Jan Baptist van der Meiren, The Siege of Koblenz by Turenne

by Atelier Liesjes

From a low vantage point, the viewer looks out across a vast landscape towards a town perched on a rock, which is ablaze. Thick plumes of smoke billow from the buildings and drift across the sky; amidst the flames, the outlines of walls, roofs and a tall spire are still visible. In the bottom left, a river winds through the valley, flanked by a walled town and a church tower. In the foreground, troops are advancing up a sandy slope: horsemen wearing feathered hats, foot soldiers with pikes, a drummer, horses and a cart. On the right, a group of officers in red and blue cloaks ride on horseback; one of them raises a commander’s staff. The colours are earthy and smoky: umber, olive green, ochre yellow, reddish-brown and a pale grey-blue in the sky. The sky occupies almost half the canvas, with heavy clouds backlit by the sun from the left. The clouds of smoke are painted with short, dry brushstrokes, the trees with dark, almost black areas. The composition is that of a Baroque history painting: a vast, dramatic expanse of sky above a small, densely populated scene. The smoke acts as a backdrop, linking the besieged city with the viewer; the violence remains at a distance, like a spectacle observed from afar. Jan Baptist van der Meiren (Antwerp 1664 – after 1736) became a master of the Antwerp Guild of Saint Luke in 1685 and served as its dean in 1700. He painted battles, sieges and processions of horsemen, and influenced artists such as Arnold Frans Rubens and Peter Tillemans. In 1695, he travelled to Vienna. His work is in the Flemish Baroque tradition, with a strong focus on smoke, dust and the movement of horses. Such large-scale siege paintings were commissioned by monarchs and commanders who wished to have their victories immortalised. A grand work for lovers of seventeenth-century history painting.