Lot Essay
Van der Meulen was a pupil of Pieter Snayers in Brussels before settling in Paris in 1664. There he collaborated with Charles Lebrun who in 1662 had been comissioned to prepare an important series of tapestries depicting the The Story of Louis XIV. He thus accompanied the king on his travels or campaigns producing very precise topographical drawings which formed the basis for large scale paintings executed back in Paris. Numerous replicas of these pictures, made both by himself and his many collaborators, were made for other royal residences as well as private collectors.