The Surrender of Breda

The Surrender of Breda depicts a military victory, the 1624 Siege of Breda, during the Eighty Years War. This war began due to a revolt against Philip II of Spain by the Seventeen Provinces, which today includes the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg. Velázquez captured the end of the battle, as he also differentiated the two sides: the Dutch and the Spanish.{{cite book |last1=Moffitt |first1=John F. |title=Diego Velázquez, Andrea Alciati and the Surrender of Breda |date=1982 |publisher=IRSA |pages=75–90}} The painting presents the Spanish as a strong force, while including both sides of the battle and depicting facial expressions of fatigue that reflect the reality of war.

The painting was commissioned by Philip IV of Spain between 1630 and 1635 for the palace of Buen Retiro along the eastern city limits of Madrid. The painting was intended to glorify the military accomplishments and acquisition by the Spanish, uplifting Philip IV. At the time, Spain was in economic decline. The Surrender of Breda was displayed in the Hall of Realms with nineteen other paintings.

The decoration of the Hall of Realms was directed by the Spanish minister, Gaspar de Guzmán, Count-Duke of Olivares. Velazquez was requested to paint relating to the subject of horse riding, one battle scene, and The Surrender of Breda. This work completed by Velazquez represents the most significant and undaunted painting in the Hall of Realms, as well as one of Velazquez's best works.{{cite book |last1=Veliz |first1=Claudio |title=The New World of the Gothic Fox |date=1994 |isbn=0520083164 |page=79}} Through the hundreds of paintings that Guzmán made use of, The Surrender of Breda would become the most important piece in the Hall of Realms.{{cite web |last1=Berzal |first1=Javier |title=Velazquez, The Surrender of Breda |url=https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/monarchy-enlightenment/baroque-art1/spain/a/velzquez-the-surrender-of-breda |website=Khan Academy |access-date=25 March 2019}}

Velázquez addresses the details of many individuals by painting the setting across two halves, and the battle takes place in the background.{{cite book |last1=Millner Kahr |first1=Madlyn |authorlink=Madlyn M. Kahr |title=Velazquez: The Art of Painting |date=1976 |publisher=HarperCollins |location=New York |isbn=0064335755 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/velazquez00madl }} The surrender portion of the scene takes place in the foreground, with the leading individuals placed clearly in the center. The focus of the composition is in the foreground, where the exchange of the keys is shown in the very front, and in the background, the smoky sky shows evidence of destruction and death.

File:Diego Velázquez - The Surrender of Breda (detail) - WGA24404.jpg

The painting depicts many Spanish soldiers in comparison to the fewer number of Dutch soldiers, and the Dutch weapons appear to have been either destroyed, thrown away or even surrendered as a result of their performance of the battle. In contrast, the victorious Spaniards stand before a mass of upright lances on the right side of the composition. José Ortega y Gasset described these lances as "the backbone of the entire picture and largely responsible for the impression of calm permeating this essentially lively scene."Ortega y Gasset 1953, p. 44. Velázquez used effective perception and aerial techniques that support The Surrender of Breda as one of his finest works.{{cite web |title=VELÁZQUEZ, Diego Rodriguez de Silva y |url=https://www.wga.hu/frames-e.html?/html/v/velazque/04/0401vela.html |website=Web Gallery of Art |access-date= 17 April 2019}}

The painting's relatively light tonality and bright colors reveal the influence of Venetian painting.{{cite web |title=The Surrender of Breda |url=https://www.artble.com/artists/diego_velazquez/paintings/the_surrender_of_breda |website=Artble |access-date=29 March 2019}} There is no use of violent reds or bright blues; rather, calm brown colors with dark shadows in the foreground are used. Also, there is believed to be a connection between Velázquez's use of color, as he had taken a trip to Italy to study Renaissance art. In addition to the color techniques he became equipped to, Velázquez also gained improved skills with space, perspective and light.{{cite web |title=Diego Velazquez, 'The Surrender of Breda' |url=https://colourlex.com/project/velazquez-surrender-of-breda/ |website=ColourLex |access-date=12 April 2019}}

At the center of the composition, Justinus van Nassau is seen surrendering and handing over the key of the city to Spinola and Spain.{{cite web |last1=Berzal |first1=Javier |title=Velázquez, The Surrender of Breda. |url=https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/monarchy-enlightenment/baroque-art1/spain/a/velzquez-the-surrender-of-breda |website=Khan Academy |access-date=17 April 2019}} Spinola, the Genoese general, commanded the Spanish tercios, which included pikemen, swordsmen, and musketeers as displayed in the painting.{{cite web |title=The Surrender of Breda |url=https://www.museodelprado.es/en/the-collection/art-work/the-surrender-of-breda/0cc7577a-51d9-44fd-b4d5-4dba8d9cb13a |website=Museo Del Prado |access-date=15 April 2019}}

An in-depth analysis and investigation was conducted to examine the painting around 1989 in Museo Prado. The analysis found that Velázquez used many of the same pigments that he had used in other paintings. These pigments included lead white with calcite, azurite mixed with small amounts of charcoal black, ochres and vermilion. The painted was produced on canvas that is sized {{convert|307 x 367|cm|abbr=on}}{{cite book |last1=Dominguez Ortiz |first1=Antonio |last2=Perez Sanchez |first2=Alfonso E. |last3=Gallego |first3=Julian |title=Velazquez |date= 10 September 2013 |publisher=Metropolitan Museum of Art |location=New York |isbn=978-0300203264}}

The response to Velazquez's artwork was grand at the very least, with the critical reaction being that The Surrender of Breda was the most impressive Spanish works of art.{{cite web |last1=Koppelman |first1=Dorothy |title=What Will Make Us Truly Proud of Ourselves? A Study in the Art of Diego Velázquez |url=https://terraingallery.org/art-criticism/what-will-make-us-truly-proud-of-ourselves/ |website=Terrain Gallery |access-date=28 March 2019}} Also, the artwork solidified Velazquez's effort as the most superb depiction of Spanish Baroque, provided that Baroque art was closely connected to humanity and how people should be seen and represented.{{cite book |last1=Bailey |first1=Anthony |title=Velázquez and The Surrender of Breda: The Making of a Masterpiece |date=November 8, 2011 |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |location=New York |page=98}}

One of Velázquez's contemporaries, Peter Paul Rubens, has been cited to be an inspiration for the work connected to The Surrender of Breda. Despite differences in style between the two Baroque artists, Rubens' prior works such as The Reconciliation of Esau and Jacob, produced in 1624, has resemblance in terms of its composition and philosophical concepts.{{cite web |last1=Dorsey |first1=Dave |title=Awakening From The Nightmare of History |url=http://thedorseypost.com/?p=1076 |website=The Painting Life |date=10 February 2012 |access-date=27 April 2019}} More commonly, Velázquez's piece has been tied to Rubens' Meeting of King Ferdinand of Hungary and Cardinal, completed in 1635. The possibility of influence on Rubens' later work has been argued, as both Velazquez and Rubens completed their work around the same time. More likely, both artists produced very similar work in addition to having such a close relationship.{{cite web |title=The Surrender of Breda |url=https://www.artble.com/artists/diego_velazquez/paintings/the_surrender_of_breda |website=Artble |access-date=23 April 2019}} Velázquez's work also seems to have been inspired by his trip to Italy with Spinola.{{cite web |title=Biography |url=https://www.biography.com/artist/diego-velazquez |access-date=12 April 2019}}

Image: Velazquez surrender breda soldiers.jpg

The painting 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 Ambrogio Spinola by Justin of Nassau. Thie painting is notable for its static and sentimental qualities, as Velázquez left out the blood and gore that would normally be linked to the violence of such battles.{{cite book |last1=McIver |first1=Gillian |title=Art History for Filmmakers: The Art of Visual Storytelling |year=2016 |publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing |location=London |isbn=978-1472580658}}

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.{{cite book |last1=Justi |first1=Carl |title=Diego Velazquez and His Times |year= 2010 |publisher=Nabu Press |isbn=978-1147510812 |page=202}}

Image:Tercio - Spínola.svg

The extraordinary respect and dignity that 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 the war and commends Spinola's consideration for Nassau and the Dutch Army.{{cite magazine |last1=Schjeldahl |first1=Peter |title=The Reign In Spain |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2012/01/02/the-reign-in-spain-peter-schjeldahl |magazine=The New Yorker |date=25 December 2011 |access-date=14 April 2019}}

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.{{cite book |last1=White |first1=John Manchip |title=Diego Velazquez: Painter and Courtier |url=https://archive.org/details/diegovelazquezpa0000whit |url-access=registration |date=1969 |publisher=Chicago, Rand McNally |location=Chicago}} 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.”{{cite book |last1=Justi |first1=Carl |title=Diego Velazquez and His Times |publisher=Nabu Press |isbn=1147510814 |page=203}}

Nevertheless, Velázquez made one remarkable mistake. Probably following Spinola's description, he painted the Dutch Prince's Flag (Prinsenvlag), which is dipped on the painting behind Justinus van Nassau's head to salute the victorious Spaniards, as horizontal tricolour of blue, red and white (from the top down). In fact, the color scheme was orange, white, blue (some years later, orange was replaced by red).{{cite book |last1=Bailey |first1=Anthony |title=Velázquez and The Surrender of Breda.The Making of a Masterpiece |publisher=Henry Holt and Company |date=2011 |isbn=9781429973779 |page=232}}

The motion picture Alatriste, a 2006 Spanish epic historical fiction war film directed by Agustín Díaz Yanes, contains a scene showing the surrender of Breda as the basis for the painting.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}}

• List of works by Diego Velázquez

{{Reflist}}

• Justi, Carl. Diego Velázquez and his Times. London: H. Grevel & Co., 1889.
• López-Rey, José. Velázquez’ Work and World. Greenwich, CT: New York Graphic Society, 1968.
• Morris, James. Spain. London: Faber & Faber, 1964.
• Museo Nacional del Prado, [http://www.museodelprado.es/enciclopedia/enciclopedia-on-line/voz/lanzas-o-la-rendicion-de-breda-las-velazquez/ "The Surrender of Breda, or The Lances"] (accessed July 3, 2009).
• Ortega y Gasset, José. Velazquez. New York: Random House, 1953. {{OCLC|989292513}}.
• White, John Manchip. Diego Velazquez: Painter and Courtier. Chicago: Rand McNally & Company, 1969.

• [http://libmma.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/p15324coll10/id/63259/rec/2 Velázquez, the exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art] (fully available online as PDF), containing material on The Surrender of Breda (see index).
• [https://www.khanacademy.org/humanities/monarchy-enlightenment/baroque-art1/spain/a/velzquez-the-surrender-of-breda Khan Academy essay]

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