Spanish general, Genoese Ambrogio Spinola was to lead a brave attack on the heavily defended city of Breda, despite being warned off the idea by his superiors.
He went directly against orders to take on a new strategy of circling the whole Republic and defeating them through the drought of commerce opportunities. The critical nature of this painting to Velazquez is underlined by the sheer amount of preparatory work that he completed in order to achieve the best possible result.
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Spinola had made a military reputation for himself in and been rewarded with the Golden Fleece for conquering Ostend in Flanders. 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. Jealous of his success, his rivals in Madrid like the powerful Count Olivares conspired to engineer his disgrace during his military campaign in Italy.
Velazquez - having recently accompanied his friend Spinola on the voyage from Barcelona to Genoa - was outraged by undeserved and shameful treatment meted out to Spinola, who died shortly after. It was against this background that Velazquez approached this composition. Commissioned on the orders of King Philip IV in , five years after the death of Spinola, the painting was designed to decorate the throne room Salon de Reinos of the Buen Retiro royal palace, where it formed part of a series of twelve life-size battle scenes celebrating Spanish military triumphs.
The painting illustrates the ceremonial exchange of keys that took place three days after the official capitulation of the Dutch forces at Breda. Thus the focus of the painting is not on the battle, but rather the reconciliation.
The central point of the painting is the key being handed over to Spinola who has dismounted from his horse to meet his opponent as an equal by the Dutch leader Justin of Nassau, together with Spinola's simultaneous gesture of placing a friendly hand on the shoulder of his opponent. Note also: The terms of defeat laid down by Spinola at Breda were among the most honorable and lenient of the time.
The Surrender of Breda therefore has two meanings: first, it represents a great nationalist victory for Spain; second, it represents a noble and magnanimous triumph for Spinola himself. Above all, one suspects that Velazquez painted it as a tribute to his friend Ambrogio Spinola.
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