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), this is one of only three (the first listed above) to retain their original attribution. The status of this work remains in doubt: without documentation of any kind its claim lies only in the originality of the image and quality of the painting.

This picture shows the building of Louis XIV’s palace at Versailles and can be dated on the basis of the architecture, which corresponds to the considerable extensions begun in 1678 by Jules Hardouin-Mansart. During these years the forecourt was remodelled and new ranges added on the east side. In the painting the palace itself is finished, but the two Ailes des Ministres, separated by the Place d’Armes, are still under construction. The painting is of particular interest in illustrating an extensive and complicated building operation in progress. In the centre foreground a group of architects, including Mansart discuss a plan. The figure in black wearing the riband and star of the Order of the Holy Ghost is almost certainly Louis XIV’s minister Jean-Baptiste Colbert, who, together with Louis XIV, was the chief arbiter of taste in France during his time in office. Above in the centre is a coach approaching the palace: this might well be conveying Louis XIV after having inspected building progress.

The palace of Versailles created the eighteenth century French court style in architecture, interior decoration and furnishings, as well as formal gardens. Versailles was intended to be the outward and visible expression of the glory of France, and of Louis XIV, then Europe’s most powerful monarch.