It combines a still life of military uniforms, pistols, spears, sabres, shields and a drum in the foreground with a genre scene of military life in the middle ground and a battle scene in the background. Бабина Н. П., Грицай Н. И. Фламандская живопись XVII—XVIII веков. Каталог коллекции. — СПб.: Изд-во Государственного Эрмитажа, 2005. — С. 456. It was painted the year when Francisco de Melo, new ruler of the Spanish Netherlands, twice defeated a French army, thus briefly holding back their advance on Antwerp. To some extent it anticipates his 1643 The Oude Voetboog Guild in the Grote Markt.
