This vast panorama is a good example of the Netherlandish practice of depicting battle scenes and sieges with great accuracy, using a birds-eye point of view.  The event depicted is part of the struggle between the French and the Habsburgs for control of the part of the Netherlandish coast line, which was of such strategic concern at that time. The scene depicts the victory of the Archduke Leopold Wilhelm, present in person, over the French forces.  The heavily fortified town of Gravelines, at the mouth of the river Lys, was of great strategic significance as it controlled the hinterland, which led up river to the then important town of Saint-Omer.

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