King Louis XIV, King of France (1638–1715) at Maastricht
Adam Frans van der Meulen (Brussels 1632 - Paris 1690)
Category
Art / Oil paintings
Date
circa 1684
Materials
Oil on canvas
Measurements
1047 x 1454 mm
Place of origin
France
Order this imageCollection
Petworth House and Park, West Sussex
NT 486216
Caption
Van der Meulen was a Flemish Baroque painter who specialised in battle scenes. He was trained by the court artist, Pieter Snayers, in Brussels. During the first fifteen years of his career, the so-called Brussels period, he painted small-scale genre and history scenes with political and military events in the Baroque style of Sebastiaen Vrancx, Pieter Snayers, and Jan Breughel the elder. In 1666 he was called to Paris by the finance minister Jean Colbert, at the request of Charles Le Brun, to fill the post of battle painter to Louis XIV. He accompanied the King on campaigns, sketching in the field, and later elaborating his studies in the studio to make paintings or cartoons for tapestries to be produced by Gobelins. He was appointed to an elevated position within the Académie.
Summary
Oil painting on canvas, King Louis XIV, King of France (1638–1715) at Maastricht by Adam Frans van der Meulen (Brussels 1632 – Paris 1690), circa 1684. King Louis XIV at Maastricht. The King is centre, on a white horse, being addressed by a cavalier on horseback; horsemen can be seen to the left and right. At right, a man is pulling up his boot with a black dog by him. A supply train is at left centre, appproaching a village and beyond, in the centre, artillery is in action.
Provenance
Bought by the 2nd Earl of Egremont (1710-1763) from Dr Bragge's sale on the 18th February 1756, 2nd day, lot 65, for £31.10. Thence by descent, until the death in 1952 of the 3rd Lord Leconfield, who had given Petworth to the National Trust in 1947, and whose nephew and heir, John Wyndham, 6th Lord Leconfield and 1st Lord Egremont (1920-72) arranged for the acceptance of the major portion of the collections at Petworth in lieu of death duties (the first ever such arrangement) in 1956 by H.M.Treasury.
Credit line
Petworth House, The Egremont Collection (acquired in lieu of tax by HM Treasury in 1956 and subsequently transferred to the National Trust)
Makers and roles
Adam Frans van der Meulen (Brussels 1632 - Paris 1690), artist