Adam Frans Van Der Meulen - Louis XIV in front of the besieged city of Maastricht c. 1680 - oil on canvas 104 x 170 cm The painting depicts Louis XIV in front of the besieged city of Maastricht, an episode in the military campaigns that consecrated the sovereign as the 'Sun King' and were celebrated by the official painting of the French court. The work is a reduced version of the large canvas conserved at the Musée du Louvre, Paris, in which Adam Frans van der Meulen immortalised the siege of 1673.A specialist in views of battles and celebrations of the monarchy, van der Meulen, a Flemish painter naturalised French, was called to Paris by Colbert and became the main interpreter of Louis XIV's military exploits. The present canvas, with its quality of execution and freshness of touch, stands out from the numerous replicas and variants produced by the workshop and must be considered an original work by the master. Within a 20th century wooden frame.