Adam Frans van der Meulen and Workshop

Essay:

The Siege of Maastricht took place over 13 days from 17-30 June 1673. Despite Maastricht being well- fortified, the military engineer Sébastien Le Preste de Vauban was able to take the city without a costly prolonged struggle, which made its capture a tremendous victory for the French. Louis XIV was in command of the French forces and recognised the victory as an excellent opportunity for self-aggrandisement, putting his battle painter van der Meulen to good use.

King Louis, seen here in the foreground riding a white horse, commissioned van der Meulen to paint the prime version of this composition (completed in 1686–87 and now in the Louvre, INV 1491) for the antechamber of the Royal Apartment at the Château de Marly. Engraved and made into a tapestry at Gobelins, the Louvre version was badly damaged at Marly, losing much of its detail, particularly in the middle and background. The royal art restorer Marie-Jacob Godefroid in 1750 wrote: “avait été brûlé [et] tombait par écailles” (“it had been burned [and] was falling off in flakes”). Thus the present picture arguably better preserves van der Meulen’s original conception of the scene.

The present painting is one of several studio replicas and variants, though it is larger and of considerably higher quality than most. It provides a narrower field of vision than the Louvre version with the primary group of figures slightly altered to focus attention on Louis XIV. Maastricht can be seen with its walls and ramparts in the distance across fields scored with trenches, soldiers and cannons, while smoke from Vauban’s bombardments rises from the city. On the hill the King gives commands to generals and secretaries as messengers come and go. The middle-ground shows the baggage train, where a melée of horses and men organise themselves and their supplies in the fields before a hamlet painted in a style indicative of van der Meulen’s Flemish background.

Apologies for the poor quality photographs. The artwork will be photographed professionally soon.

Provenance:

Anon. sale; Hotel Drouot, Paris, 28 April 1971, lot 12.
Private collection, Italy.