Night Attack on Lille

Pieter Snayers specialized in painting battle scenes. He applied himself to making large paintings of historical sieges from the contemporary conflicts. He became court painter to the governors of the Spanish Netherlands, Cardinal Infante Ferdinand and Archduke Leopold Wilhelm. In their service he made a substantial number of pictures as a visual record of military successes. The topographical character of the set of siege pictures by Snayers in the Prado is remarkable.