The Battle of Alexander at Issus
Albrecht Altdorfer, 1529
Alexander against Darius under a cosmic sky — Altdorfer's Issus is the Renaissance war panorama.
About this work
Albrecht Altdorfer painted The Battle of Alexander at Issus in 1529 for Duke William IV of Bavaria, as one of a set of history paintings for his residence in Munich. It shows the battle of 333 BC in which Alexander the Great defeated the Persian king Darius III. Thousands of tiny soldiers fill the foreground, and above them the landscape opens into a curved horizon taking in the Mediterranean and the Nile. A fierce sky, split between the setting sun and a crescent moon, fills more than a third of the panel. A tablet hanging from the heavens gives the subject: Alexander defeating the last Darius after 100,000 Persian infantry and more than 10,000 cavalry were killed, while Darius fled with no more than 1,000 horsemen and his mother, wife and children were captured. Modern writers see in the anachronistic armour a reference to Europe's wars with the Ottoman Empire. The painting is on a limewood panel of 158.4 × 120.3 cm. Napoleon took it to Paris in 1800, and the Prussians are said to have found it hanging in his bathroom at Saint-Cloud in 1814. It is now in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich.
Sources: Wikipedia · Wikipedia: Albrecht Altdorfer
Print facts
- Native resolution
- 4,592 × 6,000 px
- Sharp at 150 ppi up to
- 30 × 40 in
- Sizes
- Small (15 × 20 in) · $100 · 300 ppi
Medium (18 × 24 in) · $150 · 250 ppi
Large (28 × 36 in) · $300 · 164 ppi - Price includes
- Frame and US shipping · 14–21 days · 30-day returns
FAQ
Where can I buy a framed print of The Battle of Alexander at Issus?
Here. The Battle of Alexander at Issus is available as a framed print in three sizes: Small (15 × 20 in) for $100, Medium (18 × 24 in) for $150 and Large (28 × 36 in) for $300. Prices include the frame and US shipping; delivery takes 14–21 days, with 30-day returns.
What size works best for The Battle of Alexander at Issus?
The file is 4,592 × 6,000 px, so every size is sharp: even Large (28 × 36 in) prints at 164 ppi. Choose Large (28 × 36 in) for a large wall; Small (15 × 20 in) suits a narrower space.
Is it legal to print The Battle of Alexander at Issus?
Yes. The Battle of Alexander at Issus is in the public domain: its copyright, if it ever had one, expired long ago. In the United States a faithful photograph of a public-domain painting does not create a new copyright (Bridgeman v. Corel, 1999), so the image can be printed and sold freely.
