Adam-François van der Meulen, or Adam Frans van der Meulen, was born in Brussels, the part of the Spanish Netherlands by the time (now the capital of Belgium) and baptized on January, 11, 1632. He was the firstborn of Pieter van der Meulen, a lawyer, and Maria van Steenwegen who had six more children.
Adam Frans van der Meulen joined the Brussels Guild of Saint Luke in 1648 and received there his painting lessons from the Flemish painter of battle scenes Pieter Snayers.
Adam Frans van der Meulen’s career started on 5 March 1651 when he became a master in the Guild of Saint Luke in Brussels.
Due to his brilliant depictions of the courtly escort on their horses which became popular in France, the artist was called to occupy the post of the battle painter to Louis XIV in Paris at the request of Charles Le Brun, the court painter, on 1 April 1664.
In the beginning, van der Meulen assisted Le Brun at the Royal Gobelins Manufactory on the project which goal was to create a series of tapestries on the king's military campaigns. Firstly, the artist painted the military conquests for the series The History of the King. This one was followed by the tapestries named 'Maisons royales' ('Royal Residences') which represented the king's palaces. The amount of work at the Manufactory was huge, so, other Flemish artists were employed, including the landscapist Adriaen Frans Boudewijns who came in 1666 and worked with van der Meulen for three years.
Van der Meulen first series of drawings related with the conquests of Louis XIV became the depiction of the King’s Flanders campaign during the War of Devolution in 1667. Louis XIV loved the pictures so much that the artist was allowed to engrave his creations. In this project, Abraham Genoels, Jan van Huchtenburg and Romeyn de Hooghe helped van der Meulen. In 1673, Van der Meulen became an ordinary painter to the king.
To record King Louis XIV's military achievements, Van der Meulen had about nine trips, among which were the Franco-Dutch War, the French cities Blois, Amboise, Chambord, Cambrai, Valenciennes, Saint-Omer, Cassel and Maastricht (1674).
In 1679, Van der Meulen worked on the project related with the depiction of the new French territories received after the Peace of Nijmegen. Later, the painter drew Dinant, Lorraine and Strasbourg (1681 and 1682) which also became the part of France.
Among other significant projects, the artist had worked on from 1679 till 1690 were the huge paintings of The King’s Conquests (Les conquêtes du Roi) intended to decorate the Royal Pavilion of Marly.
In 1680, the artist received the commission from the Duchess of Montpensier, Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, to copy his depictions the King's conquests in a small size in order to use them for the decoration of the Château de Choisy and the Château de Meudon.
Adam van der Meulen was a brilliant painter of the battle scenes. Due to his distinguished talent, we have an opportunity to retrace the history of Roi Solei’s achievements.
The artist's creative mind was marked in 1673 by the title of the Ordinary Painter to the King and by the acceptance to the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture.
Van der Meulen somehow revolutionized the style typical for the depiction of the military scenes. He eliminated the horror and horrible elements from his pictures concentrating on the composition which contained the crowd of characters placed in front of vast panoramic landscapes.
The Siege Of Besançon, 1674
Battle Scene
Construction of the Château De Versailles
Crossing of the Rhine by French Troops in 1672
Equestrian Portrait of Cardinal Infante Ferdinand of Austria
Riders Meeting of Imperial And Sweden
Siege of Courtrai During the War of Devolution
Equestrian Portrait of Louis XIV of France
Louis XIV Before Strasbourg
Louis XIV Receives a Delegation from the Confederation under the Leadership of the Zurich Mayor Johann Heinrich, 1663
Cavalry Engagement in a Gorge
Louis XIV at the Taking of Besançon
The Siege of Lille in 1667
King walking accompanied with his guards passing on the new bridge and going to the palace
Louis XIV and Queen Marie Thérèse in Arras 1667 During the War of Devolution
Louis XIV in front of Dole in 1668
Louis XIV Passing the Rhine, 1672
The New Château at Saint-germain-en-laye
Louis XIV, King of France, Crosses the Rhine at Lobith on 12 June 1672
The Crossing of Rhine
Louis XIV Going to Lobith in the Netherlands
Philippe François d’Arenberg Meeting Troops
French Army at Naarden, July, 20 1672
Cavalery in the Battle
Louis XIV Travelling
Army of Louis XIV in Front of Tournai in 1667
Arrival of Louis XIV at the camp near of Maaastricht
Equestrian Portrait of Henri de la Tour d'Auvergne, Vicomte de Turenne
Crossing the Rhine
Louis XIV in Carrosse
Battle
Siege of Lille
Louis XIV Arriving in the Camp in front of Maastricht
Occupation of Cambrai by Louis XIV on April 5, 1677
Stop of Riders
Colbert family
Adam Frans van der Meulen was married three times.
His first wife became Catharine Huseweel. The couple had several children, one of whom, named Louis, born on March 20, 1669. Louis’s godfather was King Louis XIV and his godmother became Anne Marie Louise d'Orléans, Duchess of Montpensier.
Two years after the death of his first spouse, the artist married Catherine Lobry on March 22, 1679. She was a daughter of a captain of the guard of Count Bassigni. The couple had lived together till Catherine’s death on 4 October 1680.
A year later, on January 12, van der Meulen married for the third time. His wife became Marie de Bye, Charles Le Brun’s cousin who was younger than her husband by forty-nine years. The couple had several children one of whom was born posthumously.
He was a Flemish landscapist, draughtsman and etcher.
