Afgoderij van Salomo

1505

Settles in the free city of Regensburg

He settles in Regensburg, a free imperial city on the Danube, where he will in time become town architect and a member of the city council.

1511

A journey down the Danube to the Austrian Alps

In 1511 he travels along the Danube to the Austrian Alps, making sketches on the way. Altdorfer is regarded as one of the first German artists to turn to landscape as an independent genre.

1513

In the service of Emperor Maximilian I in Innsbruck

From 1513 he is in the service of Emperor Maximilian I in Innsbruck (Tyrol) and carries out several commissions for the imperial court; for the emperor he also made drawings for the “Triumphal Arch”, the “Triumphal Procession” and Maximilian's “Prayer Book”.

1526

Becomes the chief architect of Regensburg

From 1526 he is the city's chief architect, responsible among other things for its fortifications; during the Reformation he devoted himself mainly to architecture. Contemporaries saw in him above all an architect: his gravestone says that a builder lies buried beneath it.

by 1529

Gives up the office of mayor for the Duke's commission

William IV, Duke of Bavaria, commissions “The Battle of Alexander” as part of a series of eight historical battle scenes for the Residenz in Munich; to accept the commission, Altdorfer renounces the office of Mayor of Regensburg. The painting is thought to be the earliest to show the curvature of the Earth from a great height.