The Surrender of Breda

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The Surrender of Breda: Diego Velazquez

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Diego Velazquez Oil Painting - The Surrender of Breda

Keywords: Surrender, Breda

Work Overview: The Surrender of Breda
Spanish: La rendición de Breda, Las lanzas
Artist Diego Velázquez
Year 1634–5
Type Oil on canvas
Dimensions 307 cm × 367 cm (121 in × 144 in)
Location Museo del Prado, Madrid, Spain

La rendición de Breda (English: The Surrender of Breda, also known as El cuadro de las lanzas or Las lanzas) is a painting by the Spanish Golden Age painter Diego Velázquez. It was completed during the years 1634–35, inspired by Velázquez's visit to Italy with Ambrogio Spinola, the Genoese general who conquered Breda on June 5, 1625. It is considered one of Velázquez's best works. Jan Morris has called it "one of the most Spanish of all pictures".

The capture of Breda in 1625 was one of the major successes of Spanish arms in the latter stages of the Eighty Years' War. The Spanish general, Genoese aristocrat Ambrogio Spinola, conquered Breda against the instructions of his superiors. Before its capture, the Spanish government had decided that siege warfare against heavily defended towns of the Low Countries was too wasteful and that they would concentrate instead on an economic blockade of the Dutch republic. The bulk of Spanish forces were diverted to the unfolding Thirty Years War.

Breda, a city near the frontier of Holland proper had been occupied in 1567 by the Duke of Alba, ten years afterwards recovered by Holach, and again seized by Haultepenne. The town was the seat of the Orange family, who had a castle there.

In 1624, the suspension of hostilities in Germany enabled the Spanish to concentrate their forces towards Breda. Although attacking such a formidable fortress was widely considered to be unwise, Ambrogio Spinola made the bewildering executive decision to march on Breda, accompanied by the Marquis de Leganés and Carlos Coloma. Spinola had made a military reputation for himself in 1604 and been rewarded with the Golden Fleece for conquering Ostend in Flanders. Consequently, the siege of Breda was not only a clash between the Netherlands and Spain, but a “decisive contest between two famous generals, [Spinola and Dutch general Nassau], both well versed in the arts of fortification, who had their renown at stake”.

Defending the Dutch, Maurice of Nassau led hostilities against Spinola but died before the end of the siege. His successor, Frederick Henry, unsuccessfully attempted to revive Dutch momentum, but ultimately surrendered in May. The terms of defeat at Breda were some of the most honorable and lenient of the time. Spinola died in the autumn of 1630, only a year after Velazquez had sailed with him on the voyage to Italy. In 1637 Breda was recaptured by Frederick Henry after a four-month siege, and in 1648 it was finally ceded to the Dutch Republic by the Treaty of Westphalia.

Velázquez painted The Surrender of Breda as an emblem of Spanish nationalism and as a tribute to Ambrogio Spinola. Diego Velázquez and Ambrogio Spinola had been thrown closely together “During the voyage from Barcelona to Genoa, in 1629… The artist must also have been more deeply affected than others by the tragic result of the siege of Casale, which occurred soon after the voyage – how Spinola was shamefully sacrificed; and how, mortified at the slur cast on his military honor, he soon after sank with gloomy thoughts into the grave.”

Velázquez felt discouraged after Ambrogio Spinola’s death and sought to legitimize Spinola, whose success and bravery in the battle inspired Velázquez to paint The Surrender of Breda.

The Surrender of Breda was one of twelve life-size battle scenes intended to perpetuate victories won by Philip IV’s armies that hung in the Salón de Reinos in Buen Retiro. It illustrates the exchange of keys that occurred three days after the capitulation between Spain and the Netherlands was signed on June 5, 1625. Hence, the focus of the painting is not on the battle itself, but rather the reconciliation. At the center of the painting, literally and figuratively, is the key given to Spinola by Justin of Nassau. The key is “the precise center of his design, [enclosing] it in an emphatic parallelogram so that it becomes the focus of the entire large canvas—literally the key to the composition, locking all other components into place.” This battle painting is notable for its static and sentimental qualities.

According to the statement made by eye-witnesses both [Spinola and Nassau] had dismounted and Spinola awaited the arrival of Justin surrounded by a “crown” of princes and officers of high birth. The governor then presented himself with his family, kinsfolk and distinguished students of the military academy, who had been shut up in the place during the siege. Spinola greeted and embraced his vanquished opponent with a kindly expression and still more kindly words, in which praised the courage and endurance of the protracted defense.

The extraordinary respect and dignity Spinola demonstrated towards the Dutch army is praised through The Surrender of Breda. Spinola “had forbidden his troops to jeer at, or otherwise abuse, the vanquished Dutch, and, according to a contemporary report, he himself saluted Justin.” The painting demonstrates the glimpses of humanity that can be exposed as a result of war, and commends Spinola’s consideration for Nassau and the Dutch army.

Velázquez’s relationship with Spinola makes The Surrender of Breda especially historically accurate. The depiction of Spinola is undoubtedly accurate, and Spinola’s memory of the battle contributed to the perspective with which Velázquez composed the painting. Velázquez’s knowledge of the intimate history of the siege of Breda makes The Surrender of Breda an especially important historical commentary. Velázquez “desired in his modest way to raise a monument to one of the most humane captains of the day, by giving permanence to his true figure in a manner of which he alone had the secret.” The Surrender of Breda salutes a moment of convergence between Spanish power, restraint, and kindness in the battle.

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One of the most famous of Velázquez's paintings, The Surrender of Breda depicts the moment on the fifth of June, 1625, when the Dutch general Justin Nassau surrendered the Dutch town of Breda to Spanish forces led by General Ambrosio Spínola.

The first decades of the seventeenth century were marked by the Protestant Netherland's fierce bid for independence from Catholic Spain. For the Catholic realms of Europe, Breda was suspiciously regarded as a breeding ground for heretical Protestants from all over the continent, a kind of "finishing school" where they could go to perfect their military skills.

All of Europe was warily keeping their eyes on the situation of Breda, since a battle over the possession of the city could easily escalate into a continent-wide war.

Spain had been at peace with the Netherlands during the Twelve Year Truce, but once Philip IV came to power in 1621, the truce was annulled and hostilities began anew. In 1624 Philip IV chose the best Spanish commander from the Thirty Years War, Ambrosio Spínola, to take back the city.

Progress was glacially slow during the first nine months but Spínola laid a grueling siege to the city that eventually prompted the Dutch forces to give in. Justin Nassau, commander of the Dutch forces and a renowned military man in his own right, capitulated on the condition that he and his men would be able to surrender honorably and be treated as "men of war. "

His own troops exhausted and short on materials, Spínola was in no position to argue, and on June 5, he accepted Nassau's symbolic turning over of the keys to the city in a peaceful ceremony in which no soldiers or civilians were harmed.

The Commission:
Velázquez's Surrender of Breda was part of a huge decoration project commissioned by the Spanish minister, count Olivares. In 1630, Olivares decided to glorify the image of the Spanish court by building a new pleasure palace just east of Madrid, known today as the Buen Retiro.

Olivares commissioned three separate cycles of paintings for the Hall of Realms. Velázquez was given the task of executing the equestrian portraits and one battle scene, The Surrender of Breda, which would depict the historical event of ten years ago described above. This work definitively constitutes the most important and most daring of all the paintings in the Hall of Realms, and has gone down in history as one of Velázquez's best and most intriguing paintings.

Once again, as with so many of Velázquez's paintings, art historians have argued for centuries about potential sources of inspiration for his masterful composition. The most widely cited sources include the following;

Rubens:
Velázquez's close friend and prominent artist of the Flemish Baroque did not have much of an influence on Velázquez's style per se, but he has been cited elsewhere as a compositional or philosophical influence. In the case of The Surrender of Breda, Rubens had executed two paintings which have often been named in relation to Velázquez's masterpiece.

The most commonly cited painting by Rubens in this influence is his Meeting of Ferdinand of Hungary and the Cardinal-Infant Ferdinand. The paintings evidence a remarkably similar compositional structure, but the possibility of an influence has been disputed, given that the two paintings were executed at roughly the same time, and in fact, Rubens may even have been painted his after Velázquez. This may therefore be little more than a case of similar sources producing similar results.

On the other hand, Rubens's The Reconciliation of Jacob and Esau could have had an influence on Velázquez indeed, and may in fact have been the source of inspiration for Rubens's later picture. This was one of the eight paintings Rubens brought with him to Madrid, meaning Velázquez would surely have seen it.

It is generally accepted that in order to study the topography of Breda, Velázquez made use of the French Jacques Callot's engravings, Siège de Breda, which he employed in devising the landscape for his painting.

In order to fully understand what exactly happened during the surrender of Breda Velázquez would have had to avail himself of the several literary sources describing the account.

Fortunately for the artist, Velázquez was lucky enough to meet Spínola himself when the artist travelled with the military man during his first trip to Italy in 1629, and he would surely have had a first-hand account of the general's most famous triumph.

Although Velázquez studiously prepared his painting by studying a wide variety of sources, the end result is uniquely his own. The Surrender of Breda is considered a masterpiece for the following qualities;

Composition:
The Surrender of Breda is a particularly difficult composition for the large number of figures, the complex crowds and accessories. In order to organize and balance the painting, Velázquez employs a device he commonly uses throughout his oeuvre: he divides the action into two planes. The reality of the war and the siege is compressed into the background, reminding the viewer of the history surrounding the main event.

This main event, the actual act of the surrender, is pushed into the foreground, with its two protagonists clearly defined in the dead center: Nessau on the left, offering the keys and Spínola on the right, consoling his fellow man-in-arms.

Critics have noted that there is something very theatrical about the treatment of space, with the supporting figures tidily grouped to the left and right of the composition.

As always, realism is one of the most striking features of Velázquez's paintings. Having personally known Spínola, Velázquez would have been able to paint a veritable portrait, but the artist does not neglect to individualize the supporting cast of characters.

Color palette:
The Surrender of Breda is a surprisingly light, bright painting for Velázquez, compared to the rest of his oeuvre. For once, even pastel colors are present, in the uniformed soldiers in the background and the sweeping flags to the right of the canvas.

Many critics have attributed this lightness as well as the dominant brown, blue and yellow to the influence of the Venetians, especially Tintoretto.

Brushwork:
The Surrender of Breda evidences another example of the free, loose brushstrokes that characterize Velázquez's style, and which had such an impact on the art of Manet and the Impressionists. Here, Velázquez varies his brushstroke: in the foreground, it is tighter and more controlled, while it grows increasingly loose and abstract receding into the background, helping the artist to create a sense of atmospheric perspective.

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On June 5, 1625 the Dutch governor of Breda, Justinus van Nassau, surrendered the keys of that city to Ambrosio Spínola, the Genoese general commanding the Spanish tercios (a group of soldiers that included pikemen, swordsmen and musketeers) of Flanders. Breda`s extraordinary strategic importance made it one of the most disputed cities in the Spanish monarchy`s prolonged war against the United Provinces of the North. Its conquest after a lengthy siege was considered a military accomplishment of the first order, generating a plethora of texts and images intended to exalt the winners. It is therefore not surprising that the decision to decorate the Buen Retiro Palace`s Hall of Realms with a series of paintings narrating the military triumphs of Philip IV`s reign called for a depiction of what was probably the most resounding victory of all. Nor is it any surprise that Velázquez, who was then the court`s most prestigious painter, was commissioned to paint it. As with his equestrian portrait of Philip IV (P01178), the artist proudly declares his authorship and his stylistic singularity on a sheet of bank paper appearing in the composition`s lower right corner. The painting`s dimensions, the importance of the event it depicts and the significance of the hall where it was to hang all encouraged the painter to put his best efforts into this work, offering proof of his extraordinary faculties. Additional pressure came from the competitive context, as the Hall of Realms included works by the court`s most outstanding artists. Velázquez met the challenge with a masterpiece that reveals not only his extraordinary descriptive gifts and mastery of aerial perspective, but also his narrative skills and his capacity to place all of a painting`s elements at the service of a specific content.

As numerous scholars have pointed out, this is no ordinary pictorial celebration of victory or martial ideals -its smoking background speaks clearly of destruction, war and death- but it does concentrate our attention on the foreground, where the triumphant general receives the key from his vanquished foe with an attitude closely resembling affection, in a gesture that seems more like the announcement of impending peace than that of war`s end. The entire composition is designed to emphasize this gesture, and both the group of Dutch soldiers (at the left) and the Spaniards serve to frame, accompany and shelter this principal motif, drawing our attention directly to it. The two generals constitute an image that conveys the message with extraordinary efficiency, and historians have related it to extremely varied sources and antecedents from both profane symbolism (Andrea Alciato`s Emblematum liber) and Christian iconography. In fact, Velázquez`s interpretation of the battle has very precise precedents: both Hermann Hugo, in his historical treatise, Obsidio bredana, and Pedro Calderón de la Barca, in one of his plays, approached the subject in a similar way, insisting on the magnanimity of General Spínola and his army, who treated their enemy with the respect they deserved as worthy rivals, rather than the disdain meted out to the vanquished. Indeed, Calderón`s The Seige of Breda, from 1635, describes the very event depicted in the painting in much the same terms, as an almost friendly encounter. A very similar content is also transmitted by Juan Bautista Maíno`s The Recovery of Bahia in 1625 (P885). Velázquez`s genius lies in having discovered the ideal formula for transmitting that content, which he did by eliminating all rhetoric and drawing instead on the most straightforward, and thus the most efficient means: the simple gesture of the two generals is enough to transmit a theory of State and a view of history. Generically, this painting can be dated between 1634 and 1635, as the decoration of the Hall of Realms is known to have begun in 1634 and was finished by spring, 1635 (Text drawn from Portús, J.: El Palacio del Rey Planeta. Felipe IV y el Buen Retiro, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2005, pp. 132-133).

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