Meaning Behind the Painting, The Battle of Alexander at Issus

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The Battle of Alexander at Issus is Albrecht Altdorfer’s most famous painting (www.wikipedia.org). Painted in 1528-9, the oil painting depicts a young Alexander the Great in 333 BC, at the point of victory over the Persian army of King Darius III in the battle of Issus (www.ibiblio.org). Issus was an ancient town in southeast Asia Minor near modern-day Iskenderum, Turkey, however on the painting it is shown in the rocky environment of the Alps with German cities in the background (www.ibiblio.org). Altdorfer, a painter, engraver, architect, and leading member of the Danube School of German art, is considered the first true landscape painter and a pioneer of copperplate etching (www.ibiblio.org). Battle of Alexander and Darius at Issus was one of a series of famous battle scenes commissioned by Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria for his private residence in Munich (Phaidon 409). It was passed from the Bavarian royal collection to the Alte Pinakothek in Munich (www.wikipedia.org).

Albrecht Altdorfer had an interest in landscape and atmosphere effects, out of which he developed a highly p...

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