The Córdoba native Acisclo Antonio Palomino y Velasco, best known for his treatise El museo pictórico y escala óptica (The Pictorial Museum and Optical Scale)—which included the volumes La teórica de la pintura (1715), La práctica de la pintura (1724) and El parnaso español pintoresco laureado (1727), the first two devoted to the theory and practice of art, respectively, and the third to the lives of eminent Spanish painters—and as the biographer of Spanish artists of the modern era, was also an accomplished artist who practised his profession with absolute mastery as the true heir of Madrid's late Baroque tradition. Appointed court painter in 1688, he maintained close contact with both Juan Carreño de Miranda and Claudio Coello. Luca Giordano's arrival at court was instrumental in forging the ornate, exuberant style that came to characterise his painting, lightening his palette and giving his work a grandiose, impressively dramatic tone which we see in this rendering of The Heroic Defeat at Oran.

Upon finding himself systematically snubbed by Philip V, who preferred the French tastes that were then becoming fashionable, Palomino sought out new patrons more accustomed to the artistic vocabulary in vogue during the reign of Charles II. In this way he became the leading exponent of what has since been dubbed the vernacular Baroque, embraced by artists who perpetuated this highly ornate style and whose compositions did not forget the triumph of quadratura or the forms inherited from the Baroque masters of Madrid. This trend is clearly illustrated by the decoration of the chapel at the Casa de la Villa in Madrid, the domes of San Juan del Mercado and the chapel of La Virgen de los Desamparados in Valencia. Palomino also did important work for the Carthusians at El Paular and the Carthusian monastery in Segovia, where the strong influence of Luca Giordano's painting is very evident. This same influence is particularly obvious in The Heroic Defeat at Oran, where an inscription on an oval cartouche describes the skirmish: "Year 1698. On the 1st of March, in the vicinity of Oran, a thousand horses laid siege. D. Àlvaro King of Meknes a cavalry company. Christians mostly sons of this city, alférez and commander Don Josephe de Angulo y Merino, assistance in the situation being impossible and the barbarian force so superior, with great courage and spirit said to his men, soldiers of Jesus Christ, now is the time to sacrifice our lives for the Holy Faith. Long live I.H.S., and putting hand to sword he went forth against the barbarians, in which combat every soldier proved his ardent valour and wreaked havoc among them. They were defeated in the end, D. Josephe alférez captured and wounded, and thirteen companions were taken prisoner. Travelling 300 leagues to Meknes where on the 31st of March they gave their lives for the Faith. Antonio Palomino fecit."

In the composition, it is obvious that Palomino let himself be influenced by the battle-scene prints of Antonio Tempesta, but he combined them skilfully with the language learned from Giordano. This is what made him decide to place José de Angulo on horseback in the foreground, brandishing his sword in a valiant gesture, while the scenes of Muslim riders were borrowed from the aforementioned prints, which Zurbarán also used in his famous painting of The Battle between Christians and Moors at El Sotillo (ca. 1637–1639, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York). The military attire worn by the commander heralds the advent of 18th-century fashions. [Benito Navarrete]