2. La rendición de Breda (The Surrender of Breda) , also
known as El cuadro de las lanzas or Las lanzas is a
painting by the Spanish Golde 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 the 5th, 1625. It is considered one of
Velázquez's best works, together with “Las Meninas”. It
has been called “one of the most Spanish of all
pictures".
3. 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 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.
