In this crowded panel, first take a look beneath the chariot, which is being drawn by donkeys. You can see weapons being crushed. A number of unsavoury figures, such as the recumbent naked man, are trying in vain to stop this train of events. One of the seated figures in the chariot is Peace, who holds a palm branch in her hand.
Pieter Claeissens the Younger painted this work between 9 January 1577 and 2 September 1578, in response to a peace accord during the Wars of Religion: The Union of Brussels was agreed between Spain and the Netherlands in January 1577. The chariot is travelling towards the Seventeen Provinces, that is to say the Low Countries. In this work, they are represented by seventeen kneeling women.
Battles take place in the background, above the figures. This shows that the peace is still fragile. Describing the combatants are the Latin words: Furor (or Fury), Violentia (or Violence) and Discordia (or Discord). Ratio (or Reason) and Populus (or the Populace) are their adversaries. The trilingual text at the bottom describes the scene.
Who are the thirteen men in contemporary clothing behind the chariot? Perhaps the twelve aldermen of Bruges being led by the mayor? Thanks to a surviving portrait, the latter is the only figure that we can identify: Mayor Joris van Brakele was a joint signatory to the peace accord. This painting was probably intended for the town hall of Bruges. The artist found inspiration for the composition in an engraving.
The peace was temporary, as we now know. The Eighty Years’ War soon resumed and would drag on for decades.