This is one of a pair of panels (see also CWLF 133, 405516), both in good condition; they are important examples of the artist’s work and rare in bearing such a relatively early date. They both depict the ravages of the Eighty-Years War (covering the period almost exactly corresponding to Vrancx’s life-span) fought between the Spanish and Dutch over the territory of the Low Countries. They were however probably conceived as recollections of a past nightmare, as they were painted during the Twelve Years Truce (1609-21), believed at the time to be a prelude to a settled peace. Both painting depict the margin between the relative safety of the cultivated fields surrounding a town and the danger of the forest in the foreground. In one scene a band of soldiers lie in wait amongst the trees to ambush the opposing army on the move; in the other a group of undisciplined soldiers have advanced into the field to attack an undefended caravan of civilian carriages. Both scenes are full of anecdotal episodes painted in Vrancx’s charmingly animated and calligraphic (even slightly cartoon-like) style. The episodes themselves are anything but charming. In one a group of knights in armour seem to panic when encountering the reality of un-chivalrous warfare. In the other the citizens suffer every outrage: civilians, even monks, are murdered; women forced to undress to yield their precious clothes or worse; a man lies in a pool of his own blood mourned by his faithful (and courageous) dog. As in most anti-war images of this date this is not partisan: it is not possible or necessary to identify the nationality of the perpetrators of these horrors. War at this date was increasingly seen as a one-sided contest between soldiers and citizens.