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The painting depicts a battle along a road by the side of a cliff between a band of brigands surprised by a patrol of Papal dragoons. They had been robbing a carriage, which is visible in the background of the street in the painting. Beyond the carriage, a strip of sea is visible.
In the foreground, two brigands are in the combat against two cavalry soldiers. The first is being grabbed by the handkerchief around his neck is about to receive a pistol blow, after having wounded the soldier's horse with the dagger in his right hand. The second has grabbed the bridle of the other soldier's horse and is about to be struck by the soldier's saber. A third brigand flees while holding in his hands two bags stolen from travelers, abandoning a third in the road. A fourth brigand fires a rifle at the soldiers, covering his companion's flight. Two women, depicted in typical local costumes, despair and implore in front of a small religious chapel at the side of the road.
Further back on the right side of the painting, other brigands stand along the slope of the hill, some fleeing and pulling with them a feminine figure in a long blue dress—probably a passenger of the captured carriage. Others stand behind boulders, looking at the scene below. Along the road, a third cavalry soldier and some on foot fire at the fleeing brigands with muskets. The carriage in the background is empty, and a person and horse lie dead on the ground near its wheels.
dragoon