Antony Francis van der Meulen

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The siege of Besancon by Louis XIV in 1674
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The siege of Besancon by Louis XIV in 1674

Antony Francis van der Meulen or Adam Frans van der Meulen (1632 – 15 October 1690), Flemish painter, born in Brussels.

Van der Meulen was pupil of Pieter Snayers in Brussels, then at the school of Antwerp, before entering the service of the Spanish archdukes. Focussing his art on representing horses and landscapes, his fame crossed borders and in 1662 was called to Paris by Jean-Baptiste Colbert, at the instance of Charles Le Brun, to fill the post of battle painter to Louis XIV of France.

His paintings during the campaigns of Flanders in 1667 so delighted Louis that from that date van der Meulen was ordered to accompany him in all his expeditions. In 1673 he was received into the Académie française, attained the grade of councillor in 1681, and died full of honors in Paris in 1690.

He is best represented by the series of twenty-three paintings, mostly executed for Louis XIV, now in the Louvre. They show that he always retained his Flemish predilections in point of color, although his style was modified by that of the French school.

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