It was in 1625, ten years before this picture was painted, that Justin
von Nassau, the commanding officer of Breda, surrendered the city to the
Genoese Ambrosio Spinola, commander of the Spanish forces. Breda was one
of the border fortresses of the Netherlands, a military base which had
long been a bone of contention, alternately seized by the Spaniards or
returned to the Princes of Orange. After a long siege Spinola learned from
an intercepted letter that the defendants were in desperate straits, short
of both equipment and food, and he therefore proposed that von Nassau should
freely surrender rather than continue the bloodshed. The proposal was accepted
and the army withdrew in good order, keeping their goods and some of their
arms. The citizens did not suffer any harm at all. This victory was one
of the last triumphs achieved by Spain in the period when she was accounted
a great world power, and it was also one of the fine instances when humanism
prevailed even in times of war.
The main problem of a history painting featuring a large number
of figures is the question of how to handle the crowd scenes. Velázquez
initially tackles this difficulty by dividing the picture plane into two
levels - a higher area of action on which the main event is acted out as
on a stage, and an area below it in which we see the city and harbour of
Breda and the sea. The stage-like situation is further emphasized by various
foreground elements. The two military leaders - the defeated commandant
of Breda handing over the keys of the fortress to the Spanish commander
Spinola - are immediately recognizable as the protagonists because the
view opens up behind them towards the otherwise hidden background, whereas
to the right and left the respective military entourage is grouped like
stage extras. Yet Velázquez does not portray them as anonymous soldiers.
Amongst the group of Spanish victors brandishing their lances, we can make
out just as many individual expressions of exhaustion as we can amongst
the resigned group of defeated Dutch soldiers.
It is thought that the composition of the picture derives from
a contemporary book-illustration of the Bible; this is certainly true of
the two central figures of the commanders. In its colouring - the brown
masses of the horses, the blue and red garments of the soldiers - we see
the influence of Venetian painting, particularly that of Tintoretto. |
