The Battle of Alexander at Issus
1529
Albrecht Altdorfer crammed a massive ancient clash into a single panel in 1529, creating what looks like a Renaissance version of a chaotic strategy video game map. Hovering right in the middle of the dramatic, stormy sky is a giant tablet acting as a cosmic scoreboard, listing the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who supposedly died in the fight between Alexander the Great and Darius III. The artist was commissioned to paint a series of famous battles, but he went wild with the landscape, making the sun and moon look like they are personally watching the bloodshed below.
- Technique
- Oil on limewood panel
- Material
- Limewood
- Dimensions
- 158.4 cm × 120.3 cm
Location: Alte Pinakothek, Munich
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