Allegorical depiction of the inclusion of ’s-Hertogenbosch in the Union

The city of 's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch) was retaken from Spanish Habsburg control by the Dutch Republic in 1629 after a famous siege, a major event in the Eighty Years' War that confirmed Dutch Protestant dominance in the southern provinces. This allegorical painting by Theodoor van Thulden, completed in 1646, depicts the event's incorporation into a broader political settlement — likely the Peace of Westphalia negotiations then underway — using the conventions of Baroque political allegory: personified cities, divine blessing, celestial witnesses. Van Thulden was among the leading painters of the Southern Netherlands after Rubens's death in 1640, and political allegories celebrating or commemorating events of the Dutch-Spanish conflict formed an important part of his practice. The Academy of Fine Arts Vienna holds this work, reflecting the Habsburg courts' interest in allegorical records of their political fortunes.

Political allegories of this type required coordinating numerous personified figures — the city of 's-Hertogenbosch, representatives of the Dutch Republic, perhaps Fame or Peace as celestial observers — within a spatially coherent, legible composition. Van Thulden draws on Rubens's decorative tradition for such schemes, managing the crowded allegorical stage with professional assurance. The palette is rich and varied, the draperies animated by controlled movement.