Inname van Breda met behulp van het turfschip 1590

This silver medal commemorates the capture of Breda in 1590 during the Eighty Years' War. The war was a revolt of the Seventeen Provinces of what are today the Netherlands, Belgium, and parts of northern France against Phillip II of Spain. This anonymous work depicts the daring stratagem conceived to recapture Breda from the Spanish. A ship loaded with peat was allowed to enter the city; concealed beneath the peat were soldiers who then took the Spanish garrison by surprise. Here, we see soldiers emerging from the boat and accepting the surrender of the city. The Latin text that encircles the image and fills the reverse of the medal reinforces its symbolic power. This medal demonstrates how historical and political events influenced the production of art, with the image designed to instill patriotic pride. By consulting primary sources, such as letters and pamphlets, historians have been able to reconstruct the social context and interpret its meaning more fully. Art is never neutral; its meanings are always contingent on the social and institutional context.