The Battle of Alexander at Issus is a 1529 oil painting by German artist Albrecht Altdorfer, an early 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 exemplifies his affinity for scenes of monumental grandeur. William IV, Duke 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 of the others in William's initial set are in the Alte Pinakothek art museum in Munich.
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_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1547:
Nine-year-old Edward VI was crowned King of England and Ireland. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_VI_of_England
1816:
Italian composer Gioachino Rossini's opera buffa The Barber of Seville, based on the first Figaro play by French playwright Pierre Beaumarchais, debuted at the Teatro Argentina in Rome. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Barber_of_Seville
1872:
New York City's Metropolitan Museum of Art, today containing a collection of over two million works of art, opened. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metropolitan_Museum_of_Art
1944:
World War II: Allied forces began a bombing campaign that became known as Big Week, launching massive attacks on the German aircraft industry in an attempt to lure the Luftwaffe into a decisive battle. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Week
1959:
The Canadian government under Prime Minister John Diefenbaker cancelled the Avro CF-105 Arrow interceptor aircraft program amid much political debate. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Canada_CF-105_Arrow
2005:
Spanish voters passed a referendum on the ratification of the proposed Constitution of the European Union, despite the lowest turnout in any election since the transition to democracy in the 1970s. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_European_Constitution_referendum%2C_2005
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
sliver (n): A long piece cut or rent off; a sharp, slender fragment http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sliver
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
No man can put a chain about the ankle of his fellow man without at last finding the other end fastened about his own neck. --Frederick Douglass http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Frederick_Douglass