Albrecht Altdorfer

Albrecht Altdorfer was one of the first European painters to treat landscape as a subject in its own right. His forests of towering, moss-hung trees and glowing skies give his religious and historical scenes a dramatic, almost fantastical atmosphere, and he is the leading figure of the Danube School.

He spent his working life in Regensburg, where he was also the town architect and a member of the council. He painted altarpieces, including the Saint Sebastian altar at St Florian, and made many prints and drawings. His best-known work is The Battle of Alexander at Issus of 1529, in the Alte Pinakothek in Munich, where thousands of soldiers fill a vast landscape under a swirling sky.

The National Gallery in London has his Landscape with a Footbridge. In his paintings, look at the trees and skies, which carry as much feeling as the figures.