The present picture shows Louis XIV's army invading Holland; this was considered the turning point of the Franco-Dutch War of the 1670s, leading ultimately to the French conquest and appropriation of the Spanish Netherlands. Van der Meulen was himself present on the campaign, and at the end of the war Louis XIV comissioned a series of pictures from the artist to commemorate the major episodes of the War. These were later engraved by Charles Simonneau.

Le Passage du Rhin was the most famous incident of the whole war as Voltaire wrote in Le Siècle de Louis XIV: 'Cela fit regarder, à Paris, le passage du Rhin comme un prodige qu'on exagérait encore. L'opinion commune était que toute l'armée avait passé le fleuve à la nage, en présence d'une armée retranchée, et malgré l'artillerie d'une forteresse imprenable.' It is not surprising, therefore, that numerous versions of the composition exist, all with minor variations. The prime version is in the Louvre, together with Van der Meulen's drawings for the composition. Other versions are in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, and the Museums of Caen and Dijon.