This is one of a series of roundels depicting the 'Spanish Fury' of 1576 and the liberation of Antwerp in August 1577. Between 4 and 6 November 1576 mercenaries in the Spanish service launched a full-scale attack on Antwerp, as depicted in this plaquette. Over 2500 citizens were murdered and 100 houses burned down, including the magnificent Town Hall. In August 1577, however, the Netherlandish coalition overthrew the Spanish troops in the Citadel (see A.34-1975). They then negotiated with the German mercenaries to withdraw (see A.36-1975).

The compositions of these bronze plaquettes, of which the V&A holds six (A.33-1975 to A.38-1975), are closely related to a set of seven engravings by the Wierix brothers, after designs by Marten de Vos, published in Antwerp in 1578-79. Five of the original drawings by Marten de Vos are known: four are at the Ashmolean Museum and one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. A drawing for this composition does not survive, nor does a related print by the Wierix brothers. Jeremy Warren notes that a poor-quality lead plaquette showing the same scene of the Spanish Fury as depicted here was sold at Sotheby's, London, in 1996 (European Sculpture and Works of Art, 12 December 1996, no. 63). Comparison of the other V&A plaquettes in this series with the drawings and engravings to which they are related indicates, as Warren has argued, that the plaquettes derived from the drawings, not the engravings, and thus that the plaquettes were very likely made before the prints.

No complete set of seven plaquettes has survived; other partial sets, in lead, are at the Ashmolean and the Rijksmuseum.

Charles Avery attributed the plaquettes to the medallist and bronze sculptor, Jacques Jonghelinck, who was appointed head of the Mint of Antwerp in 1572. In that role, he would have worked for the Spanish Habsburgs, so it might be surprising that he would then take on these anti-Catholic and anti-Spanish subjects. The attribution, therefore, remains tentative. (Last updated March 2025)