This small red chalk drawing of fine provenance is preparatory to the huge tapestry cartoon conserved at the Château de Versailles, depicting one of the episodes in Louis XIV's Flanders campaign: the siege of Douai (June 30 - July 4, 1667). This was a particularly important page in the history of the town, which, once conquered, became part of France under the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1668.

With lively execution and precise details, Van der Meulen presents a dramatic moment: the death of the horse of one of the king's guards, struck by an enemy cannonball, during the King’s visit to the trench. The King is surrounded on his right by the Comte de Duras (depicted with his hat down) and on his left by the Maréchal de Turenne.

1. Historical background

The siege of Douai should be seen in the context of the War of Devolution (1667-1668), the first war of the young Louis XIV. Philip IV, King of Spain, died on September 17, 1665. He left the throne to his only son, Charles II, a four-year-old child so weak that the European courts had no doubt he would soon die (although he would reign until 1700).

Louis XIV, married since 1660 to the Infanta Maria Theresa, eldest daughter of Philip IV, made claims, in his wife's name, to several provinces of the Spanish monarchy. The Queen of France had renounced her rights, a renunciation expressed in the marriage contract and confirmed by the Treaty of the Pyrenees, but the clause in the treaty that obliged her to do so linked this renunciation to the payment of a dowry of 500,000 gold ecus, which was never settled.

To support his claim from a legal point of view, Louis XIV relied on the right of devolution, an old Brabant custom, according to which children of a first marriage - in this case, Marie-Thérèse, wife of Louis XIV - were the sole heirs of their parents, to the detriment of children born of a second marriage - in this case, Charles II.

The King of France's army left Paris on May 16, 1667. It was placed under the direct command of the King, assisted by the Maréchal de Turenne. On May 24, 1667, French troops invaded the Spanish Netherlands, successively conquering the towns of Charleroi, Ath, Tournai, Douai and finally Lille on August 27, 1667. The Flanders campaign ended on September 13, 1667, with the capture of Mons.

On July 2, Louis XIV arrived at Douai, two days after the troops led by the Comte de Duras. He immediately went to reconnoitre the place, marked the best spots for attack and had the trench opened on July 3. The next day, after visiting all the posts, he went down into the trench, where some officers and gendarmes were wounded alongside him (this is the episode on which our drawing[1] is based). The king's action inspired such ardor to the troops that on the fourth day of the siege, they crossed the moat, swept away the counterscarp and set up lodgings on the half-moon. The town, on the verge of being forced, capitulated the same day (July 4, 1667).

2. Van der Meulen, Le Brun and L'Histoire du Roy

Adam François Van der Meulen was a Flemish painter of Brussels origin. He trained in the studio of Peter Snayers, a Brussels court painter renowned as a specialist in battle paintings. The painter Le Brun called on him in 1662 to supply tapestry cartoons and draw the cities conquered by the king. Between 1665 and 1681, Van der Meulen made no fewer than 9 trips to the north of the country and to Flanders.[2]

The drawings associated with the "Histoire du Roy" tapestries can be divided into three series. The first, woven at the Gobelins from 1665 onwards, evokes civil or diplomatic episodes prior to the War of Devolution, as well as episodes from that war. The second depicts episodes from the Dutch War, but no tapestries were woven. The third, also not woven, could be part of a "Histoire galante du Roi" project. The drawings for "L'Histoire du Roy" feature the collaboration of several artists from Le Brun's workshop, including Adam Frans Van der Meulen (particularly for the topographical backgrounds) and François Verdier for certain allegorical figures.

Our drawing is preparatory to the tenth piece of "L'Histoire du Roy", of which it is most likely a first thought, destined to be reworked by Le Brun and enlarged to create the final cartoon. Despite the highly spontaneous nature of our study, it seems unlikely that the artist was present during the King’s visit. On the other hand, it is quite possible that the drawing, and particularly the topographical annotations in the background, were executed during one of Van der Meulen's stays on the front line.

Several drawings by Van der Meulen (including one in red chalk) in the Musée du Louvre show different views of Douai. It seems to us that the background of our drawing can be linked to the "View of Douai from the Attack Side", of which there are two versions. We reproduce below the watercolor and graphite version (RF 4902).

A drawing by Charles Le Brun (1619-1690) preserved at the Château de Versailles (and previously attributed to Le Brun and Van der Meulen) shows a more advanced version of the same subject. Executed in black chalk and gray wash, it is considerably larger (48.9 x 78.3 cm), and allows us to detail the view of Douai in the background, which was only hinted at in our sanguine, and which is presented here entirely unobstructed thanks to the raising of the horizon line.

The Château de Versailles also conserves the tapestry cartoon, which has imposing dimensions: 354 x 589 cm, and has been painted by Baudouin Yvart, Adam-Frans Van der Meulen and Charles Le Brun. This cartoon is quite faithful to the proposal developed by Charles Le Brun in the drawing shown above.

Finally, the Mobilier National conserves a gigantic tapestry from the Manufacture des Gobelins (5 x 7 meters), which was woven between 1672 and 1685, and depicts this episode. The composition was engraved by Sébastien Leclerc in 1682.

3. Other related artworks

Van der Meulen is best known for his topographical representations, usually in watercolor on graphite, sometimes in very large formats. It seems, however, that his role in the studio was not confined to these topographical views; his skill in depicting horses in particular was widely acclaimed at his time. A number of sanguine drawings testify to his ability to conceive cavalry shocks in a fairly precise manner, in a technique very similar to that of our drawing, as for example in the drawing we present below, which is preserved in the Louvre Museum.

Our drawing does, however, present an initial idea for tapestry which is directly identifiable. In our drawing, it is impressive to see how well the artist represented a scene destined for monumental treatment in a perfectly legible way while working on a small format.

4. Provenance and framing

The presence of two collector's stamps (bottom right of the sheet) and the old sales labels (which have been reassembled on the verso) make it possible to trace the various collections to which this sheet belonged for almost a century: Du Pan, Van den Zande, Michelin, Beurdeley.

The frame from the Beurdeley collection was badly damaged when we acquired this drawing, so we had it reframed. We were lucky enough to find a particularly attractive small model in finely carved (and formerly gilded) wood. While it is very similar to the Louis XIII frames, the presence of shells in the acanthus frieze decorating this frame leads us to believe that it is rather an early Louis XIV model. Our frame is therefore contemporary to the drawing we are presenting, which has probably been executed shortly after the siege of Douai in July 1667.

[1] According to the Château de Versailles collections website, Van der Meulen seems to have "spiced up" the scene by depicting an episode that occurred during the siege of Dendermonde (also in July 1667): a cannonball knocks down a bodyguard's horse just as the Duc de Noailles presents his company to the impassive sovereign.

[2] According to the Mémoire de tout ce que François Van der Meulen a peint ou dessiné pour le service de Sa Majesté depuis le 1er avril 1664, quoted by Louis-Antoine Prat in "Le dessin français au XVIIème siècle".