In 1625 the Dutch governor Justinus van Nassau hands the key of Breda to the Spanish commander Ambrogio Spinola, who lays a consoling hand on his shoulder. Velázquez painted it about ten years later for the Hall of Realms in Philip IV's Buen Retiro palace in Madrid. Victory is shown as courtesy rather than slaughter, with smoke from the siege drifting across the plain behind.
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The tall, upright lances of the Spanish troops at right, which gave the picture its Spanish nickname Las lanzas, contrast with the few straggling Dutch pikes at left.
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