Louis XIV at the Siege of Douai, Seen from the South-East (July 1–6, 1667)

Louis XIV at the Siege of Douai, Seen from the South-East (July 1–6, 1667)

Adam Frans van der Meulen

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Van der Meulen was born in Brussels and entered the service of French king Louis XIV in 1664. Under the direction of painter Charles Le Brun, who managed teams of artists and craftsmen on projects for the crown, he supplied designs glorifying French military battles to be woven into tapestries at the Gobelins manufactory. This quick study shows the French camp southeast of Douai, in the north of France. The major landmarks of the city can be identified in the background; the grouping of figures on horseback, however, appears to have been adapted for use in the foreground of a painting depicting the arrival of the king at the siege of Lille.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Louis XIV at the Siege of Douai, Seen from the South-East (July 1–6, 1667)Louis XIV at the Siege of Douai, Seen from the South-East (July 1–6, 1667)Louis XIV at the Siege of Douai, Seen from the South-East (July 1–6, 1667)Louis XIV at the Siege of Douai, Seen from the South-East (July 1–6, 1667)Louis XIV at the Siege of Douai, Seen from the South-East (July 1–6, 1667)

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.