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The cycle of history paintings commissioned by Duke William IV of Bavaria and his wife, Jakobaea of Baden, which also included Albrecht Altdorfer’s Battle of Alexander and Darius at Issus (see fig. 1, p. 28), is regarded as the embryo of the Munich collection of paintings. Feselen’s painting was also part of this group. According to the Latin inscription in the medallion above the coat of arms of the donors, it depicts Caesar’s victory over the Gauls with the conquest of the city of Alesia. It is not just the exact depiction of contemporary clothing and war technologies that make the ancient subject contemporary: the German imperial double-headed eagle is emblazoned on the standards of the assembled Roman troops, whereas the French lily can be found on the flags of the defeated Gauls, among whom there are also Ottomans. The French and the Ottomans were thus openly identified as enemies of the empire.

Details

  • Title: The Siege of the City of Alesia
  • Creator: Melchior Feselen
  • Date Created: 1533
  • Physical Dimensions: 162 × 121.2 cm
  • Technique and Material: Fir covered with canvas
  • Provenance: Painted in 1533 for the Munich court
  • Museum: Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Alte Pinakothek
  • Inv.-No.: 686
  • ISIL-No.: DE-MUS-096417
  • External Link: https://www.pinakothek.de/besuch/alte-pinakothek
  • Copyright: Photo © Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München / Sibylle Forster; Text © Renaissance and Reformation: German Art in the Age of Dürer and Cranach, A Cooperation of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen München, Catalogue of the Exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Nov 20, 2016 – March 26, 2017, Munich: Prestel, 2016; cat. no. 81 / Andreas Plackinger
  • Catalogue: https://prestelpublishing.randomhouse.de/book/Renaissance-and-Reformation/Stephanie-Buck/Prestel-com/e504919.rhd
  • Artist Dates: c. 1490–95 Nördlingen (?)–1538 Ingolstadt
  • Artist Biography: Feselen, who perhaps trained with Hans Schäufelein in Nördlingen, and whose landscapes betray the influence of the Danube school (in the area of Passau and Regensburg), is documented in Ingolstadt from 1521, where he ultimately became the town painter. After working on the cycle of history paintings for William IV of Bavaria, Feselen was in the service of Count Palatine Otto Henry, the brother of Philip the Warlike, in Neuburg an der Donau.

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