continents in the background and eventually the curvature of the Earth itself.Thousands of horse and foot soldiers immersed in a sea of spears and lances populate the foreground. The two armies are distinguished by their dress, anachronistic though it is: whereas Alexander's men clad themselves and their horses in full suits of heavy armour, many of Darius' wear turbans and ride naked mounts. The bodies of the many fallen soldiers lie underfoot. A front of Macedonian warriors in the centre pushes against the crumbling enemy force, who flee the battlefield on the far left. The Persian king joins his army on his chariot of three horses, and is narrowly pursued by Alexander and his uniformly attired Companion cavalry. The tract of soldiers continues down the gently sloped battlefield to the campsite and cityscape by the water, gravitating toward the mountainous rise at the scene's centre.Beyond is the Mediterranean Sea and the island of Cyprus. Here, a transition in hue is made, from the browns that prevail in the lower half of the painting to the aquas that saturate the upper half. The Nile River meanders in the far distance, emptying its seven arms into the Mediterranean at the Nile Delta. South of Cyprus is the Sinai Peninsula, which forms a land bridge between Africa and Southwest Asia. The Red Sea lies beyond, eventually merging – as the mountain ranges to its left and right do – with the curved horizon.A fierce sky caught in the dichotomy between the setting sun and the crescent moon dominates more than a third of the painting. The rain-heavy clouds swirling ominously around each celestial entity are separated by a gulf of calmness, intensifying the contrast and infusing the heavens with an unearthly glow. Light from the sky spills onto the landscape: while the western continent and the Nile are bathed in the sun's light, the east and the Tower of Babel are cloaked in shadow.The painting's subject is explained in the tablet suspended from the heavens. The wording, probably supplied by William's court historian Johannes Aventinus, was originally in German but was later replaced by a Latin inscription. It translates:Alexander the Great defeating the last Darius, after 100,000 infantry and more than 10,000 cavalrymen had been killed amongst the ranks of the Persians. Whilst King Darius was able to flee with no more than 1,000 horsemen, his mother, wife, and children were taken prisoner.No date is provided for the battle alongside these casualty figures. The lower left-hand corner features Altdorfer's monogram – an 'A' within an 'A' – and the lower edge of the tablet is inscribed with "ALBRECHT ALTORFER ZU REGENSPVRG FECIT" ("Albrecht Altdorfer from Regensburg made [this]"). Tiny inscriptions on their chariot and harness identify Darius and Alexander, respectively. Each army bears a banner that reports both its total strength and its future casualties.

File:Battle of Issus - initial deployment.svg

alt=A painting showing an elaborate and fanciful palace set in a landscape of forest and mountains. The forecourt of the palace is bustling with people. Outside the palace, near a fountain sits Susannah attended by handmaids who wash her feet and comb her hair. Two old courtiers spy on her from the dense undergrowth.

Detail of the fictitious mountain in the painting's centre

Category:Collection of the Alte Pinakothek

Detail of Alexander the Great from the [[Alexander Mosaic

commons:File:Altdorfer, Albrecht - Donaulandschaft mit Schloß Wörth.jpg

alt=A panel from an altarpiece by Grünewald. On the right, the Virgin Mary gazes at the Christ Child while above her, in a sky blazing with light, God is seated on a throne surrounded by the Hosts of Heaven. To the left an orchestra of cherubim plays in a Gothic loggia.

The initial dispositions at the Battle of Issus. The Pinarus River separates the belligerents, and Issus is {{convert

alt=A military diagram. A river runs through the lower-left diagonal. On one side are the Persians, with the Orientals and Greek mercenaries, and on the other are the Macedonians, with Alexander and Parmenion. The gradient of the nearby mountains generally decreases from the top right, till the shores of the gulf in the bottom left.

alt=A large mosaic depicting an array of soldiers on horseback doing battle. Parts of it have been damaged or lost to time.

alt=Small figures of women on the battlefield, all with long red hair and all wearing feathered toques

''Susannah and the Elders'' (1526), the only other painting by Altdorfer in the [[Alte Pinakothek

Detail of soldiers from both armies. Reinhart Koselleck comments that the Persians resemble the 16th-century Turks "from their feet to their turbans."

Matthias Grünewald's ''The Virgin and Child with the Heavenly Host'' (c. 1515)

Alexander the Great#Death and succession

alt=A miniature painting showing four brightly clothed men carrying a large banner which is painted with a complex battle scene

alt=An island, and a cityscape featuring church towers

mi}} to the north. Cavalry is concentrated on the shores of the Gulf of İskenderun (or Gulf of Issus) on both sides. Alexander devotes himself to a right approach with his Companion cavalry, having unseated the Persian foothill defence.

alt=A steep mountain, upon which are built fortifications

alt= A painting of St George slaying the dragon set in a dense forest in which the figures are dwarfed by the trees. A distant landscape is seen through a break.

Detail of the oversized island of Cyprus and what is probably the city of Tarsus

A miniature from ''Triumphal Procession'' (1512–1516)

File:Horatius Cocles Stopping King Porsenna's Army outside Rome (Ludwig Refinger) - Nationalmuseum - 17244.tif

alt=A blazing sun above blue-tinged mountains and water

The Alexander Mosaic, as seen in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Category:Paintings by Albrecht Altdorfer

List of landscapes by Albrecht Altdorfer


The Battle of Alexander at Issus

Prompt: In the context of The Battle of Alexander at Issus, explain the Analysis and interpretation and the Painting.

Anachronism is a major component of The Battle of Alexander at Issus. By dressing Alexander's men in 16th-century steel armour and Darius' men in Turkish battle dress, Altdorfer draws deliberate parallels between the Macedonian campaign and the contemporary European–Ottoman conflict. In 1529 – the year of the painting's commissioning – the Ottoman forces under Suleiman the Magnificent laid siege to the Austrian city of Vienna, then also the capital of the Holy Roman Empire and called 'the golden apple' by the Sultans. Although far inferior in number, the Austrian, German, Czech, and Spanish soldiers marshalled to defend Vienna were able to force the enemy into a retreat and stall the Ottoman advance on central Europe. It is probable the painting's underlying allegory was inspired by the siege of Vienna, given its similarities to Alexander's victory at Issus. Some critics go further, suggesting that the inclusion of anachronism may have been an element of Altdorfer's commission.In his Futures Past: On the Semantics of Historical Time, historian Reinhart Koselleck discusses Altdorfer's representation of time in a more philosophical light. After differentiating between the superficial anachronism found in the casualty figures on the army banners and the deeper anachronism ingrained in the painting's contemporary context, he posits that the latter type is less a superimposition of one historical event over another and more an acknowledgement of the recursive nature of history. With reference to Koselleck, Kathleen Davis argues: "... for [Altdorfer], 4th-century Persians look like 16th-century Turks not because he does not know the difference, but because the difference does not matter ... The Alexanderschlacht, in other words, exemplifies a premodern, untemporalized sense of time and a lack of historical consciousness ... Altdorfer's historical overlays evince an eschatological vision of history, evidence that the 16th century (and by degrees also the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries) remained locked in a static, constant temporality that proleptically saturates the future as always a repetition of the same ... In such a system there can be no event as such: anticipation and arrival are together sucked into the black hole of sacred history, which is not temporalized because its time is essentially undifferentiated ..."Featured alongside the anachronism in The Battle of Alexander at Issus is a genuine lack of historicity. Altdorfer demonstrates minimal hesitance in neglecting the painting's historical integrity for the sake of its heroic style, in spite of the pains he took to research the battle. That the Persian army was up to twice the size of the Macedonian army is not clear, and the relative positioning of the soldiers as reported by ancient sources has been disregarded. According to art critic Rose-Marie Hagen, "The artist was faithful to the historical truth only when it suited him, when historical facts were compatible with the demands of his composition." Hagen also notes the placement of women on the battlefield, attributing it to Altdorfer's "passion for invention", since the wife of Darius, his mother and his daughters were waiting for Darius back at the camp, not in the thick of battle. True to form, however, Altdorfer made the aristocratic ladies "look like German courtly ladies, dressed for a hunting party" in their feathered toques:Altdorfer's primary point of reference in his research was probably Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle (Schedelsche Weltchronik), an illustrated world history published in Nuremberg in 1493. Schedel was a physician, humanist, historian and cartographer, and his Chronicle was one of the first books produced on the printing press. With a heavy reliance on the Bible, it recounts the seven ages of human history, from Creation to the birth of Christ and ending with the Apocalypse. Altdorfer's statistics for the battle of Issus mirror those of Schedel. Furthermore, the errors in Schedel's maps of the Mediterranean and Northern Africa are also present in The Battle of Alexander at Issus: the island of Cyprus is noticeably oversized, and both the mountain rise in the painting's centre and the range adjacent to the Nile do not exist. Since the Chronicle describes Alexander's victory over the Persians in terms of its proximity to Tarsus and omits mention of Issus, it is likely that the cityscape by the sea is intended to be the former city rather than the latter. Issus in the 16th century was minor and relatively unknown, whereas Tarsus was renowned for its having been a major centre of learning and philosophy in Roman times. Tarsus was also said to be the birthplace of the Apostle Paul, which may explain the presence of the church towers in Altdorfer's portrayal. Another source may have been the writings of Quintus Curtius Rufus, a 1st-century Roman historian who presents inflated figures for the number of killed and taken prisoner and the sizes of the armies.The sky bears overt metaphorical significance and is the centrepiece of the painting's symbolism. Alexander, identified by the Egyptians and others as a god of the sun, finds his victory in the sun's rays; and the Persians are routed into the darkness beneath the crescent moon, a symbol of the Near East. Considered in terms of the painting's contemporary context, the sun's triumph over the moon represents Christendom's victory over the Islamism of the Ottomans. Eschatological meaning, probably inspired by prophecies in the Book of Daniel, is imbued in the heavenly setting. In particular, Daniel 7 predicts the rise and fall of four kingdoms before the Second Coming; these were thought to be Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome at the time of the painting's creation. Altdorfer saw the Battle of Issus as a principal indicator of the transition of power from Persia to Greece, and thus as an event of cosmic significance. The battle also marked a progression toward the end of the world – an important theological concern in the 16th century, given that the last traces of Rome were diminishing with the papacy. As a member of the Regensburg council and a practising Catholic, Altdorfer frequently interacted with the Church and was surely aware of this trend of eschatological thought. Schedel, too, had calculated that the final age of the seven he identified was nigh. It may therefore be inferred that the sky's expression of the momentous event at Issus was intended to be of contemporary relevance as well.

File:Battle of Issus - initial deployment.svg

alt=A painting showing an elaborate and fanciful palace set in a landscape of forest and mountains. The forecourt of the palace is bustling with people. Outside the palace, near a fountain sits Susannah attended by handmaids who wash her feet and comb her hair. Two old courtiers spy on her from the dense undergrowth.

Detail of the fictitious mountain in the painting's centre

Category:Collection of the Alte Pinakothek

Detail of Alexander the Great from the [[Alexander Mosaic

commons:File:Altdorfer, Albrecht - Donaulandschaft mit Schloß Wörth.jpg

alt=A panel from an altarpiece by Grünewald. On the right, the Virgin Mary gazes at the Christ Child while above her, in a sky blazing with light, God is seated on a throne surrounded by the Hosts of Heaven. To the left an orchestra of cherubim plays in a Gothic loggia.

The initial dispositions at the Battle of Issus. The Pinarus River separates the belligerents, and Issus is {{convert

alt=A military diagram. A river runs through the lower-left diagonal. On one side are the Persians, with the Orientals and Greek mercenaries, and on the other are the Macedonians, with Alexander and Parmenion. The gradient of the nearby mountains generally decreases from the top right, till the shores of the gulf in the bottom left.

alt=A large mosaic depicting an array of soldiers on horseback doing battle. Parts of it have been damaged or lost to time.

alt=Small figures of women on the battlefield, all with long red hair and all wearing feathered toques

''Susannah and the Elders'' (1526), the only other painting by Altdorfer in the [[Alte Pinakothek

Detail of soldiers from both armies. Reinhart Koselleck comments that the Persians resemble the 16th-century Turks "from their feet to their turbans."

Matthias Grünewald's ''The Virgin and Child with the Heavenly Host'' (c. 1515)

Alexander the Great#Death and succession

alt=A miniature painting showing four brightly clothed men carrying a large banner which is painted with a complex battle scene

alt=An island, and a cityscape featuring church towers

mi}} to the north. Cavalry is concentrated on the shores of the Gulf of İskenderun (or Gulf of Issus) on both sides. Alexander devotes himself to a right approach with his Companion cavalry, having unseated the Persian foothill defence.

alt=A steep mountain, upon which are built fortifications

alt= A painting of St George slaying the dragon set in a dense forest in which the figures are dwarfed by the trees. A distant landscape is seen through a break.

Detail of the oversized island of Cyprus and what is probably the city of Tarsus

A miniature from ''Triumphal Procession'' (1512–1516)

File:Horatius Cocles Stopping King Porsenna's Army outside Rome (Ludwig Refinger) - Nationalmuseum - 17244.tif

alt=A blazing sun above blue-tinged mountains and water

The Alexander Mosaic, as seen in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Category:Paintings by Albrecht Altdorfer

List of landscapes by Albrecht Altdorfer


The Battle of Alexander at Issus

Prompt: Explain the Analysis and interpretation about the Painting of this artwork, The Battle of Alexander at Issus.

Anachronism is a major component of The Battle of Alexander at Issus. By dressing Alexander's men in 16th-century steel armour and Darius' men in Turkish battle dress, Altdorfer draws deliberate parallels between the Macedonian campaign and the contemporary European–Ottoman conflict. In 1529 – the year of the painting's commissioning – the Ottoman forces under Suleiman the Magnificent laid siege to the Austrian city of Vienna, then also the capital of the Holy Roman Empire and called 'the golden apple' by the Sultans. Although far inferior in number, the Austrian, German, Czech, and Spanish soldiers marshalled to defend Vienna were able to force the enemy into a retreat and stall the Ottoman advance on central Europe. It is probable the painting's underlying allegory was inspired by the siege of Vienna, given its similarities to Alexander's victory at Issus. Some critics go further, suggesting that the inclusion of anachronism may have been an element of Altdorfer's commission.In his Futures Past: On the Semantics of Historical Time, historian Reinhart Koselleck discusses Altdorfer's representation of time in a more philosophical light. After differentiating between the superficial anachronism found in the casualty figures on the army banners and the deeper anachronism ingrained in the painting's contemporary context, he posits that the latter type is less a superimposition of one historical event over another and more an acknowledgement of the recursive nature of history. With reference to Koselleck, Kathleen Davis argues: "... for [Altdorfer], 4th-century Persians look like 16th-century Turks not because he does not know the difference, but because the difference does not matter ... The Alexanderschlacht, in other words, exemplifies a premodern, untemporalized sense of time and a lack of historical consciousness ... Altdorfer's historical overlays evince an eschatological vision of history, evidence that the 16th century (and by degrees also the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries) remained locked in a static, constant temporality that proleptically saturates the future as always a repetition of the same ... In such a system there can be no event as such: anticipation and arrival are together sucked into the black hole of sacred history, which is not temporalized because its time is essentially undifferentiated ..."Featured alongside the anachronism in The Battle of Alexander at Issus is a genuine lack of historicity. Altdorfer demonstrates minimal hesitance in neglecting the painting's historical integrity for the sake of its heroic style, in spite of the pains he took to research the battle. That the Persian army was up to twice the size of the Macedonian army is not clear, and the relative positioning of the soldiers as reported by ancient sources has been disregarded. According to art critic Rose-Marie Hagen, "The artist was faithful to the historical truth only when it suited him, when historical facts were compatible with the demands of his composition." Hagen also notes the placement of women on the battlefield, attributing it to Altdorfer's "passion for invention", since the wife of Darius, his mother and his daughters were waiting for Darius back at the camp, not in the thick of battle. True to form, however, Altdorfer made the aristocratic ladies "look like German courtly ladies, dressed for a hunting party" in their feathered toques:Altdorfer's primary point of reference in his research was probably Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle (Schedelsche Weltchronik), an illustrated world history published in Nuremberg in 1493. Schedel was a physician, humanist, historian and cartographer, and his Chronicle was one of the first books produced on the printing press. With a heavy reliance on the Bible, it recounts the seven ages of human history, from Creation to the birth of Christ and ending with the Apocalypse. Altdorfer's statistics for the battle of Issus mirror those of Schedel. Furthermore, the errors in Schedel's maps of the Mediterranean and Northern Africa are also present in The Battle of Alexander at Issus: the island of Cyprus is noticeably oversized, and both the mountain rise in the painting's centre and the range adjacent to the Nile do not exist. Since the Chronicle describes Alexander's victory over the Persians in terms of its proximity to Tarsus and omits mention of Issus, it is likely that the cityscape by the sea is intended to be the former city rather than the latter. Issus in the 16th century was minor and relatively unknown, whereas Tarsus was renowned for its having been a major centre of learning and philosophy in Roman times. Tarsus was also said to be the birthplace of the Apostle Paul, which may explain the presence of the church towers in Altdorfer's portrayal. Another source may have been the writings of Quintus Curtius Rufus, a 1st-century Roman historian who presents inflated figures for the number of killed and taken prisoner and the sizes of the armies.The sky bears overt metaphorical significance and is the centrepiece of the painting's symbolism. Alexander, identified by the Egyptians and others as a god of the sun, finds his victory in the sun's rays; and the Persians are routed into the darkness beneath the crescent moon, a symbol of the Near East. Considered in terms of the painting's contemporary context, the sun's triumph over the moon represents Christendom's victory over the Islamism of the Ottomans. Eschatological meaning, probably inspired by prophecies in the Book of Daniel, is imbued in the heavenly setting. In particular, Daniel 7 predicts the rise and fall of four kingdoms before the Second Coming; these were thought to be Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome at the time of the painting's creation. Altdorfer saw the Battle of Issus as a principal indicator of the transition of power from Persia to Greece, and thus as an event of cosmic significance. The battle also marked a progression toward the end of the world – an important theological concern in the 16th century, given that the last traces of Rome were diminishing with the papacy. As a member of the Regensburg council and a practising Catholic, Altdorfer frequently interacted with the Church and was surely aware of this trend of eschatological thought. Schedel, too, had calculated that the final age of the seven he identified was nigh. It may therefore be inferred that the sky's expression of the momentous event at Issus was intended to be of contemporary relevance as well.

File:Battle of Issus - initial deployment.svg

alt=A painting showing an elaborate and fanciful palace set in a landscape of forest and mountains. The forecourt of the palace is bustling with people. Outside the palace, near a fountain sits Susannah attended by handmaids who wash her feet and comb her hair. Two old courtiers spy on her from the dense undergrowth.

Detail of the fictitious mountain in the painting's centre

Category:Collection of the Alte Pinakothek

Detail of Alexander the Great from the [[Alexander Mosaic

commons:File:Altdorfer, Albrecht - Donaulandschaft mit Schloß Wörth.jpg

alt=A panel from an altarpiece by Grünewald. On the right, the Virgin Mary gazes at the Christ Child while above her, in a sky blazing with light, God is seated on a throne surrounded by the Hosts of Heaven. To the left an orchestra of cherubim plays in a Gothic loggia.

The initial dispositions at the Battle of Issus. The Pinarus River separates the belligerents, and Issus is {{convert

alt=A military diagram. A river runs through the lower-left diagonal. On one side are the Persians, with the Orientals and Greek mercenaries, and on the other are the Macedonians, with Alexander and Parmenion. The gradient of the nearby mountains generally decreases from the top right, till the shores of the gulf in the bottom left.

alt=A large mosaic depicting an array of soldiers on horseback doing battle. Parts of it have been damaged or lost to time.

alt=Small figures of women on the battlefield, all with long red hair and all wearing feathered toques

''Susannah and the Elders'' (1526), the only other painting by Altdorfer in the [[Alte Pinakothek

Detail of soldiers from both armies. Reinhart Koselleck comments that the Persians resemble the 16th-century Turks "from their feet to their turbans."

Matthias Grünewald's ''The Virgin and Child with the Heavenly Host'' (c. 1515)

Alexander the Great#Death and succession

alt=A miniature painting showing four brightly clothed men carrying a large banner which is painted with a complex battle scene

alt=An island, and a cityscape featuring church towers

mi}} to the north. Cavalry is concentrated on the shores of the Gulf of İskenderun (or Gulf of Issus) on both sides. Alexander devotes himself to a right approach with his Companion cavalry, having unseated the Persian foothill defence.

alt=A steep mountain, upon which are built fortifications

alt= A painting of St George slaying the dragon set in a dense forest in which the figures are dwarfed by the trees. A distant landscape is seen through a break.

Detail of the oversized island of Cyprus and what is probably the city of Tarsus

A miniature from ''Triumphal Procession'' (1512–1516)

File:Horatius Cocles Stopping King Porsenna's Army outside Rome (Ludwig Refinger) - Nationalmuseum - 17244.tif

alt=A blazing sun above blue-tinged mountains and water

The Alexander Mosaic, as seen in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Category:Paintings by Albrecht Altdorfer

List of landscapes by Albrecht Altdorfer


The Battle of Alexander at Issus

Prompt: In The Battle of Alexander at Issus, how is the Analysis and interpretation of the Painting explained?

Anachronism is a major component of The Battle of Alexander at Issus. By dressing Alexander's men in 16th-century steel armour and Darius' men in Turkish battle dress, Altdorfer draws deliberate parallels between the Macedonian campaign and the contemporary European–Ottoman conflict. In 1529 – the year of the painting's commissioning – the Ottoman forces under Suleiman the Magnificent laid siege to the Austrian city of Vienna, then also the capital of the Holy Roman Empire and called 'the golden apple' by the Sultans. Although far inferior in number, the Austrian, German, Czech, and Spanish soldiers marshalled to defend Vienna were able to force the enemy into a retreat and stall the Ottoman advance on central Europe. It is probable the painting's underlying allegory was inspired by the siege of Vienna, given its similarities to Alexander's victory at Issus. Some critics go further, suggesting that the inclusion of anachronism may have been an element of Altdorfer's commission.In his Futures Past: On the Semantics of Historical Time, historian Reinhart Koselleck discusses Altdorfer's representation of time in a more philosophical light. After differentiating between the superficial anachronism found in the casualty figures on the army banners and the deeper anachronism ingrained in the painting's contemporary context, he posits that the latter type is less a superimposition of one historical event over another and more an acknowledgement of the recursive nature of history. With reference to Koselleck, Kathleen Davis argues: "... for [Altdorfer], 4th-century Persians look like 16th-century Turks not because he does not know the difference, but because the difference does not matter ... The Alexanderschlacht, in other words, exemplifies a premodern, untemporalized sense of time and a lack of historical consciousness ... Altdorfer's historical overlays evince an eschatological vision of history, evidence that the 16th century (and by degrees also the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries) remained locked in a static, constant temporality that proleptically saturates the future as always a repetition of the same ... In such a system there can be no event as such: anticipation and arrival are together sucked into the black hole of sacred history, which is not temporalized because its time is essentially undifferentiated ..."Featured alongside the anachronism in The Battle of Alexander at Issus is a genuine lack of historicity. Altdorfer demonstrates minimal hesitance in neglecting the painting's historical integrity for the sake of its heroic style, in spite of the pains he took to research the battle. That the Persian army was up to twice the size of the Macedonian army is not clear, and the relative positioning of the soldiers as reported by ancient sources has been disregarded. According to art critic Rose-Marie Hagen, "The artist was faithful to the historical truth only when it suited him, when historical facts were compatible with the demands of his composition." Hagen also notes the placement of women on the battlefield, attributing it to Altdorfer's "passion for invention", since the wife of Darius, his mother and his daughters were waiting for Darius back at the camp, not in the thick of battle. True to form, however, Altdorfer made the aristocratic ladies "look like German courtly ladies, dressed for a hunting party" in their feathered toques:Altdorfer's primary point of reference in his research was probably Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle (Schedelsche Weltchronik), an illustrated world history published in Nuremberg in 1493. Schedel was a physician, humanist, historian and cartographer, and his Chronicle was one of the first books produced on the printing press. With a heavy reliance on the Bible, it recounts the seven ages of human history, from Creation to the birth of Christ and ending with the Apocalypse. Altdorfer's statistics for the battle of Issus mirror those of Schedel. Furthermore, the errors in Schedel's maps of the Mediterranean and Northern Africa are also present in The Battle of Alexander at Issus: the island of Cyprus is noticeably oversized, and both the mountain rise in the painting's centre and the range adjacent to the Nile do not exist. Since the Chronicle describes Alexander's victory over the Persians in terms of its proximity to Tarsus and omits mention of Issus, it is likely that the cityscape by the sea is intended to be the former city rather than the latter. Issus in the 16th century was minor and relatively unknown, whereas Tarsus was renowned for its having been a major centre of learning and philosophy in Roman times. Tarsus was also said to be the birthplace of the Apostle Paul, which may explain the presence of the church towers in Altdorfer's portrayal. Another source may have been the writings of Quintus Curtius Rufus, a 1st-century Roman historian who presents inflated figures for the number of killed and taken prisoner and the sizes of the armies.The sky bears overt metaphorical significance and is the centrepiece of the painting's symbolism. Alexander, identified by the Egyptians and others as a god of the sun, finds his victory in the sun's rays; and the Persians are routed into the darkness beneath the crescent moon, a symbol of the Near East. Considered in terms of the painting's contemporary context, the sun's triumph over the moon represents Christendom's victory over the Islamism of the Ottomans. Eschatological meaning, probably inspired by prophecies in the Book of Daniel, is imbued in the heavenly setting. In particular, Daniel 7 predicts the rise and fall of four kingdoms before the Second Coming; these were thought to be Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome at the time of the painting's creation. Altdorfer saw the Battle of Issus as a principal indicator of the transition of power from Persia to Greece, and thus as an event of cosmic significance. The battle also marked a progression toward the end of the world – an important theological concern in the 16th century, given that the last traces of Rome were diminishing with the papacy. As a member of the Regensburg council and a practising Catholic, Altdorfer frequently interacted with the Church and was surely aware of this trend of eschatological thought. Schedel, too, had calculated that the final age of the seven he identified was nigh. It may therefore be inferred that the sky's expression of the momentous event at Issus was intended to be of contemporary relevance as well.

File:Battle of Issus - initial deployment.svg

alt=A painting showing an elaborate and fanciful palace set in a landscape of forest and mountains. The forecourt of the palace is bustling with people. Outside the palace, near a fountain sits Susannah attended by handmaids who wash her feet and comb her hair. Two old courtiers spy on her from the dense undergrowth.

Detail of the fictitious mountain in the painting's centre

Category:Collection of the Alte Pinakothek

Detail of Alexander the Great from the [[Alexander Mosaic

commons:File:Altdorfer, Albrecht - Donaulandschaft mit Schloß Wörth.jpg

alt=A panel from an altarpiece by Grünewald. On the right, the Virgin Mary gazes at the Christ Child while above her, in a sky blazing with light, God is seated on a throne surrounded by the Hosts of Heaven. To the left an orchestra of cherubim plays in a Gothic loggia.

The initial dispositions at the Battle of Issus. The Pinarus River separates the belligerents, and Issus is {{convert

alt=A military diagram. A river runs through the lower-left diagonal. On one side are the Persians, with the Orientals and Greek mercenaries, and on the other are the Macedonians, with Alexander and Parmenion. The gradient of the nearby mountains generally decreases from the top right, till the shores of the gulf in the bottom left.

alt=A large mosaic depicting an array of soldiers on horseback doing battle. Parts of it have been damaged or lost to time.

alt=Small figures of women on the battlefield, all with long red hair and all wearing feathered toques

''Susannah and the Elders'' (1526), the only other painting by Altdorfer in the [[Alte Pinakothek

Detail of soldiers from both armies. Reinhart Koselleck comments that the Persians resemble the 16th-century Turks "from their feet to their turbans."

Matthias Grünewald's ''The Virgin and Child with the Heavenly Host'' (c. 1515)

Alexander the Great#Death and succession

alt=A miniature painting showing four brightly clothed men carrying a large banner which is painted with a complex battle scene

alt=An island, and a cityscape featuring church towers

mi}} to the north. Cavalry is concentrated on the shores of the Gulf of İskenderun (or Gulf of Issus) on both sides. Alexander devotes himself to a right approach with his Companion cavalry, having unseated the Persian foothill defence.

alt=A steep mountain, upon which are built fortifications

alt= A painting of St George slaying the dragon set in a dense forest in which the figures are dwarfed by the trees. A distant landscape is seen through a break.

Detail of the oversized island of Cyprus and what is probably the city of Tarsus

A miniature from ''Triumphal Procession'' (1512–1516)

File:Horatius Cocles Stopping King Porsenna's Army outside Rome (Ludwig Refinger) - Nationalmuseum - 17244.tif

alt=A blazing sun above blue-tinged mountains and water

The Alexander Mosaic, as seen in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Category:Paintings by Albrecht Altdorfer

List of landscapes by Albrecht Altdorfer


The Battle of Alexander at Issus

Prompt: Describe the characteristics of the Analysis and interpretation in The Battle of Alexander at Issus's Painting.

Anachronism is a major component of The Battle of Alexander at Issus. By dressing Alexander's men in 16th-century steel armour and Darius' men in Turkish battle dress, Altdorfer draws deliberate parallels between the Macedonian campaign and the contemporary European–Ottoman conflict. In 1529 – the year of the painting's commissioning – the Ottoman forces under Suleiman the Magnificent laid siege to the Austrian city of Vienna, then also the capital of the Holy Roman Empire and called 'the golden apple' by the Sultans. Although far inferior in number, the Austrian, German, Czech, and Spanish soldiers marshalled to defend Vienna were able to force the enemy into a retreat and stall the Ottoman advance on central Europe. It is probable the painting's underlying allegory was inspired by the siege of Vienna, given its similarities to Alexander's victory at Issus. Some critics go further, suggesting that the inclusion of anachronism may have been an element of Altdorfer's commission.In his Futures Past: On the Semantics of Historical Time, historian Reinhart Koselleck discusses Altdorfer's representation of time in a more philosophical light. After differentiating between the superficial anachronism found in the casualty figures on the army banners and the deeper anachronism ingrained in the painting's contemporary context, he posits that the latter type is less a superimposition of one historical event over another and more an acknowledgement of the recursive nature of history. With reference to Koselleck, Kathleen Davis argues: "... for [Altdorfer], 4th-century Persians look like 16th-century Turks not because he does not know the difference, but because the difference does not matter ... The Alexanderschlacht, in other words, exemplifies a premodern, untemporalized sense of time and a lack of historical consciousness ... Altdorfer's historical overlays evince an eschatological vision of history, evidence that the 16th century (and by degrees also the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries) remained locked in a static, constant temporality that proleptically saturates the future as always a repetition of the same ... In such a system there can be no event as such: anticipation and arrival are together sucked into the black hole of sacred history, which is not temporalized because its time is essentially undifferentiated ..."Featured alongside the anachronism in The Battle of Alexander at Issus is a genuine lack of historicity. Altdorfer demonstrates minimal hesitance in neglecting the painting's historical integrity for the sake of its heroic style, in spite of the pains he took to research the battle. That the Persian army was up to twice the size of the Macedonian army is not clear, and the relative positioning of the soldiers as reported by ancient sources has been disregarded. According to art critic Rose-Marie Hagen, "The artist was faithful to the historical truth only when it suited him, when historical facts were compatible with the demands of his composition." Hagen also notes the placement of women on the battlefield, attributing it to Altdorfer's "passion for invention", since the wife of Darius, his mother and his daughters were waiting for Darius back at the camp, not in the thick of battle. True to form, however, Altdorfer made the aristocratic ladies "look like German courtly ladies, dressed for a hunting party" in their feathered toques:Altdorfer's primary point of reference in his research was probably Hartmann Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle (Schedelsche Weltchronik), an illustrated world history published in Nuremberg in 1493. Schedel was a physician, humanist, historian and cartographer, and his Chronicle was one of the first books produced on the printing press. With a heavy reliance on the Bible, it recounts the seven ages of human history, from Creation to the birth of Christ and ending with the Apocalypse. Altdorfer's statistics for the battle of Issus mirror those of Schedel. Furthermore, the errors in Schedel's maps of the Mediterranean and Northern Africa are also present in The Battle of Alexander at Issus: the island of Cyprus is noticeably oversized, and both the mountain rise in the painting's centre and the range adjacent to the Nile do not exist. Since the Chronicle describes Alexander's victory over the Persians in terms of its proximity to Tarsus and omits mention of Issus, it is likely that the cityscape by the sea is intended to be the former city rather than the latter. Issus in the 16th century was minor and relatively unknown, whereas Tarsus was renowned for its having been a major centre of learning and philosophy in Roman times. Tarsus was also said to be the birthplace of the Apostle Paul, which may explain the presence of the church towers in Altdorfer's portrayal. Another source may have been the writings of Quintus Curtius Rufus, a 1st-century Roman historian who presents inflated figures for the number of killed and taken prisoner and the sizes of the armies.The sky bears overt metaphorical significance and is the centrepiece of the painting's symbolism. Alexander, identified by the Egyptians and others as a god of the sun, finds his victory in the sun's rays; and the Persians are routed into the darkness beneath the crescent moon, a symbol of the Near East. Considered in terms of the painting's contemporary context, the sun's triumph over the moon represents Christendom's victory over the Islamism of the Ottomans. Eschatological meaning, probably inspired by prophecies in the Book of Daniel, is imbued in the heavenly setting. In particular, Daniel 7 predicts the rise and fall of four kingdoms before the Second Coming; these were thought to be Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome at the time of the painting's creation. Altdorfer saw the Battle of Issus as a principal indicator of the transition of power from Persia to Greece, and thus as an event of cosmic significance. The battle also marked a progression toward the end of the world – an important theological concern in the 16th century, given that the last traces of Rome were diminishing with the papacy. As a member of the Regensburg council and a practising Catholic, Altdorfer frequently interacted with the Church and was surely aware of this trend of eschatological thought. Schedel, too, had calculated that the final age of the seven he identified was nigh. It may therefore be inferred that the sky's expression of the momentous event at Issus was intended to be of contemporary relevance as well.

File:Battle of Issus - initial deployment.svg

alt=A painting showing an elaborate and fanciful palace set in a landscape of forest and mountains. The forecourt of the palace is bustling with people. Outside the palace, near a fountain sits Susannah attended by handmaids who wash her feet and comb her hair. Two old courtiers spy on her from the dense undergrowth.

Detail of the fictitious mountain in the painting's centre

Category:Collection of the Alte Pinakothek

Detail of Alexander the Great from the [[Alexander Mosaic

commons:File:Altdorfer, Albrecht - Donaulandschaft mit Schloß Wörth.jpg

alt=A panel from an altarpiece by Grünewald. On the right, the Virgin Mary gazes at the Christ Child while above her, in a sky blazing with light, God is seated on a throne surrounded by the Hosts of Heaven. To the left an orchestra of cherubim plays in a Gothic loggia.

The initial dispositions at the Battle of Issus. The Pinarus River separates the belligerents, and Issus is {{convert

alt=A military diagram. A river runs through the lower-left diagonal. On one side are the Persians, with the Orientals and Greek mercenaries, and on the other are the Macedonians, with Alexander and Parmenion. The gradient of the nearby mountains generally decreases from the top right, till the shores of the gulf in the bottom left.

alt=A large mosaic depicting an array of soldiers on horseback doing battle. Parts of it have been damaged or lost to time.

alt=Small figures of women on the battlefield, all with long red hair and all wearing feathered toques

''Susannah and the Elders'' (1526), the only other painting by Altdorfer in the [[Alte Pinakothek

Detail of soldiers from both armies. Reinhart Koselleck comments that the Persians resemble the 16th-century Turks "from their feet to their turbans."

Matthias Grünewald's ''The Virgin and Child with the Heavenly Host'' (c. 1515)

Alexander the Great#Death and succession

alt=A miniature painting showing four brightly clothed men carrying a large banner which is painted with a complex battle scene

alt=An island, and a cityscape featuring church towers

mi}} to the north. Cavalry is concentrated on the shores of the Gulf of İskenderun (or Gulf of Issus) on both sides. Alexander devotes himself to a right approach with his Companion cavalry, having unseated the Persian foothill defence.

alt=A steep mountain, upon which are built fortifications

alt= A painting of St George slaying the dragon set in a dense forest in which the figures are dwarfed by the trees. A distant landscape is seen through a break.

Detail of the oversized island of Cyprus and what is probably the city of Tarsus

A miniature from ''Triumphal Procession'' (1512–1516)

File:Horatius Cocles Stopping King Porsenna's Army outside Rome (Ludwig Refinger) - Nationalmuseum - 17244.tif

alt=A blazing sun above blue-tinged mountains and water

The Alexander Mosaic, as seen in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Category:Paintings by Albrecht Altdorfer

List of landscapes by Albrecht Altdorfer