Here we have a fierce battle in defence of a fortress, which we see on the right. It is being attacked by a troop of cavalrymen, who are in turn being attacked by infantry soldiers armed with arquebuses and with rifles. At the back on the left is a city with its towers; in the background of the scene there are further engagements. Stylistically, both as regards the composition and the figures, the painting is typical of Cornelis de Wael. But we cannot tell whether this is some historical event or pure fantasy.

An almost identical Battle by Cornelis, 86 x 136 cm, is in a private Italian collection; it was published by P. Pagano and M. C. Galassi in La pittura del ´600 a Genova, Milan 1988, Fig. 33, and was shown in 1992 at the exhibition Genova nell’eta barocca, Genoa 1992, Cat. No. 87. That painting is probably older, but not as well elaborated as ours.