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. Of the rest this painting is the most worthy of cosideration as an original.

Louis XIV successfully besieged Tournai between 22-25 June 1667, taking control back from Spain. His entourage was alarmed when he exposed himself to the fire of the enemy in the trenches. This painting is a small version of the design which, with variations, was woven at Gobelins under the aegis of Le Brun as the eleventh piece in the series of tapestries of L'Histoire du Roi and engraved by Le Clerc in 1681 as after Le Brun. The King appears down the trench towards the right, possibly on a horse (or mound) and certainly exposing himself to enemy fire as he encourages his men to advance. His uniformed private entourage stand in the foreground minding his other horses.

Van der Meulen's work for the King included drawings of Tournai, made on the campaign and in his own words, 'un autre esquisse, le Roy dans la tranchée devant la ville de Tournay', made as a model for a tapestry design. The inventory taken after his death, of his pictures and drawings, included at least one small copy of this design, retouched by Van der Meulen himself and various other pictures of the siege. The large painting which served as the model at Gobelins is at Versailles and probably by Charles Le Brun. The principal difference between the Royal Collection painting and the final design as woven is in the lower left corner in which, in the tapestry, a soldier reclines on the two shelves with barrels and mining tools beside him, whereas in the Royal Collection painting a sheaf of corn and a bundle of twigs can be seen instead. The Royal Collection version of the composition is closest to the oil sketches in Dijon (Musée Magnin) and Versailles; it is probably not good enough to be by Van der Meulen himself, but by one of his many imitators. Another inferior depiction of this siege by an imitator of Van der Meulen was already in the collection when George IV acquired this work (RCIN 403937).