battle he waged with all that was untrue, he was certain of finding
there encouragement to victory and solace in disappointment.

_Magazine of Art_ (1891).

THE SURRENDER OF BREDA

(_VELASQUEZ_)

THEOPHILE GAUTIER

_The Surrender of Breda_, better known under the name of _Las Lanzas_,
mingles in the most exact proportion realism and grandeur. Truth pushed
to the point of portraiture does not diminish in the slightest degree
the dignity of the historical style.

A vast and spacious sky full of light and vapour, richly laid in with
pure ultramarine, mingles its azure with the blue distances of an
immense landscape where sheets of water gleam with silver. Here and
there incendiary smoke ascends from the ground in fantastic wreaths and
joins the clouds of the sky. In the foreground on each side, a numerous
group is massed: here the Flemish troops, there the Spanish troops,
leaving for the interview between the vanquished and victorious generals
an open space which Velasquez has made a luminous opening with a glimpse
of the distance where the glitter of the regiments and standards is
indicated by a few masterly touches.

The Marquis of Spinola, bareheaded with hat and staff of command in
hand, in his black armour damascened with gold, welcomes with a
chivalrous courtesy that is affable and almost affectionate, as is
customary between enemies who are generous and worthy of mutual esteem,
the Governor of Breda, who is bowing and offering him the keys of the
city in an attitude of noble humiliation.

Flags quartered with white and blue, their folds agitated by the wind,
break in the happiest manner the straight lines of the lances held
upright by the Spaniards. The horse of the Marquis, represented almost
foreshortened from the rear and with its head turned, is a skilful
invention to tone down military symmetry, so unfavourable to painting.

It would not be easy to convey in words the chivalric pride and the
Spanish grandeur which distinguish the heads of the officers forming the
General's staff. They express the calm joy of triumph, tranquil pride of
race, and familiarity with great events. These personages would have no
need to bring proofs for their admittance into the orders of Santiago
and Calatrava. Their bearing would admit them, so unmistakably are they
hidalgos. Their long hair, their turned-up moustaches, their pointed
beards, their steel gorgets, their corselets or their buff doublets
render