Here, the doge of the Republic of Genoa emerges through the gates of the city in order to receive Don Álvaro de Bazán, the Marquis of Santa Cruz, who has arrived as the commander of a fleet intended to protect the city from assault by the French troops led by the Constable Lesdiguières and Charles Emmanuel I, the Duke of Savoy. In the distance, the city´s populace jubilantly greets the arrival of the ships. In his description of Genoa, the artist has relied on prints representing Flemish cities, in particular Antwerp. The event portrayed in this painting took place in May 1625 and was a central episode in the struggle between Spain and France over control of Liguria. For the Spanish, securing Genoa represented a counterweight to the advances made by France and the Duchy of Savoy in the region. It was also one of a number of important Spanish victories that helped to secure Spanish territorial hegemony for a few more years. These victories were commemorated in several paintings, including this one, which were hung in the Hall of Realms in the Buen Retiro Palace, Madrid. The royal throne was placed in this hall, making it the most important space in the palace. The Hall was decorated with the coats of arms of the various territories held by the Spanish monarchy; ten scenes representing the labours of Hercules (the mythical founder of that monarchy); equestrian portraits of the reigning king and queen, of their predecessors and of the crown prince; and 12 battle scenes from conflicts that had taken place during Philip IV´s reign -all of which contributed to the formation of a highly complex (though ultimately homogeneous) discourse about the kingdom´s history and identity. This particular scene also serves to honour the second Marquis of Santa Cruz (1571–1644), who played a significant role during the reigns of both Philip III and Philip IV. The marquis -whose naval actions in 1604 led to the capture of the island of Longo near the Mediterranean-African coast and became the subject of one of Lope de Vega´s plays- was a well-known figure in the court. At the time Antonio Pereda executed this painting, the marquis was a member of the Council of State and, on 14 May 1634 (two months before the artist received his first payment for the commission), he left Madrid to take command of the galleys as lieutenant general of the sea, according to a contemporary writer, Pereda could conceivably have painted his portrait from life or, at the very least, after having consulted a contemporary image of the marquis, for his features seem more like those of a 63-year-old man (his age in 1634) rather than his 54 years at the time he was in Genoa. The artist has dressed him in the same arms from the Royal Armoury that Philip II wears in a royal portrait by Anthonis Mor in El Escorial. Lázaro Díaz del Valle suggested that the images of several members of his retinue were also portraits; however, what is certain is that their extraordinarily emphatic attitudes place them closer to the world of the theatre, distancing them from the conventions of the portrait. This is particularly true of the three men standing behind the group, whose poses recall the figure of the bravo (or swaggering soldier) from plays by Lope de Vega or Pedro Calderón de la Barca. Other characters in the painting are from printed sources, such as the halberdier on the left who was inspired by a print by Antonio Tempesta. The richness and variety of colours and textures in this painting, the narrative coherence and compositional unity and the expressive gestural language make the work, in pictorial terms, one of the most conceptually advanced battle scenes in the Hall of Realms. One of the most promising artistic talents in Madrid, Pereda -who was only 23 or 24 years old at the time he painted The relief of Genoa- was the youngest painter among those who contributed to the decorations of the Hall of Realms. Aware of his youth and proud of his accomplishment, he left a record of his age in the signature -the surviving fragment reads: Antonius Pereda / aetatis suae... (Antonio Pereda, at the age of...) (Text drawn from Portús, J.: Portrait of Spain. Masterpieces from the Prado, Queensland Art Gallery-Art Exhibitions Australia, 2012, p. 106).