Adam-François van der Meulen trained in his native Brussels, learning the newly-emerging genre of battle painting under the tuition of Pieter Snayers (1592-1666/7). In 1664, having caught the eye of Jean-Baptiste Colbert (1619-1683), van der Meulen was summoned to Paris to enter the service of Louis XIV: he spent the next thirty years documenting the Sun King's military victories, often from the field of battle itself, and usually working in close collaboration with Charles Le Brun (1619-1690). He created a genre of spectacular reportage, with panoramic landscapes, picturesque incidents and ceremonial royal presence on the battle field.

The prestige of Louis XIV appealed to George IV (as to almost every other monarch during the 18th Century), but also meant that van der Meulen’s compositions were widely copied. Of the eighteen ‘Van der Meulens’ acquired by George IV (RCINs 404781, 406554, 406956, 403007, 404699-701, 405027, 405056-7, 405172, 405220, 406377, 406465, 406918, 406955 & 406957-8), only three (the first listed above) retain their original attribution. This is a version of one of Van der Meulen's battle scenes for the Château de Marly now in the Louvre (no 1479).

Oudenarde surrendered to the French forces on 31 July 1667. The War of Devolution (1667-8) was undertaken by Louis XIV following his marriage to Marie Thérèse, daughter of Philip IV of Spain (1660). The Spanish princess had renounced her rights of inheritance in return for a large dowry. Blaming Spain for having failed to pay the stipulated dowry, Louis declared war. The French easily captured the Spanish Netherlands (1667) before the United Provinces formed the Triple Alliance (1668).