Ambrogio Spinola , 1st Marquis of the Balbases Don Ambrogio Spinola Doria , 1st Marquis of the Balbases , Grandee of Spain , Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece and of the Order of Santiago , ( Genoa , 1569 – Castelnuovo Scrivia , 25 September 1630 ) was a Genoese aristocrat who served as a Spanish general , winning a number of important battles for the Spanish Crown . He is often called " Ambrosio " by Spanish speaking people and is considered one of the greatest military commanders of his time and in the history of the Spanish army . Early life . Ambrogio Spinola was born in Genoa , the eldest son of Filippo Spinola , Marquis of Sesto and Venafro , and his wife Polissena Grimaldi , daughter of Nicolò prince of Salerno . The family of Spinola was of great antiquity , wealth and power in Genoa . Don Ambrogio ' s sister Donna Lelia was married to Don Giulio Cesare Squarciafico , 2nd Marquess of Galatone , from whom descend the Princes of Belmonte . In the 16th century the Italian Republic of Genoa was in practical terms a protected state of the Spanish Empire ; the Genoese were the bankers of the Spanish monarchy and had control of its finances . Several of the younger brothers of Ambrogio Spinola sought their fortune in Spain , and one of them , Federico , distinguished himself greatly as a soldier in the Army of Flanders . The eldest brother Ambrogio remained at home to marry and continue the family . In 1592 he was married to Giovanna Bacciadonne , daughter of the count of Galerata . They had three children : Spanish service . The houses of Spinola and Doria were rivals for authority within the republic . Ambrogio Spinola continued the rivalry with the count of Tursi , then the chief of the Dorias . He was not successful , and having lost a lawsuit into which he had entered to enforce a right of pre - emption of a palace belonging to the Salerno family which the Doria wished to purchase , he decided to withdraw from the city and advance the fortunes of his house by serving the Spanish monarchy in Flanders . In 1602 he and his brother Federico entered into a contract with the Spanish government — a " condotta " on the old Italian model . It was a speculation on which Spinola risked the whole of the great fortune of his house . Ambrogio Spinola undertook to raise 9 . 000 Lombard mercenaries for land service , and Federico to form a squadron of galley s for service on the coast . Several of Federico ' s galleys were destroyed by English war - ships on his way up the Channel . He himself was slain in an action with the Dutch on 24 May 1603 . Ambrogio Spinola marched overland to Flanders in 1602 with the men he had raised at his own expense . During the first months of his stay in Flanders the Spanish government played with schemes for employing him on an invasion of England , which came to nothing . At the close of the year he returned to Italy for more men . His experience as a soldier did not begin till , as General , and at the age of thirty - four , he undertook to continue the Siege of Ostend on 29 September 1603 . The ruinous remains of the place fell into his hands on 22 September 1604 . He was appointed then a Knight of the Order of the Golden Fleece in 1605 . War in Flanders . The Archduke Albert and the Infanta Clara Eugenia , daughter of Philip II , who then governed Flanders and had set their hearts on taking Ostend , were delighted at his success , and it won him a high reputation among the soldiers of the time . On the close of the campaign he went to Spain to arrange with the court , which was then at Valladolid , for the continuance of the war . At Valladolid he insisted on being appointed commander - in - chief in Flanders . By April he was back at Brussels , and entered on his first campaign . The wars of the Low Countries consisted at that time almost wholly of sieges , and Spinola made himself famous by the number of places he took in spite of the efforts of Maurice of Nassau to save them — these places included Groenlo . In 1606 he again went to Spain . He was received with much outward honour , and entrusted with a very secret mission to secure the government of Flanders in case of the death of the Archduke or his wife , but he could not obtain the grandee ship which he desired , and was compelled to pledge the whole of his fortune as security for the expenses of the war before the bankers would advance funds to the Spanish government . As he was never repaid , he was in the end utterly ruined . The Spanish government began now to have recourse to devices for keeping him away from Spain . Until the signing of the Twelve Years ' Truce in 1609 he continued to command in the field with general success . After it was signed he retained his post , and had among other duties to conduct the negotiations with France when Henry II de Bourbon , Prince de Condé fled to Flanders with his wife in order to put her beyond the reach of the senile admiration of Henry IV of France . By 1611 Spinola ' s financial ruin was complete , but he obtained the desired " Grandeza " . In 1614 he had some share in the operations connected with the settlement of Cleves and Jülich . On the outbreak of the Thirty Years ' War he made a vigorous campaign in the Lower Palatinate which included the sacking of many towns and villages , including Drais , and was rewarded by the grade of Captain - General . After the renewal of the war with Holland in 1621 he gained the most renowned victory of his career , namely the capture of Breda after a long siege ( 28 August 1624 - 5 June 1625 ) and in spite of the most strenuous efforts of Maurice of Nassau , Prince of Orange to save it . The surrender of Breda is the subject of the great picture by Velázquez , known as " Las Lanzas " ; the portrait of Spinola is from memory . Capture of Breda . The taking of Breda was the culmination of Spinola ' s career . Utter want of money paralysed the Spanish government , and the new favourite , Olivares , was jealous of the general . Spinola could not prevent Frederick Henry of Nassau from taking Groll , a good set - off for Breda . In January 1628 he left for Spain , resolved not to resume the command in Flanders unless security was given him for the support of his army . At Madrid he had to endure much insolence from Olivares , who endeavoured to make him responsible for the loss of Groll . Spinola was resolute not to return to Flanders . Death . Meanwhile the Spanish government added a war over the succession to the Duchy of Mantua to its heavy burdens . Spinola was appointed as plenipotentiary and general . He landed at Genoa on 19 September 1629 . With him came as an invited passenger by suggestion of the by then 52 years old notorious painter Peter Paul Rubens , in Madrid to Philip IV , the already notorious around 30 years old royal painter Diego Velázquez , who went with him to see famous paintings in Genoa , Milan , Venice and Rome . In Italy he was pursued by the enmity of the Conde - Duque of Olivares , curiously enough , born in Rome in 1587 , where his father , don Enrique de Guzmán y Ribera , a cadet child from one of Spain ' s oldest noble families , was the Spanish ambassador , as was also his patron Spinola , who caused him to be deprived of his powers as plenipotentiary . Spinola ' s health broke down , as he was already 61 years old , with over 30 years experience in the battle fields , and died on 25 September 1630 at the Siege of Casale , muttering , apparently , the words " honour " and " reputation . " The title of " marquis of Los Balbases " , still borne by his representatives in Spain , was all that his family received for the vast fortune they spent in the service of Philip III and IV . He would be painted however after his death , by Diego Velázquez , in 1635 , as ordered by Felipe IV , in the famous picture " The Surrender of Breda " , visited by tens of millions of tourists at the Museum of Prado in Madrid for the last two centuries or so .