The landscape elements to this painting were highly typical of Albrecht Altdorfer, with the vertical dimensions that he tended to use for his landscape paintings. He was rare at this time for making use of real locations in his work, rather than idealised views that were a culmination of different experiences. Italian artists had tended to do the latter within the Renaissance. Many of Altdorfer's locations have been identified since.
The huge numbers of figures within the painting is unusual for the artist, but not completely unique. As a commissioned artwork, perhaps he had to give way on some elements of the composition. The choice to depict this battle would surely have been requested directly from the donor as normally he preferred to capture landscape scenes with little or no human activity.
Whilst being a multi-talented artist who impressed in several different disciplines, it was his paintings that truly left the greatest impression. It was also his concentration on landscape art that was particularly significant, especially in how it achieved acceptance for this genre for the first time. His etchings and drawings would not always contain the same level of care and attention as his paintings, which he clearly saw as his main concern.
