The Battle of Alexander at Issus The Battle of Alexander at Issus ( German : Alexanderschlacht ) is a 1529 oil painting by the German artist Albrecht Altdorfer ( c . 1480 – 1538 ) , a pioneer of landscape art and a founding member of the Danube school . It portrays the 333 BC Battle of Issus , in which Alexander the Great secured a decisive victory over Darius III of Persia and gained crucial leverage in his campaign against the Persian Empire . The painting is widely regarded as Altdorfer ' s masterpiece , and is one of the most famous examples of the type of Renaissance landscape painting known as the world landscape , which here reaches an unprecedented grandeur . Duke William IV of Bavaria commissioned " The Battle of Alexander at Issus " in 1528 as part of a set of historical pieces that was to hang in his Munich residence . Modern commentators suggest that the painting , through its abundant use of anachronism , was intended to liken Alexander ' s heroic victory at Issus to the contemporary European conflict with the Ottoman Empire . In particular , the defeat of Suleiman the Magnificent at the Siege of Vienna may have been an inspiration for Altdorfer . A religious undercurrent is detectable , especially in the extraordinary sky ; this was probably inspired by the prophecies of Daniel and contemporary concern within the Church about an impending apocalypse . " The Battle of Alexander at Issus " and four others that were part of William ' s initial set are in the Alte Pinakothek art museum in Munich . Subject matter . Alexander III of Macedon ( 356 – 323 BC ) , best known as Alexander the Great , was an Ancient Greek king of Macedon who reigned from 336 BC until his death . He is widely regarded as one of the greatest military tacticians and strategists in history , and is presumed undefeated in battle . Renowned for his military leadership and charisma , he always led his armies personally and took to the front ranks of battle . By conquering the Persian Empire and unifying Greece , Egypt and Babylon , he forged the largest empire of the ancient world and effected the spread of Hellenism throughout Europe and Northern Africa . Alexander embarked on his expedition to conquer the Persian Empire in the spring of 334 BC , having pacified the warring Greek states and consolidated his military might . During the first months of the Macedonian passage into Persian Asia Minor , Darius III – king of Persia – largely ignored the presence of Alexander ' s 40 , 000 men . The Battle of the Granicus , fought in May , was Persia ' s first major effort to confront the invaders , but resulted in an easy victory for Alexander . Over the next year , Alexander took most of western and coastal Asia Minor by forcing the capitulation of the satrapies in his path . He continued inland , travelling northeast through Phyrgia before turning southeast toward Cilicia . After passing the Cilician Gates in October , Alexander was delayed by fever in Tarsus . Darius meanwhile mustered an army of up to 100 , 000 ( some ancient sources posit exaggerated figures of over 600 , 000 ) and personally directed it over the eastern slopes of the Amanus Mountains . In early November , as Alexander proceeded about the Gulf of Issus from Mallus via Issus , the two armies inadvertently passed one another on opposite sides of the mountains . This was decidedly to Darius ' advantage : now at the rear of Alexander , he was able to prevent retreat and block the supply lines Alexander had established at Issus . It was not until Alexander had encamped at Myriandrus , a seaport on the southeastern shores of the Gulf of İskenderun , that he learned of the Persian position . He immediately retraced his route to the Pinarus River , just south of Issus , to find Darius ' force assembled along the northern bank . The Battle of Issus ensued . Darius ' initial response was defensive : he immediately stockaded the river bank with stakes to impede the enemy ' s crossing . A core vanguard of traitorous Greek mercenaries and Persian royal guard was established ; as was usual for Persian kings , Darius positioned himself in the centre of this vanguard , in order that he might effectively dispatch commands to any part of his large army . A group of Persian light infantry was soon sent to the foothills , as it was suspected that Alexander would make an approach from the right , away from the coast . A mass of cavalry commanded by Nabarsanes occupied the Persian right . Alexander made a cautious and slow advance , intending to base his strategy on the structure of the Persian force . He led a flank of his Companion cavalry on the right , while the Thessalian cavalry were dispatched to the left , as a counter to Nabarsanes ' mounted unit . Aware of the importance of the foothills to his right , Alexander sent a band of light infantry , archers , and cavalry to displace the defence Darius had stationed there . The enterprise was successful – those Persians not killed were forced to seek refuge higher in the mountains . When within missile range of the enemy , Alexander gave the order to charge . He spearheaded the assault of his heavily armed Companion cavalry , who quickly made deep cuts into the Persian left flank . The Macedonian left wing , commanded by Parmenion , was meanwhile driven back by Nabarsanes ' large cavalry . The Macedonians ' central phalanx crossed the river and clashed with the renegade Greek mercenaries who fronted Darius ' vanguard . As the Companion cavalry pushed further into the Persian left , the danger arose that Darius would exploit the gap that had formed between Alexander and the rest of his army . When he was satisfied that the left wing was crippled and no longer a threat , Alexander remedied the situation by moving the Companions to assault the Persian centre in the flank . Unable to handle the added pressure , the Persian vanguard was forced to withdraw from the river bank , allowing the Macedonian phalanx to continue their advance and lifting the pressure on Parmenion ' s left wing . Upon realising that the onslaught of Alexander ' s Companion cavalry was unstoppable , Darius and his army fled . Many were killed in the rush , trampled by those who fled with them or collapsed with their horses . Some escaped to regions as remote as Egypt , and others reunited with Darius in the north . The onset of darkness ended the chase after approximately ; Alexander then recalled his army and set about burying the dead . Darius ' family were left behind in the Persian camp ; it is reported that Alexander treated them well and reassured them of Darius ' safety . Darius ' royal chariot was found discarded in a ditch , as were his bow and shield . Ancient sources present disparate casualty figures for the Battle of Issus . Plutarch and Diodorus Siculus approximate 100 , 000 Persian deaths , in contrast with the 450 Macedonian deaths reported by Quintus Curtius Rufus . In any case , it is probable that more Persians were killed as they fled than in battle ; Ptolemy I , who served with Alexander during the battle , recounts how the Macedonians crossed a ravine on the bodies of their enemies during the pursuit . The Macedonian conquest of Persia continued until 330 BC , when Darius was killed and Alexander took his title as king . Alexander died in 323 BC , having recently returned from campaigning in the Indian subcontinent . The cause of death remains a subject of debate . Background . Previous work . Albrecht Altdorfer is regarded as one of the founders of Western landscape art . He was a painter , etcher , architect , and engraver , and the leader of the Danube school of German art . As evidenced by such paintings as " Saint George and the Dragon " ( 1510 ) and " " ( 1531 ) , much of Altdorfer ' s work is characterised by an attachment to sprawling landscapes that dwarf the figures within them ; " The Battle of Alexander at Issus " epitomises this facet of his style . With reference to " St George and the Dragon " in particular , art historian Mark W . Roskill comments that " The accessory material of landscape [ in Altdorfer ' s work ] is played with and ornamentally elaborated so that it reverberates with the sense of a sequestered and inhospitable environment " . Inspired by his travels around the Austrian Alps and the Danube River , Altdorfer painted a number of landscapes that contain no figures at all , including " " ( c . 1516 ) and " " ( c . 1522 – 25 ) . These were the first " pure " landscapes since antiquity . Most of Altdorfer ' s landscapes were made with a vertical format , in contrast with the modern conception of the genre . The horizontal landscape was an innovation of Altdorfer ' s Flemish contemporary Joachim Patinir and his followers . Altdorfer also produced a great deal of religious artwork , in reflection of his devout Catholicism . His most frequent subjects were the Virgin Mary and the life and crucifixion of Christ . As in " The Battle of Alexander at Issus " , these paintings often feature settings of great majesty and use the sky to convey symbolic meaning . This meaning is not uniform throughout Altdorfer ' s corpus – for example , the visage of the setting sun connotes loss and tragedy in " " , but serves as " the emblem of power and glory " in " The Battle of Alexander at Issus " . Larry Silver of " The Art Bulletin " explains that " The Battle of Alexander at Issus " is both similar to and in direct contrast with Altdorfer ' s previous work : " Instead of the peaceful landscape of retreat for Christian events or holy figures , this panel offers just the opposite : a battleground for one of ancient history ' s principal epoch - making encounters . . . Yet despite its global or cosmic dimensions , the " Battle of Issus " still " looks like " Altdorfer ' s earlier , contemplative liminal landscapes of retreat , complete with craggy peaks , bodies of water , and distant castles . " Although the " Battle of Alexander " is atypical of Altdorfer in its size and in that it depicts war , his " Triumphal Procession " – a 1512 – 16 illuminated manuscript commissioned by Maximilian I of the Holy Roman Empire – has been described as a conceptual antecedent . The " Procession " was produced in parallel with the " Triumph of Maximilian " , a series of 137 woodcut s collaboratively executed by Altdorfer , Hans Springinklee , Albrecht Dürer , Leonhard Beck and Hans Schäufelein . Influences and commission . 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 south of Regensburg . There , it was to hang alongside seven other paintings with a similar format and subject matter , including Ludwig Refinger ' s " The Matyrdom 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 . Earlier depictions . 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 x 3 . 13 m ( 19 ft x 10 ft 3 in ) , and consists of approximately 1 . 5 million tesserae ( coloured tiles ) , each about 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 . Painting . Description . " 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 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 . Analysis and interpretation . 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 . 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 historically baseless inclusion of women on the battlefield , attributing it to Altdorfer ' s " passion for invention " and saying they " look like German courtly ladies , dressed for a hunting party " in their feathered toque s . 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 . Legacy . " The Battle of Alexander at Issus " remained part of the royal collection of the Dukes of Bavaria for centuries . By the late 18th century , it was regularly featured in public galleries at the Schleissheim Palace . The painting was one of 72 taken to Paris in 1800 by the invading armies of Napoleon I ( 1769 – 1821 ) , who was a noted admirer of Alexander the Great . The Louvre held it until 1804 , when Napoleon declared himself Emperor of France and took it for his own use . When the Prussians captured the Château de Saint - Cloud in 1814 as part of the War of the Sixth Coalition , they supposedly found the painting hanging in Napoleon ' s bathroom . " The Battle of Alexander at Issus " and 26 others taken in the 1800 invasion were subsequently restored to the King of Bavaria in 1815 . Five of the paintings in William IV ' s original set of eight – including " The Battle of Alexander at Issus " – later passed from the royal collection to the Alte Pinakothek art museum in Munich , Germany , where they remain ; the other three are in the National Museum of Fine Arts in Stockholm , having been looted by the Swedish army in the Thirty Years War of 1618 – 1648 . " Susannah and the Elders " is the only other work by Altdorfer in the Alte Pinakothek . Contextually , the painting forms part of the Northern Renaissance , a resurgence of classical humanism and culture in northern Europe during the 15th and 16th centuries . The Renaissance induced a new kind of social individualism which Altdorfer expressed through the heroic emphasis on Alexander and Darius , and which is reflected in the specifics of the painting ' s commission and by the subjects of its companion pieces : " During the Renaissance people no longer saw themselves solely as members of a social group , as the citizens of a town , or as sinners before God in whose eyes all were equal . They had become aware of the unique qualities that distinguished one person from another . Unlike the Middle Ages , the Renaissance celebrated the individual . Altdorfer may have painted row after row of apparently identical warriors , but the spectators themselves would identify with Alexander and Darius , figures who had names , whose significance was indicated by the cord which hung down from the tablet above them . " Altdorfer was not only a pioneer of landscape , but also a practitioner of early incarnations of the Romanticism and expressionism which impacted the arts so greatly in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries . Kenneth Clark writes of Altdorfer and contemporaries Grünewald and Bosch , " They are what we now call ' expressionist ' artists , a term which is not as worthless as it sounds , because , in fact , the symbols of expressionism are remarkably consistent , and we find in the work of these early 16th - century landscape painters not only the same spirit but the same shapes and iconographical motives which recur in the work of such recent expressionists as van Gogh , Max Ernst , Graham Sutherland and Walt Disney . " According to art critic Pia F . Cuneo , " Altdorfer ' s construction of landscape on a cosmic scale " in the " Battle of Alexander at Issus " , and his " spiritual and aesthetic affinities with Romanticism and Modern art ( in particular , German Expressionism ) " , " have been especially singled out for praise " . " The Battle of Alexander at Issus " is typically considered to be Altdorfer ' s masterpiece . Cuneo states that the painting is usually " considered in splendid isolation from its fifteen other companion pieces , based on the assumption that it either metonymically stands in for the entire cycle , or that its perceived aesthetic predominance merits exclusive focus . " German writer Karl Wilhelm Friedrich Schlegel ( 1772 – 1829 ) was one of many who saw the painting in the Louvre and marvelled , calling it a " small painted Iliad " . Reinhart Koselleck comments that Altdorfer ' s depiction of the thousands of soldiers was executed with " a mastery previously unknown " , and Kathleen Davis describes the painting as " epochal in every sense " .