The capitulation of the Rhenish city of Jülich was one of the most outstanding events at the beginning of the Thirty Years War (1618-1648). Occupied by Maurice of Nassau’s French troops since 1610, Jülich surrendered to an army led by the Marquis of Los Balbases, General Ambrosio de Spínola, who would later triumph at Breda. This event took place after the truce established in 1609 broke down in 1621 and hostilities with Dutch rebels were renewed. The city, which was the capital of the Rhenish duchy of the same name, was not only important politically; it occupied a strategic location from which to control communication between the Dutch and their German allies. The siege lasted seven months, ending when the city capitulated on February 3, 1622. According to Gonzalo de Céspedes, the capitulation stipulated that Governor Frederick Pytham, his officers and soldiers would leave freely, with flags aloft, full military honors, children, wives, weapons and luggage, however, this stipulation was not observed, and the Dutch troops (2,500 foot soldiers and a company of cavalry) departed with neither flags nor honors. Leonardo followed convention in his depiction of the surrender, presenting a clear act of submission far different than Velázquez’s Surrender of Breda. General Spínola appears on horseback in the foreground, where he receives the keys to the city from the Dutch governor, who kneels before him. The general is accompanied by Diego Felipe Mexía de Guzmán, also on horseback, who married Spínola’s daughter and became the Marquis of Leganés in 1627. Diego had played a secondary role in the operations, but he figures prominently in this painting because of his family ties to the Count-Duke of Olivares, and because, in 1627, the other protagonist of the siege, Enrique de Bergh, had joined the Protestants and could not be included in this scene, nor in the depiction of Breda, despite having participated in both. In front of Spínola and Mexía, a Spanish general looks on. He stands in front of a page who looks out at the viewer and points to the capitulation ceremony. Pytham is also accompanied by various Dutch officials. The city appears in the background with the departing Protestant troops. The diagonal composition is firmly established, and while it is arranged like most of the battle scenes from the Hall of Realms, it manages to integrate the fore and backgrounds much more successfully than Carducho, Cajés or Castelo’s works. On the other hand, it is clear that Jusepe Leonardo had to base his portraits on earlier works by other artists. Spínola had died some years earlier, in September 1630, but he had already been painted by Rubens and Van Dyck, among others. The Marquis of Leganés left Madrid on April 2, 1634, when this painting had already been commissioned, but it is unlikely that Leonardo could have painted him from life, and he seems to have drawn on Van Dyck’s rendering in a painting now at the Fundación BSCH Collection. There are several replicas of Van Dyck’s work, as well as an engraving by Paulus Pontius. The Museo del Prado has a preparatory drawing (D3891) from the Fernández Durán Legacy that differs in some ways from the finished work (the position of the horse, which is stiffer in the drawing, a more simple presentation of the group of figures that accompany the Dutch governor, and a Spanish soldier instead of the General and his page). This drawing is inscribed Joseph Leonardo en el Retiro, which has sometimes been considered a signature, as well as an indication that the canvas was painted at the Buen Retiro Palace. In fact, as Pérez Sánchez pointed out, this inscription appears to have been written by painter and collector Francisco Solís, so its allusion to the Retiro should be understood to indicate that the composition corresponds to the canvas at the Hall of Realms.

Museo Nacional del Prado, El Palacio del Rey Planeta, Museo Nacional del Prado, 2005, p.130-131